The Luck of Roaring Camp (Magill’s Survey of American Literature, Revised Edition)
At a glance:
- Author: Bret Harte
- First Published: 1868
- Type of Work: Short story
- Genres: Short fiction, Regional fiction
- Subjects: Child rearing or parenting, North America or North Americans, United States or Americans, Gambling, Nineteenth century, Prostitution or prostitutes, California, West, U.S., Mines, miners, or mining, Childbirth, Southwest, Orphans or orphanages, Gold mines or mining, Luck or misfortune
- Locales: California
“The Luck of Roaring Camp,” written in Harte's characteristic narrative style, begins with a depiction of approximately a hundred men standing outside a shack in which “Cherokee Sal” is giving birth unattended. Because there are no other women in the mining community, Kentuck, “a prominent citizen,” sends Stumpy, a bigamist seeking refuge in the lawless Roaring Camp, in to help Sal. Stumpy has “had experience in them things.”
While Stumpy tries to help Sal, the other men of Roaring Camp wait outside, smoking pipes and wagering on the survival of Sal and the...
[The entire page is 808 words long]
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