Alcoholism has been the problem for almost any society due to individuals that consume it in inadequately large amounts. These people’s behavior leads to the development of a grave social problem because alcohol addiction significantly affects their lives. In the modern world, people tend to connect alcohol consumption with health problems, but it also affects other aspects of life of an alcoholic such as intellectual development, socialization, and criminal behavior. As a result, people tend to stigmatize alcoholics and use them as a negative example of morally weak individuals who suffer from addiction and harm the surrounding community. The novel Tortilla Flat by John Steinbeck explores these topics presenting a life of a small community of assimilated immigrants, some of which suffer from alcoholism. Depicting the life of a representative of one of the social minorities, the author expresses his visions of a destructive force of alcoholism. The story of Danny, his friends and community could have been drastically different and free of ridiculous and sorrowful episodes if they refused from alcohol consumption.

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The most important things are usually told in a ridiculous form. Although Tortilla Flat possesses a serious message, the author speaks of the ludicrous heroism of his characters throughout the literary work. From the first page of the novel, Steinbeck mocks the epic tradition using sentimental dialogs, a lyrical tone, symbolism, and ironic characterization. In this respect, Tortilla Flat can be defined as a thought-provoking and thrilling novel that depicts a story of paisanos who live in the two houses belonging to one of them. Furthermore, the writer portrays his characters as usually drinking and dawdling people, who engage in different affairs and quests. While the story takes place after the end of the Great War, the specific attention is drawn to the drunken patriotism. In the novel, characters enjoy drinking wine, which eventually causes them to be involved in certain problems. Therefore, Steinbeck’s humorous approach to alcoholism conveys the message of the spiritual degradation of his characters, who drink wine to ease the pain of life.

Summary

The story of Tortilla Flat is set in Monterey, California where lives a specific community of mixed-race individuals that resemble Mexican immigrants or Latin Americans. They have a mixture of Caucasian, Spanish, Indian, Mexican and other bloods but recognize themselves as being of purely Spanish blood, call themselves “paisanos” and speak a mixture of Spanish and English, the paisano accent (Steinbeck). Their description by the author resembles a mockery due to the ironic portrayal of their language, customs, and behavior. For instance, in the preface, he compares their presence in California with the Ancient Britons embattled in Wales, living in old wooden houses, and surrounded by pine trees, grass and various kinds of bushes (Steinbeck).

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The image of paisanos contrasts with the image of the American culture because they represent a social minority of mainly unemployed individuals stuck in the past. Moreover, there is one critical factor, namely wine, that serves as a catalyst in the novel and inevitably leads to its consumption by paisanos, thereby causing alcoholism. The inhabitants of Tortilla Flat seem to consume and produce alcohol of various types in large quantities because its protagonists buy, steal or share with each other different drinks. Sometimes, their behavior is ridiculous, as in the case with one of the men Pablo Sanchez who was going to steal a goose but failed because the goose bit him to scream (Steinbeck). Moreover, he was incarcerated but released on parole because, as he said, “The judge said the sentence did me no good, and the police said I ate more than the allowance for three men” (Steinbeck). The cases similar to this one occur quite often, and the author’s irony makes the protagonists more appealing to the reader than they are. Therefore, Tortilla Flat ironically depicts the destructive power of alcohol, which dooms the life of a small community to endless decay and degradation.

The protagonist of the story is a paisano man aged about thirty named Danny, who used to drink wine and sleep on the streets surrounded by his friends that shared a similar lifestyle. The author compares them to the knights of King Arthur or the brotherhood of Robin Hood mainly focusing on the spirit of joy and union that made them “one thing” (Steinbeck). However, instead of any brotherhood or knight code,
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