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.
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 e
XVII. Danny's Friends Depart Alone-Burn 2nd House (Talisman)
Pablo "Life is never the way you plan." (Concept of mutability) He feels he is a petty servant of society.
1. Students each give one point they know about Steinbeck's
VI. Candle for St. Francis of Assisi Starts House on Fire
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