Morality Among the Outcasts of Poker Flat by Bret Harte As Mr. John Oakhurst, gambler, stepped into the main street of Poker Flat on the morning of the twenty third of November, 1850, he was conscious of a change in its moral atmosphere from the preceding night. Two or three men, conversing earnestly together, ceased as he approached, and exchanged significant glances. There was a Sabbath lull in the air, which, in a settlement unused to Sabbath influences, looked ominous. Mr. Oakhurst's calm handsome face betrayed small concern of these indications. Whether he was conscious of any predisposing cause was another question. I reckon they are after somebody,' he reflected; likely it's me.' He returned to his pocket the handkerchief he had been whipping away the red duct of Poker Flat from his neat boots, and quietly discharged his mind of any further conjecture. In point of fact, Poker Flat was after somebody.' It had lately suffered the loss of several thousand dollars, two valuable horses, and a prominent citizen. It was experiencing a spasm of virtuous reaction, quite as lawless and ungovernable as any of the acts that had provoked it. A secret committee had determined to rid the town of all improper persons. This was done permanently in regard of two men who were then hanging from boughs of a sycamore in the gulch, and temporarily in the banishment of certain other objectionable characters. I regret to say that some of these were ladies. It is but due to the sex, however, to state that their impropriety was professional, and it was only in such easily established standards of evil that Poker Flat ventured to sit in judgment. Mr. Oakhurst was right in supposing that he was included in this category. A few of the committee had urged hanging him as a possible example, and a sure method of reimbursing themselves from his pockets of the sums he had won from them. It's again justice,' said Jim Wheeler, to let this yer young man from Roaring Camp an entire stranger carry away our money.' But a crude sentiment of equity residing in the breasts of those who had been fortunate enough to win from Mr. Oakhurst, overruled this narrow local prejudice. Mr. Oakhurst received his sentence with philosophic calmness, nonetheless coolly, that he was aware of the hesitation of his judges. He was too much of a gambler not to accept Fate.
Given the facts of the case were not of contention, the events of that night the court heard were what appeared to be instantaneous and had the respondent not taken his eyes off the road for those mere 4 seconds the same outcome is likely to have
Hysteria took over the town and caused them to believe that their neighbors were practicing witchcraft. If there was a wind storm and a fence was knocked down, people believed that their neighbors used witchcraft to do it. Everyone from ordinary people to the governor’s wife was accused of witchcraft. Even a pregnant woman and the most perfect puritan woman were accused. No one in the small town was safe.
All women were persecuted for immoral and heinous crimes during two different periods of American History. Some, like Borden, escaped her trial with all charges dropped, while others like Rebecca Nurse were sentenced to death. This story investigates in depth each trial strategy, period in American history, and woman. The bulk of Schultz’s argument revolves around gender stereotypes and society’s treatment of women. Although not each trial is relevant to the Borden mystery, they all are examples of how gender roles and stereotypes influenced Judicial rulings. Therefore, adding a greater level of validity to the argument that Borden was treated differently because she was a
Richard Connell, the author of ‘The Most Dangerous Game’ used both detail and characterization to reveal the eerie mood. The story is about a guy named Rainsford and General Zaroff, and Zaroff keeps good care of Rainsford for a day but the next day, he gets sent into the forest and General Zaroff goes out to hunt for Rainsford, but at last, the good wins, Rainsford. Rainsford is a gentleman who was on a yacht with the surrounding of,” The dank tropical night that was palpable as it’s thick warm blackness in upon the yacht.”(17) It was really dark and he cannot see anything but after a few moments he heard a gunshot from the dark cloudy place. He leaned over the rail in hope to get a clue of where the noise may have come from, but instead unfortunately
The trial of Tom Robinson opened many doors for Harper Lee to confront the issue of racial discrimination. Atticus makes it clear that Mr. Robinson has no chance of winning the trial because no man sitting on that jury has the courage to side with a Negro instead of a white man. “And so a quiet, respectable, humble Negro who had the unmitigated temerity to ‘feel sorry’ for a white woman has had to put his word against two white people’s.” Harper Lee uses Atticus’s willingness to confront the elephant in the room to clarify the message she is trying to convey.
Thus, in a subsequent dialogue with Mr. Tolson he shared with me; that they had won ten debates in a row which proved them to be both emotionally and intellectually independent. Also, throughout their journey they had experienced racism at its worst; witnessing a Negro being burnt alive in the middle of the road on the way to one of their debate competition. I firmly believe that experiencing this helped to equip them with the emotional and life experience to draw from during their speech. Having experiencing this scared them for life. Nevertheless, it serves them as a grim reminder of the heights to which racism has climaxed to in this town of Marshall, Texas. This is something they have to live with and that is what makes them
“to many local observers it was one thing to defend rapists – that after all, is part of the American justice system – but it was another, unforgiveable thing to come to Alabama and attack their social order and way of
The simplicity of this story is a result of the easy transformation of such characters as the “Duchess” a prostitute who reveals “hearts of gold” “The Mother Ship ton”old reprobate who gives up her food, and thus her life, so the innocent piney woods can live. The Uncle Billy, a town drunkard and suspected thief. The familiarities of many of Harte’s characterizations, the quick witted gambler or the prostitute with the heart of gold- attest to the durability of his impact on popular culture. Harte initially traveled to the American west in 1854 and was advantage positioned to observe one of the key occasions of the nineteenth century, the California Gold Rush. “The
In the story “A&P” by John Updike, we are introduced to a supermarket where the protagonist Sammy works in the grocery department as a cashier. The story takes place in a small beach town Throughout the story we are given insight into Sammy’s characteristics; his point of view and attitude towards everyday customers. Sammy is tired of the everyday routine and detests the customers in the store. He calls them “sheep”, a derogatory term used to describe people who are easily led and live boring colorless lives. When three girls in bathing suits enter the store the everyday routine is broken and Sammy finds some excitement in his life. He looks
Willa Cather a well-known author of novels and short story fiction possessed a unique writing style. She wrote in detail with authenticity of the message and individualism. Her short fiction was bitter-sweet and melancholic. She used her individual experiences with common people’s lives to create her works. On Paul’s Case, we see the life of a high school boy, who was expelled from school for his peculiar bad attitude. The teachers around him do not like him, but take into consideration that as a child he lost his mother. Paul also works on Carnegie Hall in Pittsburgh as an usher. He loves his job because he has a fascination for music and art. Paul is an idealistic young man, he does not seem to belong anywhere. He only wants to be accepted
The events that occured in Tom Robinson’s trial are one example of Inequality in the novel. When Mr. Gilmer questions Tom, he frequently calls Tom, “Boy” which shows the disrespect allowed by the court toward african americans. In addition, Bob Ewell even goes to the extreme of using a racial slur when he states, “I see that black nigger yonder ruttin’ on my Mayella!” (231). These cynical words was permitted by the court, which shows the injustice occurring in the 1930s. After all of the testimonies, Tom Robinson is convicted of a crime he did not commit by a white jury. Later, Tom Robinson is lead to his demise. The fact that the Jim Crow Laws do not allow Tom Robinson’s peers to serve on the jury is the most shameful injustice.
In addition, this story also shows how many people are judged on how much money they have. For instance, Harper Lee states, “Because he is trash, that’s why you can’t play with him” (301). This example matters because it shows
Racism has a strong influence in the society and the society itself is so conservative that Justice is lacking. The idea that people are more concerned with societal views rather than conscience is reinforced throughout the court case. The minds of the jury are riddled with prejudice and they could not see through their bias to come to a just conclusion. “The one thing that doesn’t abide by majority rule is a person’s conscience,” this refers to the mob mentality and although the jury collective come to the decision each person still had their own conscience and principles. The jury convicted Tom on the basis of not wanting to differ from the norms of society and didn’t have the courage to use their own moral principles and conscience. There is a common mindset among the townspeople that negroes are ‘lesser people’ therefore in relation to the court case the fear of breaking society views and damaging reputations acts as a barrier to being courageous and
...concept. During the trial women were locked out of the courthouse while the sexual relationship between the boys was discussed. Today, the sexuality of a person normally does not affect the public’s perception on a case.
This paper aims to investigate some aspects of postcolonialism, feminism, as well as symbolism, allegories and metaphors. For this purpose I have chosen the novel Disgrace (1999) by J.M Coetzee. The story takes place in Cape Town, in post-apartheid South Africa. David Lurie is a white man and works as a professor of English at a technical university. He is a ‘communication’ lecturer and he teaches ‘romantic literature’ too. Lurie is divorced two times already and one gets the impression that he is not really satisfied with his job. His "disgrace" comes when he makes attempts to seduce Melanie Isaacs, one of his students, against her will. This affair is then remitted to the school authorities and a special committee is convoked to judge his actions.