Bret Harte

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Bret Harte

• The Outcasts of Poker Flat

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Bret Harte

• 1836-1902
• Born in NY. Moved to CA in 1854
• American writer of short stories and humorous
  verse
• Wrote picturesque stories of Western local color
• Used a reporters style

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Bret Hartes Famous Works

• The Luck of Roaring Camp
• The Outcasts of Poker Flat
• Witty tales of frontier California

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California Gold Rush

• Gold Rush camps were often self ruled
• First gold was easy to find
• Later only the suppliers became rich
• Transient populations
• Stereotype characters from short stories to film

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The Outcasts of Poker Flat

• The title reflects the setting and the
  characters.
• Setting
• Near the mining town of Poker Flat, CANov. 1850
• Characters
• All outcastsbecause of their supposed
  immorality.

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The Outcasts

• The professional gambler
• The prostitute
• Her madam
• A drunkard suspected
• thief

• John Oakhurst
• The Duchess
• Mother Shipton
• Uncle Billy

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The Outcasts

• forbidden to return at the peril of their lives

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The Other Characters

• Tom Simson
• Piney Woods

• The innocent of Sandy Bar
• Toms fiancée

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The Characters

• Who escapes?
• Who dies heroically?
• Who facilitates the rescue?
• Who is rescued?

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The Meaning

• Is this a realistic and touching story about
  Gold Rush characters who come to a pathetic end?
• Or, is it written tongue in cheek? What about
  the spasm of virtuous reaction that made them
  outcast in the first place? Compare that to their
  sudden moral reformation.

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Contrast

• The Sinners vs. the Innocents

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Themes

• Tolerance and forgiveness
• Appearance and reality
• The ominous power of nature