Blog #2

In Steinbeck’s Tortilla Flat (Note: This blogging site does not have the ability to support underlined text for reasons I cannot even begin to imagine), the main characters live a life unaffected by the social aspects of the higher class. Since they have no money, they do not have to worry about financial troubles. In no way can they be exploited, because there is nothing they have of any significant value.

The first time Danny walks into the house he inherits, Pilon observes Danny’s stressful look. “Pilon noticed that the worry of property was settling on Danny’s face. No more in life would that face be free of care. No more would Danny break windows now that he had windows of his own to break” (13). Danny is free no more. His wild, homeless youth is gone with the ownership of a house. Danny now feels the “responsibilities” of wealth and he resents it. This passage sets up the over lying plot of the book. Throughout the rest of the novel he slowly becomes more and more depressed as the responsibilities of owning a house cuts down upon his mental health.

“Although no one had mentioned it, each of the four knew they were all going to live in Danny’s house. Pilon sighed with pleasure. Gone was the worry of the rent; gone the responsibility of owing money” (55). This passage takes place the morning after one of the two houses burns down. The loss of a house is a huge catastrophe to most people, yet Danny and his friends feel good about it. Danny, the host, now is free from demanding rent, and his friends are now free from worrying about it (they would never be able to pay it anyways).

At one point in the novel the friends decide to aid a poverty stricken, curious man people call “the Pirate”. They notice that the Pirate collects a few quarters every day by selling chopped kindle but never spends it. Concluding that there must be a large hoard of money kept somewhere, they decide to acquire it. Pilon explains, “[The Pirate’s] clothes are thin and ragged. And because his brain is not a good one, he hides his money” (61). At first glance, it seems as if Pilon is trying to justify a reason to steal the Pirate’s money. However, the friends ultimately help the Pirate buy a gold statue for a church, thus proving that money is no real concern to them and friendship is of the greatest importance.

When one of Danny’s neighbors couldn’t feed her children, Danny and his friends, without thinking twice, rushed to aid her. They steal a great deal of food to give to her. “Now food began to accumulate in the house of Teresina. Boxes of lettuce lay on her porch, spoiled mackerel filled the neighborhood with a strong odor. And still the flame of charity burned in the friends” (151). The friends are risking their freedom by stealing food, but they do not even think about the consequences. Steinbeck again demonstrates how Danny and his friends do not have to worry about such matters because they are untouched by the social system. The well being of their friends is their greatest concern.

After Danny dies at the end of the novel, the friends huddle together in the house to sing songs in remembrance of their beloved friend. Pilon carelessly drops a match: (Note: this blogging site would not allow me to properly indent the quotation.)

The little burning stick landed on an old newspaper against the wall. Each man started up to stamp it out; and each man was struck with a celestial thought, and settled back. They found one another’s eyes and smiled the wise smiles of the deathless and hopeless ones. In reverie they watched the flame flicker and nearly die, and sprout to life again…and the men smiled on as the paper burned and the dry wooden wall caught (206).

Steinbeck carefully chooses the words “deathless” and “hopeless” to describe the friends as they allow Danny’s house to burn. They have no concern of death nor do they have any hope. There is nothing they ought to hope for. They are free men by heart, untouched by the American social system that constantly pushes people to obtain wealth and be “successful” in life. In that moment when they back away from the fire and let it burn, they realize they cannot live in Danny’s house any longer. Danny owned the house along with its responsibilities. When he died, his friends inherited the house and its responsibilities—the same responsibilities that drove Danny into deep depression. They wisely avoid the same fate by allowing the house to burn.