Tortilla Flat Characters: Full List & Analysis

Who drives the story

Main characters

Danny

A mule-driver home from the war who inherits two houses and becomes the reluctant lord of Tortilla Flat. Ownership slowly crushes him; he goes mad, sells his house, and dies in a fall at his own farewell party.

Appears in:: Part 1: The Heir and His Knights; Part 2: The Pirate's Treasure; Part 3: Love, Death, and a Bag of Quarters; Part 4: Danny's Fall and the Burning House
Themes:: The Round Table of the Poor; The Poison of Possession; Miracle and Magic in the Everyday; Women, Lust, and Beating as Courtship

Pilon

The cleverest of the friends, a schemer who trades roosters, blankets, and pants for wine while insisting on his own honor. He punishes theft from the host, guards the Pirate's vow, and steals the wine for Danny's wake.

Appears in:: Part 1: The Heir and His Knights; Part 2: The Pirate's Treasure; Part 4: Danny's Fall and the Burning House
Themes:: Friendship Without Ledger

Pablo

Pilon's subtenant and drinking companion, whose candle to Saint Francis burns down the house and whose song 'Tuli Pan' soundtracks its final burning.

Appears in:: Part 1: The Heir and His Knights; Part 4: Danny's Fall and the Burning House

Jesus Maria Corcoran

A good man and hopeless romantic who keeps taking in strays, from a corporal with a dying baby to stories of hanged lovers. He is the group's soft heart.

Appears in:: Part 1: The Heir and His Knights; Part 3: Love, Death, and a Bag of Quarters; Part 4: Danny's Fall and the Burning House
Themes:: Friendship Without Ledger

The Pirate

A mentally disabled man with five dogs who sells kindling for twenty-five cents a day and saves every quarter to buy Saint Francis a golden candlestick. The only paisano who works, and the only one who keeps a vow.

Appears in:: Part 2: The Pirate's Treasure; Part 3: Love, Death, and a Bag of Quarters
Themes:: The Round Table of the Poor; The Poison of Possession; Miracle and Magic in the Everyday

Big Joe Portagee

A thief and drunk who steals from his own host, gets beaten unconscious twice, and finds love while being beaten by Tia Ignacia in a muddy road.

Appears in:: Part 2: The Pirate's Treasure; Part 3: Love, Death, and a Bag of Quarters
Themes:: The Round Table of the Poor; Women, Lust, and Beating as Courtship

Torelli

The local shopkeeper, cheated on a vacuum cleaner with a wooden motor, who holds Danny's bill of sale and loses the wine Pilon steals. The book's devil in an apron.

Appears in:: Part 1: The Heir and His Knights; Part 2: The Pirate's Treasure; Part 4: Danny's Fall and the Burning House

Also in the story

Supporting characters

Teresina Cortez

An unmarried mother of nine who feeds her children nothing but tortillas and beans, gleans the fields, and keeps producing babies with seemingly no particular help.

Appears in:: Part 3: Love, Death, and a Bag of Quarters
Themes:: Miracle and Magic in the Everyday; Women, Lust, and Beating as Courtship

How they are connected

Key relationships

Pilon Danny
He punishes theft from the host, guards the Pirate's vow, and steals the wine for Danny's wake.
Pilon The Pirate
He punishes theft from the host, guards the Pirate's vow, and steals the wine for Danny's wake.
Pablo Pilon
Pilon's subtenant and drinking companion, whose candle to Saint Francis burns down the house and whose song 'Tuli Pan' soundtracks its final burning.
Torelli Danny
The local shopkeeper, cheated on a vacuum cleaner with a wooden motor, who holds Danny's bill of sale and loses the wine Pilon steals.
Torelli Pilon
The local shopkeeper, cheated on a vacuum cleaner with a wooden motor, who holds Danny's bill of sale and loses the wine Pilon steals.

Go deeper

Tortilla Flat themes & symbols

The Round Table of the Poor · The Poison of Possession · Miracle and Magic in the Everyday · Friendship Without Ledger

Themes explained

Read the full Tortilla Flat summary

The full story act by act, the ending explained and a quick quiz.

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