The story uses an allusion to compare the story of the “outcasts” to the work of the Greek poet Homer, making this smaller tale seem related to a larger tradition of tragedy and heroism. To cheer up the freezing band of exiles, Tom “The Innocent” tells and retells sections of the Iliad to Mr. Oakhurst and the company, distracting them from the storm:
And so for the rest of that night the Homeric demigods again walked the earth. Trojan bully and wily Greek wrestled in the winds, and the great pines in the cañon seemed to bow to the wrath of the son of Peleus. Mr. Oakhurst listened with quiet satisfaction. Most especially was he interested in the fate of “Ash-heels,” as the Innocent persisted in denominating the “swift-footed Achilles.”
As he tells the stories, Tom mixes the language of ancient Greek myth with the wild Western landscape around them so that the two seem fundamentally connected, especially as he tells them in “the current vernacular of Sandy Bar.” The “great pine” trees and whistling wind that surround the group are, in these scenes, apparently affected by the heroes of Tom’s story, not by the raging storm all around the "outcasts." This makes the dangerous adventure seem more palatable to the company.
The stories of the Iliad bond the "outcasts" as a community and provides some comfort and distraction as they sink further into isolation. Alluding to the Iliad also supports Harte's description of the "outcasts" as besieged by cruel fate, as the characters in this and many other Greek tragedies also have little control over their destinies. Oakhurst, as a leader and father figure, seems to feel deep sympathy with the character of Achilles.
Here Harte alludes to another tragic figure who dies of an unlikely cause, and whose fate was pre-ordained for him. This allusion helps the reader understand how Oakhurst sees himself: not as a criminal, but as a hero down on his luck. When, after a week has passed with “much of Homer and little of food,” however, this joyful comparison begins to wear thin. “Homer is forgotten” for the characters, if not for the reader, under the oppression of their dire circumstances.
