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Sarah's Reviews > Tortilla Flat
Tortilla Flat
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Much has been said about Steinbeck's apparent portrayal of Mexican Americans as lazy, amoral drunkards in Tortilla Flat. Some say Steinbeck was racist; some say he was just a product of his time. Which is right I do not know; Steinbeck may very well have been racist (he also uses "jew" as a slur and in several of his books uses unflattering stereotypes of Chinese people). I know nothing of the man's personal beliefs about race and it is a common fallacy to suppose an author always agrees with his narrator. But Steinbeck was certainly a product of his time. Which begs the question: can racism be excused if it's just a product of its time? Was it appropriate for Al Jolson to put on blackface makeup and sing "Mammy" because it wasn't politically incorrect back then? Was Twain's depiction of Jim no more than a minstrel show in print? And can we, as products or our time, truly judge these things with an unbiased eye?
Perhaps being "a product of his time" means something else. Perhaps Steinbeck's characterization of these paisanos as layabout drunks had nothing to do with their race and everything to do with the time and area in which they lived. Prohibition and the Great Depression made loafing lushes out of men of all races, colors, and creeds. Wine was verboten, so men wanted it all the more. Jobs were hard to come by, so eventually men stopped trying. This is the impression I got from reading this book: not that the paisanos were lazy, drunk, amoral, and poor because they were Mexican, but because in 1935 they didn't have anything else to do.
Perhaps being "a product of his time" means something else. Perhaps Steinbeck's characterization of these paisanos as layabout drunks had nothing to do with their race and everything to do with the time and area in which they lived. Prohibition and the Great Depression made loafing lushes out of men of all races, colors, and creeds. Wine was verboten, so men wanted it all the more. Jobs were hard to come by, so eventually men stopped trying. This is the impression I got from reading this book: not that the paisanos were lazy, drunk, amoral, and poor because they were Mexican, but because in 1935 they didn't have anything else to do.
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Reading Progress
September 16, 2007
– Shelved
May 28, 2009
– Shelved as:
american-as-apple-pie
May 28, 2009
– Shelved as:
californian
Started Reading
June 3, 2009
–
Finished Reading
August 1, 2009
– Shelved as:
owned
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East of Eden! Re-read East of Eden - or read it for the first time if that's the way things stand.
I remember Steinbeck couldn't write accents for shit. He has a short story that begins with the dialogue "Is it thou, Pepe?" ostensibly because the two Mexicans are whispering in Spanish, and Steinbeck wanted to make the "tu" distinction clear in his angelicized rendering. While he failed terribly there, I think that embarassing attempt at local color was Steinbeck earnestly trying to empathize with Mexicans enough to sketch them. Therefore, I agree with Sarah's assessment that a whole lot of nothing was happening in the 1930s, the men were getting drunk, and Steinbeck was attempting realism, not trying for cheap laughs with drunken Mexicans.On the other hand, the heavy drinker in Cannery Row is the marine biologist, Doc, but like a good WASP he manages to hold his liquor and uses it to get through his day's work. Unlike those wily and sentimental Mexicans, Doc doesn't squander his friends' money on house parties by pretending it is communal.
I need to read these Monterey novels again soon. It's been too long.
Hemingway does that thee/thou thing too. It's a very awkward construction in English, to say the least.
Is Cannery Row the one with the stages of drunkenness description? Haven't read either of these for nearly two decades....
Yeah, I was wondering about all the thee/thou/thine stuff. It seemed out of place. Not all of the characters talked like that, though. Wasn't it just Pablo and Pilon?I agree with Robert's endorsement of East of Eden, though. It's a favorite.
I think English really lost something by losing thee/thou/thine. As an English lit major who's studied both French and Spanish, it dawned on me rather late that the English thou is the equivalent of "tu", the familiar, affectionate form of "you". "Thou" would only be used for one's family and closest friends. Try reading the King James Bible or Shakespeare with that in mind. It makes a big difference in meaning.
That is helpful in understanding the characters of Tortilla Flat also, Sandi. Thanks!
This book has nothing to do with race. Nice try
Well, your thee/thou convo helped clear that bit up for me. It felt jarringly out of place. It kept making me think of Shakespeare and elves causing mischief.
Maclain wrote: "This book has nothing to do with race. Nice try"Really? I find that hard to believe- good or bad themes of racism are a common thread thru all of Steinbecks writing. He was a good socialist and gave equal time to blacks, Mexicans (& Mex-AMericans)and many other marginal groups he wanted to write about. I think just by his writing he brings attention to issues to racism
I think the difference is between Steinbeck being a racist and Steinbeck bringing attention to racism. It's kind of like how Twain brings attention to racism in The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. He shows it for what it is--ignorance.
In East of Eden Steinbeck does practice a "positive stereotype," of Lee the family's confidant, care-taker, and structurally in the novel the feminine counterpart or mother figure - which is problematic as it continues a tradition of emasculating and "feminizing" Asian and Asian American men. Lee is also endowed with the "intuitive" knowledge that Kate is not quite right. On the other hand, East of Eden also provided a central and pivotal role for an Asian male at a time when Asian men when rendered nearly invisible or stereotyped beyond caricature ( a l Broken Blossom)I don't think that Steinbeck intended to contribute to racism or stereotypical imagery about people of color - here I'm speaking only of East of Eden, but he did. And I think, from having also read The Pearl,Grapes of Wrath that Steinbeck did have a positive association/fascination with people of color who he deemed "other." and that sometimes unintentionally he "othered" or used short-hand tropes of others within his novels. That, however, isn't too far from what he did with his white characters who also stand in for tropes...
For someone who wrote so evocatively about class and social hierarchy the dicussion of race is surprisingly (or not depending on perspective) muted in comparison to Steinbeck's authentic discussions and examples of class, poverty, and expansionism.
I still heart Steinbeck though.
Hey Sarah! You should have just told me there was an Asian in EOE. I would have read it sooner! lol
OK, I will approach this from a completely different perspective..... Steinbeck's Tortilla Flat to me is the most beautifully exquisite story about a man with his dogs.....when I first read the novel I was overwhelmed by the dogs running to the church to be with their master and afterwards deep in the woods amongst the towering trees his recreating for his dogs what had happened during church service. Suddenly rays from the sun shoot down through the trees and the owner and his dogs who are staring at the sky believe it to be a sign from St. Francis.....it is what the viewer wants to believe too.
I am currently rereading the book and appreciate your comments about judging the main characters. Really, you're supposed to love them and not judge.
Good advice for life in general, Grant.
I don't think the book is racist. The main characters don't seem any different the the white Ne'er-do-wells in Cannery Row/ Sweet Thursday like Mack.
If you read Steinbeck's "Travels with Charley" he is clearly not racist in that. He even throws out a hitchhiker he picked up out of his truck for saying racist things to him. Of course he wrote that when he was older. Still he said this in defense of "Tortilla Flat"..."Steinbeck discovered that many readers didn't accept the paisanos with the generosity of vision that he did. They were judged by many to be bums - colourful perhaps, eccentric, but bums nonetheless. This evaluation hurt Steinbeck. In a foreword to a 1937 Modern Library Random House edition of the book, he wrote: "..it did not occur to me that paisanos were curious or quaint, dispossessed or underdoggish. They are people whom I know and like, people who merge successfully with their habitat...good people of laughter and kindness, of honest lusts and direct eyes. If I have done them harm by telling a few of their stories I am sorry. It will never happen again." This foreword was never reprinted.
Might it not have been preferable for you to actually review John Steinbeck's Tortilla Flat rather than to attempt a commentary on the temper of the times during which the author lived & wrote?
I鈥檓 terribly sorry if my review does not live up to your standards, Quo. Oh wait. I really couldn鈥檛 care less.
To be a racist or not to be a racist. That is the (only) question.
I'm Mexican American I have live in both countries and Danny and his friends could easily be found in either. IMO this book focuses more on the ignorance that tend to go hand in hand with poverty. I found nothing racist about it.
I think I need to re-read some Steinbeck books other than "Grapes of Wrath" and "Of Mice and Men".