Morality vs. Immorality
In Bret Harte’s “The Outcasts of Poker Flat,” a committee of citizens from a struggling mining town in Gold Rush-era California banishes a group of undesirable residents: John Oakhurst (a gambler), Mother Shipton and the Duchess (prostitutes), and Uncle Billy (a drunk). Society firmly brands these four outcasts as immoral and thus deserving of whatever fate may befall them as the make the dangerous journey through the mountains to the next town over. And indeed…
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Fate
Like a template for countless strong, silent Western heroes in old movies, protagonist John Oakhurst is a stoic. He perfectly embodies the word, which means someone who accepts hardship without complaining or showing emotion. Initially, this seems admirable—when he receives the sentence of banishment from his town, Oakhurst reacts “with philosophic calmness,” making him appear strong and unflappable. However, stoicism was also linked in Harte’s time not just to acting calm but to accepting one’s…
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The Brutality of the Old West
While many Western stories have the protagonists battling outlaws, Harte introduces his characters battling the law itself. It is a “change in moral atmosphere” of the townspeople, not bad guys in black hats, that sentence the titular outcasts to death. Even more deadly than the townspeople, nature is the force that actually kills the outcasts—there is no dramatic shootout or rough-and-tumble fight. Through his depiction of how unforgiving life can be in Old West towns…
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