A Study Of The Theme And Dramatic Features Of Tortilla Flat

John Steinbeck is a famous American realistic writer in 20th century. He won thePulitzer Prize for fiction in 1940 and the Nobel Prize for literature in 1962 for hiskeen social perception, and his persistence in thematic or technical exploration. Hehas produced many successful works, including not only novels, but also screenplays,and essays. However, he has been labeled as "proletarian writer" for a long time,which has brought simplified understanding of his fiction poetics in the critic circle.Actually, his novels have the pluralistic feature, profound meanings, and obviousdramatic elements. Many of his works like The Grapes of Wrath, Tortilla Flat, RedPony, Of Mice and Man, The Moon Is Down, Pear, and so on have been adapted intofilms or plays and have been highly appraised. Among them, Tortilla Flat, Of Miceand Man, The Moon Is Down, and Burning Bright are called "play-novelettes" bySteinbeck himself.Tortilla Flat was Steinbeck's first public success, and an important turning pointin his artistic development. Steinbeck tried out the innovative form to unify contentand structure. The dramatic structure and techniques help to make the novel moreconcise, while the narrative characteristics of the novel can extend the content of theplayscript, and therefore attract more readers for the work. This play-novelette TortillaFlat produced great impact on Steinbeck's later works, both in theme and dramaticform. The thesis probes into the theme of Tortilla Flat and analyzes its dramaticfeatures, through close reading, and referring to related critical theories and researchmaterial.The thesis consists of five chapters. Chapter One gives a general introduction toJohn Steinbeck and his Tortilla Flat. Chapter Two reviews the critical studies of JohnSteinbeck at home and abroad, and gives a brief summary of the critical study ofTortilla Flat and play-novelette.Chapter Three concentrates on the theme of Tortilla Flat. The theme—beauty ofsimplicity is brought forward through the analysis of the social and historicalbackground and life experiences of John Steinbeck, especially the influence frommarine biologist Edward F. Ricketts' "Is "thinking ideology.Chapter Four employs Louis E. Catron's analysis of playwriting and Steinbeck'sidea on play-novelette to deal with the dramatic features in Tortilla Flat, including itsdramatic structure, dramatic characters, seenography, and dramatic language. Sincethis novel is mainly made up of dialogues, special attention is paid to the dramaticdialogues. With the aid of cooperative principle, the author of this thesis tries toanalyze how the dramatic dialogues function to individualize characters, presenttheme and provide background information. Finally, Chapter Five makes a conclusion of the thesis, pointing out that TortillaFlat is a creative combination of novel and drama, and it is a successful attempt towrite a novel in a dramatic form. The play-novelette shows Steinbeck's constantinnovation in artistic techniques and his persistency in creating an appropriate form toachieve a balance between content and structure. With the strengths of novel and play,the play-novelette manifests the theme successfully. The author of this thesis believesthat the study of Tortilla Flat can shed light on the artistic charm of play-novelette andrenew people's interest in the study of Steinbeck's works.