Bret Harte's Gold Rush: Outcasts of Poker Flat, the Luck of Roaring Camp, Tennessee's Partner, and Other Favorites

From the familiar opening tableau to the token cast of characters, "The Outcasts of Poker Flat" had given me the false impression that it was fighting for the title of "The Quintessential Western". With a setting crucial to the plot, a regional dialect, and roles now iconic of the old "Wild West", the story is a prime selection for a study of local-color fiction-but the fact that it loosens the fetters of clich? with originality, allows it to transcend the genre. Unconcerned about "throwing the first stone", the incongruously named town of Poker Flat makes a capricious show of moral superiority and rids the town of its undesirables. In an obvious "tip of the hat" to irony, three of the exiles required the willing cooperation of the townspeople to commit their fateful crime. After suffering banishment, the four ordained pariahs are assailed by a storm. Oakhurst, the poker-faced conventional Western hero, selflessly refuses to leave behind the others when they underestimate the situation and decide to wait the blizzard out. Only after the na?ve and comparably innocent, Tom Swinson and Piney Woods, enter the scene, do noble characteristics of the prostitute and her madam become apparent. In these unadulterated eyes the "soiled" women are given another chance. These virtues may have never been tapped and now redemption is a possibility or the women may have always been honorable and the town in a sanctimonious fit has discarded two "queens". It is doubtful that with the altruism and courage displayed in the story that the characters are, in any significant way, inferior to the citizens of Poker Flat. Surprisingly, the stereotypical hero, Oakhurst is the only one to fold his cards when the odds get too steep. Brave acts abound amongst the more unlikely heroes. The "innocent" treks to Poker Flat to save his new bride and she, the child, comforts another when her own life is diminishing. It is appropriate that Bret Harte is studied along with Mark Twain. Although, most critics consider Bret Harte a popular writer and product of the era, he will remain notable for introducing the world to Twain's work. Twain has even cited that he was inspired by Harte's regional fiction and subsequently influenced. Regardless if the novice supplanted the master, Harte's "Outcasts of Poker Flat" has deservedly remained a canonical text.

John Oakhurst, on death row is outside in a nerby camp.Then one day, aparently killed himself.