Character Clues
Character Analysis
Actions
The way the different characters, especially Danny's friends, act in the book tells us a lot about each of them. For example, Pilon schemes to steal the Pirate's stash but is completely convinced to help the Pirate keep it safe once he finds out what all that money is stashed away for—and the others go along with the plan.
Big Joe, however, is weak and gives in to the temptation to steal some quarters. This tells us that he doesn't have the same principles as the rest of the group. His punishment is brutal:
Then Pilon tore off the blue shirt and exposed the pulpy raw back. With the can-opener he cross-hatched the skins so deftly that a little blood ran from each line. Pablo brought the salt to him and helped him to rub it in all over the torn back. At last Danny threw a blanket over the unconscious man.
"I think he will be honest now," said Danny. (12.23-24)
The punishment reveals as much about Pilon, Pablo, and Danny as the crime does about Big Joe. They won't let anyone hurt their innocent friend (who, by the way, stands by during the punishment), and they won't let anyone take away or tarnish the symbol the their friendship.
Clothing
The duds on Danny's friends are another important way to learn about them. Take Big Joe, who has a nice pair of pants he got from being in the army: those pants tell us where he's coming from. Not only was he in the army, he's also kept these pants in shape and wears them, we would guess, to look kind of snazzy.
The Pirate, on the other hand, only has one pair of shoes full of holes, "cut for the comfort of bunions, where the toes showed through. Pilon solved it finally with a little soot from the inside of the stove. Well rubbed into the skin, the soot made it quite difficult to see the bunion holes" (12.66). The fact that the Pirate has tattered clothes and needs to cover up the holes in his shoes with soot shows us just how impoverished the he is.
Food
The friends get almost all of their food through begging or stealing. The Pirate is their main beggar, and he visits certain restaurants every day to get his fill of leftovers. Pilon, on the other hand, is more about stealing food and then trying to justify it with some moral gymnastics.
It's hard to judge these guys too much, though. After all, when Teresina's family goes hungry due to the bean crop failure, the friends jump into action and go around stealing more than they ever would for themselves to help her out: "Here a chicken was taken, there a whole patch of pumpkins. Paladini Company reported the loss of two one-hundred-pound cases of abalone steaks" (13.53).
Food, like money, is hard to come by in Depression-era Tortilla Flat. Are the friends right or wrong to steal for themselves? Are they right or wrong to steal for Teresina and her kids?