Tortilla Flat

CHARACTERS IN TORTILLA FLAT

Tortilla Flat" by John Steinbeck was first published in 1935. It is set in the Monterey coast of California. This book features the adventures of a group of men of Mexican-American descent called the paisanos. As California writer and critic Gerald Haslam has noted, "Steinbeck must be recognized for seeing the diversity of the state's population, for writing about the paisanos of Monterey, for example, at a time when the majority of Californians did not acknowledge the importance or even the existence of mixed-blood Mexicans." (Shillinglaw, Susan. "Steinbeck and Ethnicity, 1995)

Thought they are troublesome people they are good at heart and like to help less fortunate people than them. The members of the gang are Danny, Pablo, Jesus Maria, Pilon and Big Joe Portagee.

They are soon joined by another paisano, the Pirate. All these men like to do is to enjoy a...
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