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This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. What do Pilon and Joe sneak into Morales's yard to get?

2. Why can Danny not get the water turned on in the house?

3. What do Pilon and Pablo wish it would rain from the sky?

4. Who shares wine with Pilon and Pablo?

5. Who is Pilon?

Short Essay Questions

1. How does Pilon try to convince the Pirate to come live in the house with the paisanos?

2. Where does Pilon actually move and who does he invite to move in with him?

3. How does Big Joe Portagee become a tenant in Danny's house?

4. Why do the paisanos follow the Pirate every morning?

5. What is Big Joe's experience with Pilon on St. Andrew's Eve?

6. What happens to Jesus Maria and what inspiration does Pilon have for the pink bra?

7. Describe how Pilon and Joe dig for their treasure and what do they find?

8. What does Pilon explain about keeping the treasures one finds in a St. Andrew's Eve dig?

9. Which woman is Danny interested in and what is the attraction?

10. What do the paisanos learn is in the Pirates' canvas bag and what is done with the bag at the house?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

The paisanos are a band of homeless men who live together in Danny's house. Why do Danny and the boys become like a family after awhile? How do they exhibit behaviors inherent in families? What lessons is Steinbeck trying to teach about the various ways that families can be created, outside of the obvious biological combinations?

Essay Topic 2

How does Steinbeck use the literary technique of local color in Tortilla Flat? What elements comprise local color? Give some examples of the local color in Tortilla Flat establishments. In the characters. In the events.

Essay Topic 3

Overall, the residents of Tortilla Flat become one big family. Describe the elements necessary to comprise a family. Explain some of the ways that the Tortilla Flat family is dysfunctional. Explain some of the ways that the Tortilla Flat family is quite normal.

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 1,003 words (approx. 4 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample