Regionalism

The Outcasts of
Poker Flat
Bret Harte
 BIG IDEA - Regionalism (1880)
After the Civil War
Also known as the local color movement
Portrayed the traits of particular areas of
the United States
Attempted to describe the landscape,
speech, customs, and other cultural details
of their chosen region
 Bret Harte
Born in New York but went
west when he was 18
One of the best paid writers of
his time
$10,000 for 12 stories
Moved to Boston to write
Died of throat cancer at 66
The characters in Western
films are modeled after Hartes
stereotypes
 Hartes Stories
Told stories of the rude, lawless life of the
California gold-mining country
Authors focused on real people, small
towns, and regional lifestyles in order to
remember the country before the Civil War
 Important Literary Elements in
Regionalism
Dialect (Why blame my cats, if he dont
weigh five pound!) The Celebrated
Jumping Frog of Calaveras County

Setting Page 469

Characterization
 Direct characterization
writer makes clear statements about a
character
 Indirect characterization
the writer reveals a character through what
other characters think or say or what that
character says or thinks
 READING STRATEGY
Making Generalizations
A broad statement based on a few facts,
descriptions, or examples
 Impropriety
The quality of being improper;
inappropriate behavior

EX: Newspapers accused the mayor of

impropriety when he hired his relatives.
 Malevolence
A disposition to wish harm to others; ill will

EX: The bullys malevolence caused other

children to fear him.
 Equanimity
Evenness of temper; calmness

The teacher became known for her

equanimity during disruptions.
 Hypothesis
An unproved explanation or assumption

Sharons hypothesis was that a tree

branch was causing the tapping sound.
 Seclusion
Separation from others; isolation

Seeking seclusion, the famous movie star

shunned fans and reporters.
 Outcasts
To be outcast is to be driven out or
rejected
In this story, the outcasts are forced out of
town with the threat of death if they return
 Outcast
John Oakhurst
-gambler
 Outcast
Uncle Billy
-suspected sluice-robber
-drunkard
 Outcast
The Duchess
-younger escort
 Outcast
Mother Shipton
-older escort
 Innocent
Tom Simson
 Innocent
Piney Woods
 Group questions
What are the reasons we make people
outcasts?
Can a person be an outcast without
physically going somewhere else?
Explain.
Is making people outcasts something that
is essentially good or evil? Explain.
 The idea of fortune vs free will
The concept of luck is ubiquitous in the
story.
John Oakhurst at one point says Luck is
a mighty queer thing. All you know about it
for certain is that it will change. And its
finding out when its going to change that
makes you p. 681
The term luck here we can understand as
fate, destiny, or fortune
 The attempt to escape fate
For Oakhurst everything in life is seen as
events that are either lucky or unlucky. He
uses gambling metaphors throughout the
story and sees life as a series of gambles.
It would seem then that he does not
believe in free will yet I dont think this is
the case.
 One example is when he takes money
from Tommy and gives it back to him.
This is early evidence that Oakhurst
believes in free will and wants to change
the world around him.
 Mother Shipton
Mother Shipton is similar to Oakhurst and
his idea of luck.
She speaks of her death as going she
wants to believe that it is a certainty.
But we know that she actually stopped
eating so she could give her food to Piney.
How does this connect to the Oakhurst
quote I mentioned earlier?
Does this seem like an act of free will
 Oakhursts death
Oakhursts death has multiple
interpretations in the story.
The simplest is that he didnt want to
freeze to death
Another could be that he simply gave up
hope because he knew he would die
But his death could also be connected to
free will
 Escaping fate
Suicide is considered a sin in
Christianity
But in the story it may be the final
attempt at taking control of your own
life.
He was going to die anyway but by
shooting himself he gets to control the
method and time that he dies.
 By killing himself Oakhurst
may have decided that he did
not want to gamble with life
and death anymore
 He was going to die anyway
but by shooting himself he
gets to control the method
and time that he dies.
What do you think of this
interpretation?
 His grave card also mentions that his
streak of bad luck ended the day he
died because he handed in his
checks
We initially would interpret this as
saying that he no longer had luck
because he died.
But its possible that his bad luck
ended because he was no longer
controlled by luck or fate.
 Handing in his checks could refer to the
fact that he no longer had money when he
died.
But it could also mean that he stopped
gambling with his life and decided to finally
take control of his destiny.
With this interpretation how do you feel
about Oakhurst?
Does the end quote he who was at once
the strongest and weakest of the outcasts
mean anything differently.