ipl-logo

Character Analysis Of Mr. Oakhurst In The Outcasts Of Poker Flat

717 Words3 Pages

In 1869, Bret Harte wrote a short story “The Outcast of Poker Flat.” This time period was during the gold rush, and he believed the Americans had no right to kill the Indians. He decided to write a short story explaining to the Americans how inhumane it was to kill the Indians and take over their territory. In “The Outcasts of Poker Flat,” Harte represents Mr. Oakhurst’s personality as easy going, calm, and unselfish. In “The Outcasts of Poker Flat” by Bret Harte, Mr. Oakhurst’s caring personality is tested multiple times throughout the short story, but he never gets upset or overwhelmed.
Mr. Oakhurst's personality is tested when he knew he could be kicked out of Poker Flat. In the short story, the townspeople have developed a committee that decides if someone needs to be banished from Poker Flat or if they can stay in the town. The committee is trying to decide if they need to terminate Mr. Oakhurst out of Poker Flat. Mr. Oakhurst’s profession is …show more content…

Oakhurst's personality continues to be tested when the party wants to stop on their adventure to Sandy Bar. The committee decided to dismiss the Duchess, Mother Shipton, Uncle Billy, and Mr. Oakhurst from Poker Flat. Mr. Oakhurst knew they had to make it to Sandy Bar that day or they would have been caught in snow. In “The Outcasts of Poker Flat” Harte explains, “At noon the Duchess, rolling out of her saddle upon the ground, declared her intention of going no farther, and the party halted” (8). This quote explains that even though Mr. Oakhurst knew that the party did not have time to stop, but his passive personality allowed the Duchess to stop anyways. He thought of life like the way he gambled. When the Duchess decided to stop and get off her horse, he knew it was like giving up in a poker match before it was fully played. Mr. Oakhurst’s personality was tested because he could have just left the party, but instead he stayed even though he knew they probably were going to get caught by the

Show More
Related

The Outcasts Of Poker Flat By John Oakhurst

402 Words | 2 Pages

At the beginning of The Outcasts of Poker Flat, the character John Oakhurst is introduced as a gambler, who has a calm tone and handsome face, with a compassionate, generous, honorable attitude, along with valuable leadership skills. Throughout the story, John Oakhurst shows qualities of being the strongest and then the weakest character. He shows his noble side when he returns money to Tom Simson, also known as “The Innocent”, after he won a gamble. Mr. Oakhurst considered it to be an unfair match due to Tom’s little experience with gambling and returned his money to Tom and told him to not gamble. However, the town of Poker Flat “a secret committee” gets rid of the improper citizens and Mr. Oakhurst was designated as one of them due to strong and lucky gambling skills.

Read More

Stereotypes In The Outcasts Of Poker Flat By Bret Harte

1049 Words | 5 Pages

Bret Harte an American writer known for his touch of local color, settings of the California gold rush and his character stereotypes such as “the grizzled prospector, the dance-hall girl with a heart of gold, and the smooth gambler” (505) in his literary works. Some of these portrayals of the west so famous that they have long endured past the gold rush to modern culture (505). These character stereotypes These styles Harte developed shine through in many of his short stories such as “The Outcasts of Poker Flat”, “The Luck of Roaring Camp”, and “The Idyll of Red Gulch”. “The Outcasts of Poker Flat” is a short story about a group of outcasts whom are said to be tainting the town of poker flat with their behavior. Upon their banishment they

Read More

The Notorious Jumping Frog

875 Words | 4 Pages

In “The Notorious Jumping Frog of Calaveras County”, the dialect establishes the tone between the narrator and Wheeler by having Wheeler tell a series of stories about a betting man named Smiley. The narrator makes a point to emphasize that Wheeler is a just average person and that he has little interest in interviewing him about a likely mad up story about a man named Smiley. This results in the tone of the story being nonchalant. For example, “…it would remind him of his infamous Jim Smiley, and he would got to work and bore me to death with some exasperating reminiscence of him as long and tedious as it should be useless to me. I that was the design, it succeeded.”

Read More

Discrimination In Richard Wagamese's Indian Horse

1188 Words | 5 Pages

The detrimental and unfair categorization of people by race, gender and more, commonly known as discrimination, affects many in society both mentally and emotionally. Many instances of this act of hatred occurred among Aboriginal and Native Canadians in the 20th century. However, for a little Native Indian boy stepping onto the rink, this is the norm that surrounds him. Saul Indian Horse, in Richard Wagamese’s “Indian Horse”, faces discrimination head on, where his strengths for hockey are limited by the racial discrimination from the surrounding white ethnicity. Consequently, this racism draws him into a mentally unstable state, where he suffers heavy consequences.

Read More

Christopher Mccandless A Tragic Hero

1014 Words | 5 Pages

Although some of Christopher McCandless' decisions portray him as an anti-hero, his personality and determination demonstrate the qualities of a tragic hero, one who makes mistakes but still tries to follow his beliefs and ideals. Christopher McCandless is often described as a sociopath, and although he did hurt those around him, he was aware of what he had done and was beginning to reconcile with the idea of returning to society. McCandless had walked away from his parents and the life they had built for him. His father comments upon this, saying how he didn’t know how “‘a kid with so much compassion could cause his parents so much pain’” (104).

Read More

Sweat Hurston Character Analysis

1101 Words | 5 Pages

This essay will critically evaluate the fictional character named Sykes. It will analyze Sykes Jones individual qualities with a focus on at least more than three traits. The traits I will speak on is, abuse, laziness, and disrespect. Sykes Jones is a protagonist’s husband, and abusive man who psychologically and physically tortures his wife. He gains pleasure by

Read More

Outcasts Of Poker Flats By Bret Harte

432 Words | 2 Pages

Every single person has judged another person at least once in their life,which isn’t very ethical but everyone does it. In the “Outcasts of Poker Flats,” Bret Harte writes about four people who were kicked out of the town of Poker Flat by being unfairly judged. Harte uses character development,deception,and plot to signify that you never truly know a person until you put in the effort to do so,and you can’t go off of rumors,what someone else believes,or what you think. Harte relies upon character development in order to express that one element in a person's life should not symbolize who that person is without getting to truly understand the person and their decisions. Just as Mother Shipton changed herself throughout the story in the beginning of the story Mother Shipton was furious and not so nice.

Read More

Comparing The Lone Ranger And Tonto Fistfight In Heaven

571 Words | 3 Pages

Writer Sherman Alexie has a knack of intertwining his own problematic biographical experience with his unique stories and no more than “The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven” demonstrates that. Alexie laced a story about an Indian man living in Spokane who reflects back on his struggles in life from a previous relationship, alcoholism, racism and even the isolation he’s dealt with by living off the reservation. Alexie has the ability to use symbolism throughout his tale by associating the title’s infamy of two different ethnic characters and interlinking it with the narrator experience between trying to fit into a more society apart from his own cultural background. However, within the words themselves, Alexie has created themes that surround despair around his character however he illuminates on resilience and alcoholism throughout this tale.

Read More

The Outcasts Of Poker Flat Ethos

411 Words | 2 Pages

Mr.Oakhurst showcased his good morals by not cheating while gambling, however, the townspeople show cased by morals because they exiled him from the town based on the unproved words of others. In the same story, Harte writes about a prostitute named Duchess that was excelled because of her promiscuous activities. Because of the societal beliefs that promiscuous activities were considered immoral and shameful, the towns people exiled Duchess. The societal oppression caused towns people to conform their beliefs and opinions to the beliefs and opinions that were accepted thus leading to depression of the individuals who did not

Read More

Analysis Of Absolutely True Diary Of A Part-Time Indian By Sherman Alexie

1121 Words | 5 Pages

In his book the Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, Sherman Alexie portrays a teenage boy, Arnold Spirit (junior) living in white man’s world, and he must struggle to overcome racism and stereotypes if he must achieve his dreams. In the book, Junior faces a myriad of misfortunes at his former school in ‘the rez’ (reservation), which occurs as he struggles to escape from racial and stereotypical expectations about Indians. For Junior he must weigh between accepting what is expected of him as an Indian or fight against those forces and proof his peers and teachers wrong. Therefore, from the time Junior is in school at reservation up to the time he decides to attend a neighboring school in Rearden, we see a teenager who is facing tough consequences for attempting to go against the racial stereotypes.

Read More

The Luck Of Roaring Camp Analysis Essay

775 Words | 4 Pages

"The Luck of Roaring Camp" is a poignant short story written by Bret Harte, nineteenth-century master of the genre. In this realism tale set during the Californian gold rush era, the author successfully depicts how humanity can be concealed within a squalid and crude world. In it, a new-born child has a civilizing influence on men in more than one way: the tragedy of his birth brings the men together; he has the power to assemble them as a society, a culture. Secondly, the men become more polite, cordial towards one another. Thirdly, they have rites like all societies, giving a meaning to all lives in the camp.

Read More

Indecisiveness Of March Characterization

496 Words | 2 Pages

In this passage, Brooks’ characterization of March reveals and emphasizes a constant inner conflict, one in which March searches to be morally or ethically correct with his decisions. Often times, March applies a pressure to himself, as he hopes to satisfy both himself and those around him. For instance, when given the opportunity to educate Prudence, March responds, “why don’t I do as Annie suggested and ask Mr. Clement? He is a scholar and loves learning; I am sure he will see that this is a good thing for all the children, not just Prudence…” (Brooks 31).

Read More

Dancing In The Woods The Crucible

1021 Words | 5 Pages

How can someone be so clueless about what people are telling him and the truth? Then there is putnam who has a history of accusing people of things like witchcraft  so that he can buy their land. Throughout the whole play he has been against everyone and is just trying to gain

Read More

Character Analysis Of Anney Boatwright In Bastard Out Of Carolina

1117 Words | 5 Pages

The Betrayal of Anney Boatwright in Bastard Out of Carolina Thrust into motherhood at the age of fourteen Anney Boatwright sets out to prove she is a good caring mother. Throughout a Bastard Out of Carolina by Dorothy Allison, she provides examples of Anney Boatwright as a loving mother of Reese and Bone, but then instances occur that show that might not be true. This essay will show that Anney Boatwright appears to love and care about her family, but fails as a mother because she lacks introspect, puts her daughters at risk, and abandons her family. Anney Boatwright shows time and time again that she lacks introspect, which repeatedly has a negative impact on her family. She marries Glen Waddell, who appears charming, but has a darker side.

Read More

Literary Devices Used In The Story Of An Hour

550 Words | 3 Pages

“The Story Of An Hour” uses Literary Devices. Literary Devices are specific language techniques which writers use to create text that is dear, interesting, and memorably. The literary devices in “The Story Of An Hour” are Irony, Symbolism, Imagery, and Allegory. Irony means the expression of one’s meaning by using language that normally signifies the opposite, typically, for humorous or emphatic effect. Symbolism is the use of symbols to represent ideas or qualities.

Read More

More about Character Analysis Of Mr. Oakhurst In The Outcasts Of Poker Flat

Related Topics

Open Document