Orient Saloon Research Paper

Three, Seven, Ace

The year is 1890 in Bishee, Arizona. The air is dry and the wooden sign reading "Orient Saloon" is splintered and cracked. Stock promoters, road agents and con-men sit at a tension filled table, liable to erupt into a sudden shoot-out. Tony, the proprietor, keeping a close watchful eye on the singer, ‘Nifty' Doyle, as Murphy, the dealer, puts down the losing card; a Queen of Spades. Mining stocks and life savings go to the lucky dealer in the black fedora. "‘A fine game!" said the players," (Pushkin 182). Again, never losing a beat, the dealer collects bets. Faro was undoubtedly one of the most popular card games during the eighteenth century. The rules of the game were simple. The dealer held a complete fifty-two card deck, from which he drew cards, one for himself, placed on the right, and the other placed on the left. The dealer won all the money stacked on the card on the right, and had to pay double the sums stacked on those on the left. With the simplicity of the game, it was easy to
By twisting Keats list of romantic definitions, one could contrive a parallel between spirituality and the romantic fascination with myths and mysticism, (Keats). In this sense, some believe good or bad luck can be influenced through spiritual means. Often, if proper respect is not given towards the spirit of a person, it is believed that this leads to misfortune –bad luck. Hermann did not intend on killing the countess but he also did not give her the proper respect she deserved. So did the countess make Hermann lose the game? Pushkin presents the reader with this spiritual misfortune. The consequences end up causing Hermann to seem insane, just as the game of Faro historically does. "At that moment it seemed to him that the queen of spades opened and closed her eye, and mocked him with a smile. He was struck by the extraordinary resemblance... / ‘The old woman!' he cried in terror," (Pushkin