The Outcasts of Poker Flat (Magill’s Survey of American Literature, Revised Edition)
At a glance:
- Author: Bret Harte
- First Published: 1869
- Type of Work: Short story
- Genres: Short fiction, Regional fiction, Adventure
- Subjects: Values, Gambling, Murder or homicide, Prejudices or antipathies, Prostitution or prostitutes, Pretensions, Gold mines or mining
- Locales: California
“The Outcasts of Poker Flat” opens as John Oakhurst, a gambler (and a minor character from Harte's earlier “The Luck of Roaring Camp”), steps onto the main street of Poker Flat on November 23, 1850. He realizes that the citizens of Poker Flat are continuing their purge of undesirable elements and that he may be among the next lynched or driven out of town. He observes, ironically, their vigilante tactics and concludes that the town is “experiencing a spasm of virtuous reaction, quite as lawless and ungovernable as any of the acts that had provoked it.”
Oakhurst, a...
[The entire page is 915 words long]
Join eNotes
Over 3,500 study guides, question and answer forums, literature criticism, reference content, and much more!
See Also
