TORTILLA FLAT by John Steinbeck Henry James wrote that the novel is to be experienced--therefore the reader must completely understand what happens in it. You should appropriate comparisons, contrasts, draw analogies of what is in the novel and one's own experience. While the elements of fiction are important in isolated ways, relating the parts is most important. A novel should show, "a direct, personal impression of life." The form of the novel is so free, so liable to variation, so open to innovation, that an exact definition is not possible. Different things happen in novels; the situation changes. Each connection becomes the province of the plot. The position from where events in the plot are reported is the point of view. What do the viewing characters perceive in Tortilla Flat? Is there omniscience--an all-seeing, all-knowing narrator? The shifts in point-of-view is also common in Steinbeck's novel. The theme is the personal and direct impression of life which Steinbeck projects.
English: John Steinbeck
Grave site of John Steinbeck and family
English: Own Work. 2007. National Steinbeck Centre...The setting in Tortilla Flat shows the story took place in a certain time and place. Setting also reveals character. Symbols, ideas beyond the object itself and images, perceptible to the senses--the novelist's use of concrete objects and events is most important in letting the reader know what is meant and how the writer wants the reader to feel about what is going on. Tone is the result of style [style recommends certain attitudes or conclusions following technical means of diction, syntax and imagery. Serious style employed to recount ridiculous events often helps establish a comic or satiric tone. Sometimes tone is achieved through contradiction. [Some types of tone are: forward, solemn, formal, informal, intimate, pompous, scholarly, angry, contemptuous, humorous, satirical, melancholy, prudish, flippant, cautious, sentimental etc.
WHAT IS THE PURPOSE OF THE NOVEL? 1. Literature is a mirror reflecting...