Throughout the book Tortilla Flat, by John Steinbeck, there are several cases where the paisanos rationalize the things they do to make them seem better to themselves, and to make other people see things their way. The rationalizations vary, but most are made by Pilon, and are used in some way to benefit Danny, or seem to.
             The rationalizations come in very early in the book. Pilon finds himself in need of food for himself and Danny. He therefore goes to the neighbor's yard and looks at some chickens, to which he gives an explanation, and rationalization, of what he is about to do. "Poor little bare fowl. How cold it must be for you in the early morning, when the dew falls, and the air grows cold with the dawn...Life is too hard for you, little bird"(15). He then kills the chicken for food. He did, however, feel it necessary to justify the death of the chicken. In his eyes he showed the chicken that it was better off dying for a person's food, than suffering in life. This is an obvious rationalization for something that Pilon knows really isn't as good as he's making it seem, to the chicken, and himself.
             Later on in the book there is another blatantly obvious rationalization. Danny wants to take up with his neighbor Mrs. Morales. He needs the rent money from his friends so he can buy the lady a box of candy. His friends feel that if he buys candy for her, he will eat some, and then get a toothache. So they decide to buy wine for her instead of candy, but feel they should buy the wine themselves, for if they give the money to Danny and explain themselves, Danny could still buy candy and harm himself. "But...If our friend Danny takes big candy to Mrs. Morales, he will eat some too. So it us the teeth of our friend that will ache...But maybe Danny will pay no heed to our warning. If you give the money to that Danny, you can't tell what he will do with it. He might buy candy anyway...Maybe if we buy the wine ourselves and give it to D...