Literary Elements of The Outcasts of Poker Flat by Bret Harte

"The Outcasts of Poker Flat" is a short story by Bret Harte about a western town that has banished a

group of improper people. Local color is first shown in the beginning of the story when Harte talks about the

people that will be banished later on in the story. Harte described the characters using familiar western types.

The Duchess, a prostitute, another who had won the title of Mother Shipton, a witch, and Uncle Billy a suspected

sluice robber and confirmed drunkard. The use of local color is shown as Harte describes the characters

appearance. Bret Harte also uses local color in the dialogue that he gives to his group of characters. As Mr.

Oakhurst returns to the group he speaks in a particular dialect, "Is this yer a d____d picnic?" This dialogue is an

example of the way that people actually talked. "The Outcasts of Poker Flat" shows local color by describing

the use of a southern type dialect. Local color can be shown in a particular dialect,occupations, and Topography.

This dialogue Harte us...