The Outcasts of Poker Flat

In Bret Harte's "The Outcasts of Poker Flat," the town expels four individuals deemed undesirable by a secret committee aiming to cleanse the community. The outcasts include John Oakhurst, a...

The realization that Uncle Billy is plotting against the other outcasts becomes clear when he feels excluded after Tom and Piney arrive with horses and provisions. Uncle Billy's distrustworthiness is...

Uncle Billy is distinct from the other outcasts in "The Outcasts of Poker Flat" because he is the only one guilty of a true crime—being a drunken nuisance and a suspected thief. Unlike the others,...