The Outcasts Of Poker Flat Character Analysis

Robert Smith American Literature
Professor Liu 2/23/2017

Throughout American Literature characters are represented in many different lights, some better than others. John Oakhurst in “The Outcasts of Poker Flat” by Bret Harte is a old school western man who is an avid gambler. Morgan in “The Pupil” by Henry James is a young boy who has a very kind but weak heart. Editha in “Editha” by William Dean Howells is a woman who only sees the romantic sides of life and not the whole picture. All three characters have very different obstacles to conquer
Harte states that he is an avid gambler who solely lives his life by chance and luck. Oakhurst realizes a change in moral in Poker Flat and shortly after he is banished from the land. As the story progresses Harte begins to show a lighter, good side of Oakhurst. After he is banished from Poker Flat he runs into a man by the name of Tom Simson who he previously gambled with and took a massive amount of money from. What we learn is Oakhurst returned all the money to Tom and warned him not to play anymore. Just by this happening John Oakhurst goes from a flat character to a round character. By the end of the story Oakhurst and Tom go to find help and supplies due to the weather and lack of food. John Oakhurst’s body was found under a tree with his gun laying beside him and a note pinned to a tree with a bowie knife stating, “Beneath this tree lies the body of John Oakhurst who struck a streak of bad luck on the 23rd of November, 1850, and handed in his checks on the 7th December, 1850” (Harte 40). This shows how at the same time John Oakhurst was the strongest and yet the weakest of the outcasts of Poker Flat since he was the only one of the group that took his own
He forms a very good relationship with his tutor Pemberton who is a very good man but also comes off as quite naive. Another interesting thing about this relationship is the fact even though Morgan is the younger of the two he comes off more clever than his own tutor. Morgans biggest flaw is that he has the weakest heart but yet the greatest heart of all the characters in the story and that comes to light by the end. Morgan's parents act and behave very irresponsibly, their biggest flaws are that they are very manipulative and live life way beyond what their income allows. It becomes clear that his own parents can’t continue to pay Pemberton so they ask him to give them money in order to keep themselves afloat which Pemberton simply laughs at. Pemberton agrees to work for free as long as he can be honest with Morgan, Morgan already knew and expected that this would happen which shows how intelligent Morgan truly is. By the end of the story the Moreens want Pemberton to become solely responsible for the child and even though he wants to he knows he is not ready for that responsibility. Even though Morgan knew all along that his parents did not want him he couldn’t believe that his very own tutor who he had formed such a strong relationship with didn’t want him either. His poor little weak heart couldn’t take it, and right there on the spot he dropped dead from a broken