How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #1
And then he said the loveliest words he knew, "Ave Maria, gratia plena—"
The feet of the bad Pilon had stopped moving. In truth the bad Pilon for the moment had ceased to exist. (3.20-21)
The words that Pilon speaks when he has this mystical epiphany are in Latin. Translated into English, they mean: "Hail Mary, full of grace—" That's the beginning of a prayer to the Virgin Mary in the Catholic Church. That those words are the most beautiful ones he knows shows us that he has a very positive idea of the Church—and of the Virgin Mary.
Quote #2
A soul washed and saved is a soul doubly in danger, for everything in the world conspires against such a soul. (3.22)
Do you think that Steinbeck is right? Are the people who have just decided to get on the right path the ones who are going to get the most temptation when they get back out into the world? Or is this just an excuse for Pilon's bad behavior?
Quote #3
"A mass is a mass," said Pilon. "Where you get two-bits is of no interest to the man who sells you a glass of wine. And where a mass comes from is of no interest to God. He just likes them, the same as you like wine. Father Murphy used to go fishing all the time, and for months the Holy Sacrament tasted like mackerel, but that did not make it less holy." (4.19)
Pilon compares God to a bartender, saying that neither God nor a bartender cares where you get your money from as long as you give it to them. His story about how the priest used to make the Communion wafer taste like fish shows that the Church caters to the experience of the people in Tortilla Flat. It's a part of their dirty, ordinary lives, not something that's far away and unreachable.
Quote #4
In the sky, saints and martyrs looked on with set and unforgiving faces. The candle was blessed. It belonged to Saint Francis. Saint Francis will have a big candle in its place tonight. (5.49)
Hold on, we're not talking about the Pirate's candle. The candle in this quote is Danny's house itself, after the friends accidentally set it on fire. In the Catholic Church, the tradition of burning a candle for a particular saint has to do with pleasing that saint so that he or she will hear your prayer. Maybe Danny's house burning was the way to bring all the friends together to one place, and for that reason it is compared to a holy candle. What do you think their "prayer" might be?
Quote #5
"How did the fire start?"
"We don't know," Pilon explained. "We went to sleep, and then it started. Perhaps we have enemies."
"Perhaps," said Pablo devoutly, "perhaps God had a finger in it."
"Who can say what makes the good God act the way He does?" added Jesus Maria. (6.18-21)
When Danny gets on his friends' backs for burning down his rent house, they immediately bring out the heavy artillery and pass the buck on to God. What can you say to that? This trick makes it really hard for Danny to be mad at them, because if it's really the Lord working in mysterious ways, then who is he to question it?
Quote #6
The Pirate shook his head. "No: I cannot do that. It is promised. I have nearly a thousand two-bitses. When I have a thousand I will buy a gold candlestick for San Francisco de Assisi.
"Once I had a nice dog, and that dog was sick; and I promised a gold candlestick of one thousand days if that dog would get well. And," he spread his great hands, "that dog got well." (7.100-01)
The Pirate is saving his gold to buy a candle for Saint Francis. Here we learn more about the tradition of the candles: the Pirate explains that he had made a promise to buy the saint a candle if his dog got well. We can see how devout the Pirate is because he's been saving up for years to keep his promise.
Quote #7
Such was his reputation that Pilon had once said, "If that Jesus Maria had gone into the Church, Monterey would have had a saint for the calendar, I tell you." (10.4)
Jesus Maria is such a goody-two-shoes, always helping everybody out, that his friends consider him to be a saint. In the Catholic Church, each day on the calendar is assigned to a saint, so that's why Pilon says that Monterey would have had a saint for the calendar if Jesus Maria had become a priest.
Quote #8
It is true that for a time they had dreamed of how much wine it would buy, but after a while they lost the conception of it as legal tender. The hoard was aimed at a gold candlestick, and this potential candlestick was the property of San Francisco de Assisi. It is far worse to defraud a saint than it is to take liberties with the law. (12.2)
The fact that the Pirate's money is intended to buy a candle for Saint Francis makes the money holy. This money is transformed from something ordinary and dirty into something so special that it's untouchable. In a way, that's what the novel itself is about: making these ordinary characters into something special, revealing how they are "holy."
Quote #9
For a time the Pirate sat looking at the altar, but it was too remote, too holy to think about very much, too unapproachable by a poor man. His eyes sought something warmer, something that would not frighten him. And there, in front of the figure of Saint Francis, was a beautiful golden candlestick, and in it a tall candle was burning. (12.77)
Inside the church, where there are social norms (like dressing up nicely and not bringing your dogs in), Danny's friends don't feel particularly comfortable. They're so poor that they don't feel welcome, but by buying the gold candlestick, the Pirate has found a small part of the church where he belongs.
Quote #10
The Pirate was so happy that his heart pained him. "Did you see him?" he cried. "Was it San Francisco? Oh! What good dogs you must be to see a vision." (12.99)
Saint Francis of Assisi was famous for loving animals, so it's only fitting that here, after the Pirate buys a candlestick dedicated to him, the saint would appear to the dogs that the Pirate loves like his own children. We think the narrator is joking around a little: because the Pirate doesn't turn around to see the vision, we can never know exactly what the dogs saw. We just have to go on faith.