Just be strong Let everythinf go, we will. ""||2279 blue spruce dr culpeper va 22701-4121||""
| When Tom greets Oakhurst he tells him a little about himself He had decided to leave Sandy Bar and go to Poker Flat he says with his sweetheart Piney Woods to make his fortune and marry Piney Her father Jake Woods had opposed the marriage so they had no alternative but to run away Piney who is plumply attractive rides up just thendemure and embarrassed and innocentfrom behind a pine tree Uncle Billy is about to say something untoward when Oakhurst kicks him Anyway it seems young Tom and Piney want to join Oakhurst and his company of outcasts but Oakhurstwho doesnt want them tagging alongpoints out that they have no provisions and no place to stay However Tom says he has a pack mule loaded with supplies He also found an abandonedlog house nearby It is a roofless ruin but it does have walls
Piney can stay with Mrs Oakhurst the youth says He thinks the Duchess is Oakhursts wife Uncle Billy is about to laugh but remembers Oakhursts foot So he walks off up the canyon out of hearing range then does his laughing When he returns everybody is sitting by a fire talking At that moment an idea pops into his alcoholic brain causing him so much amusement that he shoves a fist into his to stifle a laugh That night the women sleep in the cabin and the men near the fire Just before dawn Oakhurst awakens and sees snow Uncle Billy is gone So are all the animals Fortunately though all the supplies had been placed in the cabin At daylight Oakhurst reveals a pair of snowshoes he made out of a pack saddle then tells Tom to use them to reach Poker Flat Its the only way to save his sweetheart he says Oakhurst says he will walk out a little way with Tom then return Before leaving he kisses the Duchess which amazes her
At nightfall there is no sign of Oakhurst It is snog again While the Duchess tends the fire she notices that someone had piled wood next to the fireenough to keep it going a good while longer Tears well in her eyes but she doesnt let Piney see them The snow meanwhile continues through the next day and into the evening The women now realize the end is near In the morning they lack the strength to keep the fire going and it slowly dies Piney can you pray the Duchess says No dear
The Duchess puts her head on Pineys shoulder and they fall asleep They sleep the rest of the day and into the next Then voices and footsteps break the silence around the cabin and a hand brushes snow from the faces of the two women The narrator says You could scarcely have told from the equal peace that dwelt upon them which was she that sinned Even the law of Poker Flat recognized this and turned away leaving them still locked in each others arms
On a nearby pine tree is a knife stuck through the two of clubs On the card is a message written in pencil There is goodnessand even heroismin the heart of many of societys outcasts John Oakhurst the Duchess Mother Shipton all behave selflessly when creeps up on them For example they treat the two young people with utmost consideration and kindness Oakhurst could have used his snowshoes to return to civilization instead he gave them to Tom Simson Mother Shipton and the Duchess act as surrogate mothers to Piney Woods Except for Uncle Billy all the characters are tolerant of one another as they attempt to keep up their spirits under extremely difficult circumstances Mother Shipton the Duchess and Piney Woods die nobly and courageously Oakhurst chooses suicide revealing that he was at once the strongest and yet the weakest of the outcasts of Poker Flat the narrator says
Hypocrisy The citizens of Poker Flats secret committee appear upright and just at least to themselves However in regard to John Oakhurst they are hypocrites After all they sat down at the poker table with him becoming gamblers themselves But after losing to him they run him out of town One citizen John Wheeler even suggests hanging him then taking back their Indifference of Nature
Nature shows no mercy to the outcasts After Poker Flat rejects them heavy snow isolates them The sky clears offering them hope only to form new clouds that bring more snow John Oakhurst may be a poker player par excellence but he cannot defeat Mother Nature
The of The Outcasts of Poker Flat occurs when John Oakhurst fails to return to the cabin after seeing off Tom Simson on the latters snowshoe trek back to Poker Flat It is at this point that the Duchess and Piney accept the imminence of Harte as a Local Colorist
Bret Harte is among the American writers associated with the localcolor genre Besides presenting narratives in a regional dialect localcolor writers or local colorists attempted to portray life in the various sections of burgeoning America Harte for example focused many of his stories on the goldmining camps and towns However rather than writing soberly realistic stories local colorists tended to write stories infused with eccentrics as characters and whimsical plotting according to William Flint Thrall and Addison Hibbard authors of A Handbook to Literature Thrall and Hibbard also note that local colorists emphasized verisimilitude of detail without being concerned often enough about truth to the larger aspects of life or human nature | | | | |
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