The outcasts of poker flat text

And pulseless and cold, with a Derringer by his side and a bullet in his heart, though still calm as in life, beneath the snow lay he who was at once the strongest and yet the weakest of the outcasts of Poker Flat.

Narrator

This is the narrator's final word on John Oakhurst, wherein the narrator plays with the idea that although Oakhurst is often represented as the stoic, macho presence in the group, he was simultaneously its weakest member. In taking his own life, Oakhurst at once bravely resigns himself to his luck running out, and, in a perhaps cowardly fashion, evades the pain of a prolonged natural demise. Perhaps, the narrator suggests, Oakhurst was dead long before he took his own life, as he looks as stoic in death as he did while alive. Ultimately, Oakhurst's suicide poses a question about about strength and weakness as it relates to fate and chance.

"'Luck,' continued the gambler, reflectively, 'is a mighty queer thing. All you know about it for certain is that it’s bound to change. And it’s finding out when it’s going to change that makes you.'"

John Oakhurst

Despite being the story's protagonist, John Oakhurst is often notably silent as the plot unfolds. As a result, this quotation stands out as one of few insights into Oakhurst's interiority that the narrator allows the reader. In it, we see encapsulated the story's fatalistic tone regarding the influence of luck on one's fate and character. That the narrator refers to Oakhurst, a well-established character at this point, as "the gambler" is likewise notable, as it highlights the irony of this admission: a person whose career is built on the idea that they are particularly skilled at playing card games admits his victories have all depended on luck. Most of all, this quotation foreshadows Oakhurst's suicide, as it signals that Oakhurst recognizes his luck changing even before the other characters realize that they are doomed. In this way, Oakhurst might envision himself as victorious when he com

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As Mr. John Oakhurst, gambler, stepped into the main street of Poker Flat on the morning of the twenty-third of November, 1850, he was conscious of a change in its moral atmosphere since the preceding night. Two or three men, conversing earnestly together, ceased as he approached, and exchanged significant glances. There was a Sabbath lull in the air which, in a settlement unused to Sabbath influences, looked ominous.

Mr. Oakhurst's calm, handsome face betrayed small concern in these indications. Whether he was conscious of any predisposing cause was another question. "I reckon they're after somebody," he reflected; "likely it's me." He returned to his pocket the handkerchief with which he had been whipping away the red dust of Poker Flat from his neat boots, and quietly discharged his mind of any further conjecture.

In point of fact, Poker Flat was "after somebody." It had lately suffered the loss of several thousand dollars, two valuable horses, and a prominent citizen. It was experiencing a spasm of virtuous reaction, quite as lawless and ungovernable as any of the acts that had provoked it. A secret committee had determined to rid the town of all improper persons. 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. I regret to say that some of these were ladies. It is but due to the sex, however, to state that their impropriety was professional, and it was only in such easily established standards of evil that Poker Flat ventured to sit in judgment.

Mr. Oakhurst was right in supposing

Short story by Bret Harte

"The Outcasts of Poker Flat" (1869) is a short story written by author of the American West Bret Harte. An example of naturalism and local color of California during the first half of the nineteenth century, the story was first published in January 1869 in the magazine Overland Monthly. It was one of two short stories which brought the author national attention.

Plot

The story takes place in a Californian community known as Poker Flat, near the town of La Porte. Following the loss of several thousand dollars and two horses, and the death of a notable resident, the town has formed a secret committee to rid itself of any "improper" people, hanging two and banishing others. On November 23, 1850, four such individuals are exiled from Poker Flat and warned not to return on pain of death. The first of them is a professional poker player, John Oakhurst, who has won large amounts from those on the secret committee. On his way out of town, he is joined by two women, the Duchess and Mother Shipton, and Uncle Billy, the town drunk and a suspected robber. These four set out for the Sandy Bar mining camp, a day's journey away over a mountain range. At noon, over Oakhurst's protests, the group stops for a rest.

While on their rest, the group is met by a pair of runaway lovers on their way to Poker Flat to get married, Tom Simson (known also as "The Innocent") and 15-year-old Piney Woods. Simson has met Oakhurst before and has great admiration for him, as Oakhurst won a great deal of money from Simson. Oakhurst had returned the money and urged Simson to quit gambling, as he was a terrible player. Nonetheless, Simson is thrilled to have come upon Oakhurst on this day and decides that he and Piney will stay with the group for a while. They are unaware of the group's status as exiles, and Simson assumes that the Duchess is Oakhurst's wife, to the amusement of Uncle Billy.

A decision is made for ev

Local color writing was an important part of the American literary chronicle during the latter part of the nineteenth century, and many writers tried their hand at it. One who made a significant contribution to the genre was Bret Harte, an easterner turned westerner who found in the mining camps of California his own gold mine of material for his literary efforts.

Harte had a deep feeling for those pioneer gold seekers, gamblers, and prostitutes who lived their lives in a devil-may-care, reckless fashion but who at the same time had the capacity for love and compassion in a setting that was not the most conducive for such. In "The Outcasts of Poker Flat," first published in 1869 and then collected in The Luck of Roaring Camp, Harte focuses on the theme of the regenerative power of human love in a world where nothing can be assumed. He also presents an ironic contrast between self-righteousness and self-sacrifice.

Poker Flat, like most California mining camps of the time, is not a model of social decorum, but, as occasionally happens in communities, some of the leading citizens feel that the place needs to spruce up its image. Several thefts and a murder give rise to a kind of pseudomoralistic stance that demands a scapegoat or two to redeem Poker Flat's honor. Indeed, as John Oakhurst, the gambler who appears in a number of Harte's stories, ventures out on the street one morning, he senses a "Sabbath lull in the air, which in a settlement unused to Sabbath influences, looked ominous." In fact, in a cleansing ritual by some of the more upstanding citizens, Oakhurst has been targeted as one of several undesirables to be run out of town. His companions include two prostitutes, the Duchess and Mother Shipton, and Uncle Billy, a town drunk—an apt set of characters for a Harte story.

Left by their escort at the edge of Poker Flat, the four outcasts set off toward Sandy Bar, another mining camp, where they hope to re