The Outcasts of Poker Flat”
In the short story “The Outcasts of Poker Flat” by Bret Harte we see a reoccurring theme with the characters within the story. Most of the characters in “The Outcasts of Poker Flat” seemed to be “bad guys”, majority prove by the end of the story that they were genuinely good people. The theme that even wicked people can change is very prevalent with three characters. The town of Poker Flat was determined to get rid of specific characters that were cause for trouble and harm to the community. John Oakhurst, The Duchess, and the owner of a brothel Mother Shipton were the troublemakers that they had to get rid of.
Mother Shipton, the first troublemaker, was a prostitute in the gambling town of Poker Flats. Mother Shipton had that “bad girl” mentality for being a prostitute. Mrs. Shipton and the other characters in the story were banished from Poker Flats and would later find themselves snowed in at a cabin in the California Mountains. While snowed in the reader can see Mother Shiptons' perceived character change. They had little to no food and their ...
"The Outcasts of Poker Flat" is a short story by Bret Harte about a western town that has banished a
No matter what actions or words a mother chooses, to a child his or her mother is on the highest pedestal. A mother is very important to a child because of the nourishing and love the child receives from his or her mother but not every child experiences the mother’s love or even having a mother. Bragg’s mother was something out of the ordinary because of all that she did for her children growing up, but no one is perfect in this world. Bragg’s mother’s flaw was always taking back her drunken husband and thinking that he could have changed since the last time he...
The first character the book introduces to the reader to is Rorschach, Walter Joseph Kovacs, one of the main characters. Rorschach reveals his past and why he wears a mask on page eleven. Walter’s past is revealed in chapter six when he is examined by a psychiatrist. The psychiatrist gives Walter ink blots and his first vision is of his mother and a man. Also on chapter six, the reader, see that his mother was a prostitute who worked out of her home. Her reasons for practicing prostitution appear when she interacts with Walter. On page four of chapter six, Walter walked into his mother’s bedroom while she was entertaining a man. As soon as his mother realizes he is watching she hits him across the face. "You little shit! You know what you cost me, you ugly little shit. I shoulda listened to everybody else! I shoulda had the abortion." (Pg.4, chap.6, panel 6-7) Walter’s mother did’nt hesitate to physically or verbally abuse him. Her first reaction was to punch him in the face. This reflects the issue of a chain of a abuse. Walter’s mother was probably abused in more ways than one by her parents. Through her behavior of name calling and the rage she portrays it is most likely she was subjected to the same as a child. She basically told Walter that she didn’t want him and regretted having him. She neglects Walter of attention and love, just as she was by her parents. Both Walter and his mother are dealing with issues of neglect and a craving for attention. As a prostitute, we see on page three in chapter six Walter’s mother substitutes sex for love, attention, beauty, and care. She begs her male friend to stay, "Oh baby, please, listen. he’s kinda backwards. Please don’t get mad." She begs the man to stay because having sex makes her feel beautiful because the men want her and touch her. In chapter 6 on page three she says, "Oh you’re hurting me." She says this to her male customer, she did not make him ...
The author?s decision to narrate the story from a first-person point of view allows the reader to gain insight into the mother?s struggle that wouldn?t have been available otherwise. Throughout the beginning of the story, the mother describes both her views of herself and of her daughters. She sees Dee as being superior to both she and Maggie. Dee always gets what she wants, whether it be through her family...
The story also focuses in on Ruth Younger the wife of Walter Lee, it shows the place she holds in the house and the position she holds to her husband. Walter looks at Ruth as though he is her superior; he only goes to her for help when he wants to sweet talk his mama into giving him the money. Mama on the other hand holds power over her son and doesn’t allow him to treat her or any women like the way he tries to with Ruth. Women in this story show progress in women equality, but when reading you can tell there isn’t much hope and support in their fight. For example Beneatha is going to college to become a doctor and she is often doubted in succeeding all due to the fact that she is black African American woman, her going to college in general was odd in most people’s eyes at the time “a waste of money” they would say, at least that’s what her brother would say. Another example where Beneatha is degraded is when she’s with her boyfriend George Murchison whom merely just looks at her as arm
Even though they might appear as mischievous, bitter, or timid people change… or do they? People change most of the time “for the better” some do not. Some change because they are forced to and some change because they want to. In the short stories, “American History,” “Charles, “and “Utterly Perfect Murder”. The main characters are examples of change throughout the story because they started off one-way and come out another. Imagine getting up every morning, going to school, and acting out and repeatedly doing that everyday. At some point it gets old. That would make someone want to make a change. In the same way holding a grudge against someone for 30 plus years would make you want to let it go. Finally being picked on and having the worst
The mother plays a very important part in this story. The mother from the beginning of the story is dealt with a difficult decision of how to feed her 2 boys after her husband leaves her. Since the husband worked, he brought food into the house, but when he left, there was no one who worked. The mother had to get a job, which made her tired. When the mother came home from work tired, she would send the boy to the store. When the mother found out that the neighborhood boys were beating up her son, she repeatedly sent him to the store, so he faces the boys and learns to stand up for himself.
Narrated by the mother of two daughters, the story opens with an examination of one daughter's favoring of appearances over substance, and the effect this has on her relatives. The mother and her younger daughter, Maggie, live in an impoverished rural area. They anticipate the arrival of the elder daughter, Dee, who left home for college and is bringing her new husband with her for a visit. The mother recalls how, as a child, Dee hated the house in which she was raised. It was destroyed in a fire, and as it was burning, Dee "(stood) off under the sweet gum tree... a look of concentration on her face", tempting her mother to ask, "'why don't you do a dance around the ashes?'" (Walker 91) She expects Dee will hate their current house, also. The small, three-room house sits in a pasture, with "no real windows, just some holes cut in the sides" (Walker 92), and although, as Dee asserts, they "choose to live" in such a place, Dee keeps her promise to visit them (Walker 92). Her distaste for her origins is felt by her mother and Maggie, who, in anticipation of Dee's arrival, internalize her attitudes. They feel to some extent their own unworthiness. The mother envisions a reunion in which her educated, urbane daughter would be proud of her. In reality, she describes her...
People from different social classes lead different lives and treated differently by others. Society never promotes equality but categorizes them. In Bastard Out of Carolina, unfair treatment provokes characters who are in the bottom of the society and destroy them mentally. The author, Dorothy Allison tells in the novel of how anger could build up from the social inequities and personal insecurity that possibly burns one's true identity.
The writer Bells Hooks remembers her mother as a young fifties women who loved learning from the commercials and magazines about motherhood. She had learned about not letting the children know about grown-up problems so, she would discuss the problems with her husband in their room than in front of their children. She had married the writer’s father after a divorce with two children. She loved fun and freedom just like her husband. She was really happy when she had finally left her mother’s house which was full of old traditions and morals.
Here are something’s that I’ve found in the story of The Outcast of Poker Flat. The first reason why I think that Mr. John Oakhurst is a outcast is because he is nothing but a gambler that does nothing but causes trouble with most people. Then plus it doesn’t say that he has a family or friends so that makes him a loner which he is a outcast. The next one is that two or three men, conversing earnestly together, ceased as Mr. John Oakhurst had approached the mens and they had changed signifiant looks. But that is one reason why I think that Mr. John Oakhurst is a outcast is because all the people in the town and how they act and look at him like he is the bad guy which
Section 1 The Woman On The Street: In this short section Jeannette Walls tells a story the recently happened to her rather than during her childhood. Jeannette Walls is taking a ride in a taxi on the way to a party in New York City. On the way she sees her mother, who is homeless, picking through the garbage. After a few moments of watching her mother, she asks the driver to take her home. Alone at home while her husband is at work she thinks about her mother's lifestyle and calls a friend who keeps in contact with her mother to setup a meeting with Rose Mary, her mother, at a chinese restaurant. At the restaurant Walls discusses her mother's lifestyle and asks what she can do to help because she is ashamed of Mary. Mary proceeds to tell Jeannette that being shameful is foolish and to accept her way of life.
Marie, who is a product of an abusive family, is influenced by her past, as she perceives the relationship between Callie and her son, Bo. Saunders writes, describing Marie’s childhood experiences, “At least she’d [Marie] never locked on of them [her children] in a closet while entertaining a literal gravedigger in the parlor” (174). Marie’s mother did not embody the traditional traits of a maternal fig...
Mary Wilkins wrote her short story, “The Revolt of ‘Mother’” which mainly focused on a woman to stand up against an authoritarian husband. She wrote it during the time when woman had no voice and counted as a second citizen if not a slave. The writer realized that speaking out is the only chain breaker, especially for the character of Sara Penn to free herself and others from the cage in it since she was seen not as better than as the cow Mr. Adoniram had. He built a new bunny for his animals while his wife stayed in an old, wall-paper tear, and a roof issue home. More than that, she waited for about 40 years to have a new house expecting him to build her. However, instead of keeping his word, he built a bunny to his animals while his wife
Jeannette Walls was born into a poor family who often had to live homeless and without food. The environment in which she grew up in is what gave her the characteristics she possesses. One trait that describes Jeannette is that she is very adventurous. Since she was constantly exposed to new surroundings, she became curious of them. While she was homeless in the desert, she would play a game with her father called Monster Hunting. She grew to not be afraid of anything, since she could fight off these so called “monsters.” Also, Jeannette is very decisive. To get away from Welch, a poor town in West Virginia, she made sure that she would get enough money to move to New York. She did this by getting a job to save up money for a bus ticket and for college. Along with this, Jeannette is very ambitious. She worked very hard to get accepted into college by working for the school newspaper, since she wanted to become a journalist. On the other hand, Melba Patillo was born into a middle class family who lived in Lit...