Theme of the outcasts of poker flat. Literary Analysis Of ' The Outcasts Of Poker Flat ' Essay 2019-01-12

The Outcasts of Poker Flat Essay Example for Free

However, romanticized depictions of the Gold Rush often overlook the unhappy outcome of the event for many prospectors. Mother Shipton saw it, and from a remote pinnacle of her rocky fastness, hurled in that direction a final malediction. The secret committee of Poker Fat had decided to purge the town of sinners when the town lost several thousand dollars, tow horses and a prominent citizen Harte 1. But when he returned to the party, he found them seated by a fire—for the air had grown strangely chill and the sky overcast—in apparently amicable conversation. It formed a prison they could not escape. That to me shows the utmost courage in the world. Under a tall tree a playing card was stuck into the wood by a knife.

Literary Analysis

They had once played cards and Oakhurst had won. Fortunately, the secret committee members who were lucky enough to win from Mr. They said he looked peaceful. Video games, the most universal and popular pastime of humans. The lovers parted with a long embrace. Around noon, Mother Shipton became so tired she fell off her horse.

FREE The Outcasts of Poker Flat Essay

John Oakhurst is a gambler who often wins money in playing cards with people in Poker Flat. Mother Simpson was exiled because she did bad things. Oakhurst showed extreme calmness is when the men come to take him away, and he just took what is coming. It brought the storm again and the whirling snow. To compensate for the decline in income, Harte began a career as a public speaker, giving lectures to Eastern audiences about life in California during the Gold Rush. A suspicion leaped to his brain and a curse to his lips.

Literary Analysis

Certain inhabitants of Poker Flat feel that the community is going down the hill. As the lovers parted, they unaffectedly exchanged a kiss, so honest and sincere that it might have been heard above the swaying pines. Most especially was he interested in the fate of “Ash-heels,” as the Innocent persisted in denominating the “swift-footed Achilles. By describing these characters as capable of kindness and sacrifice, Harte demonstrates that we should favor kindness and tolerance over judgement and condemnation. ” said Uncle Billy, with inward scorn, as he surveyed the sylvan group, the glancing firelight, and the tethered animals in the foreground. The Duchess, more cheerful than she had been, assumed the care of Piney.

The Outcasts of Poker Flat Themes

The earliest adaptation was a 1919 silent film produced by Universal Studios. He knew their situation was hopeless and there was a remote chance that Piney may be saved from death if Tom miraculously makes it to Poker Flat. This was done permanently in regard of two men who were then hanging from the boughs of a sycamore in the gulch, and temporarily in the banishment of certain other objectionable characters. He simply states that he ran out of luck on a certain day. At midnight the storm abated, the rolling clouds parted, and the stars glittered keenly above the sleeping camp. Oakhurst’s calm infected the others.

Literary Analysis

But after the game, he told young Tom that he was too easy to beat. However, the journey requires passage over a difficult mountain trail. Saying you don't drink or ar … e addicted to it means that you are different and can't fit into the standard social groups people are normally in. That night the women spent in the log house and the men lay before the door. Tom Simson takes on a dangerous event and travels down the mountain through the snow to save the outcasts. Best remembered as the author of a handful of short stories depicting the rigors of life during the California Gold Rush, Bret Harte enjoyed a lengthy literary career working variously as a journalist, poet, and playwright.

Bad Guys in The Outcasts of Poker Flat by Bret Harte Essay

For that reason alone, he was not well liked. Only Mother Shipton—once the strongest of the party—seemed to sicken and fade. The narrative describes these exiles as working in unfavorable professions: John is a gambler, the two women are prostitutes. Oakhurst showed courage was when he kicked Uncle Billy to stop him from laughing. His new writings failed to achieve the acclaim of his earlier stories, and he was no longer able to command premium prices for his work. John Oakhurst had been both the strongest, and the weakest, of the outcasts of Poker Flat. His suicide spurs the question whether he was simply giving in to his bad luck or rather, decided he was no longer going to live by luck and took his life.

Bad Guys in The Outcasts of Poker Flat by Bret Harte Essay

That to me shows extreme calmness. Such scholars as James K. Mother Shipton: Mother Shipton is an older Madame who takes on a maternal role in the group. And it continued to fall. The thought of deserting his weaker and more pitiable companions never perhaps occurred to him. From behind a tree came his new wife, a girl named Piney Woods. Isolating lepers would thus prevent the vulnerable members of a population as much as 5 percent from contracting it.