I’ve noticed a literary phenomenon in recent months when discussing classic novels with my friends: anytime I mention a book I like by John Steinbeck my sentiment is always met with groans and statements of avid distaste for the Californian’s work. I don’t know whether this has to do with a subconscious distaste for Great Depression-era literature (“Where the Red Fern Grows” does deserve to be burned, after all, at least the last chapter), the way Steinbeck is force-fed to high school students or various other reasons.
Either way, it’s unfortunate that in this 21st century disgust for Steinbeck’s work that a book like Tortilla Flat is overlooked. The book itself has met with some controversy due to the author’s portrayal of Mexican-Americans as “bums” according to some, a criticism that Steinbeck adamantly rejected. In my opinion, however, Steinbeck is merely misunderstood. Tortilla Flat is a “modern” day mythology, not a negative account of Mexican-Americans or an irrelevant novel assigned in AP English classes, and it’s comical yet tender telling makes it as critical an installment in American Literature today as it was when it was first published 75 years ago.
Tortilla Flat begins when the main protagonist Danny inherits two houses from his grandfather and moves into one of them, renting out the other one to his friends. When they accidentally burn one of the houses down, all of them move into the second house. Their daily routine consists of gossiping about the local women, tricking each other out of the occasional money and possessions they come by, selling said items for wine and getting in trouble during their drunken escapades. The group slowly forms a tight bond until Danny dies during a party his friends threw to get him out of a period of despondence. After Danny’s death they burn down the second house and part ways, “and no two [walk] together.”
As Steinbeck discusses in his preface, Tortilla Flat is a unifying force for a group of individuals. For Steinbeck, Tortilla Flat was the 20th century Round Table and Danny’s friends the resulting Knights. For me, Tortilla Flat is somewhat representative of my own college experience and the college experience in general. My group of friends and I have a Tortilla Flat, whether it the place we commonly hang out or simply college in general, and this unifying force has turned us into a family. Our family may even end up the same way Danny’s friends did, with no two of us going the same way.
Either way, Tortilla Flat is an entertaining, comedic and insightful novel that doesn’t deserve any of the negative opinions it seems to have generated in recent years.