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.