Wednesday, January 17, 2007
Bret Harte
Katja
Journal #3
ENGL 48B, Harte
January 17, 2007
"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’re after somebody," he reflected; "likely it’s me." He returned to his pocket the handkerchief with which he had been whipping away the red dust of Poker Flat from his neat boots, and quietly discharged his mind of any further conjecture." (Bret Harte 428)
This excerpt is from Bret Harte’s The Outcasts of Poker Flat of 1869. The four short sentences above paint a detailed portrait of a Western character: the gambler. Oakhurst is an archetype; the gambler wearing his poker face; a man so detail-oriented the dust on his boots cannot even escape his attention.
Old West stereotypes were lovingly developed and gleefully explored by Harte and his contemporaries. Here, the gambler, a man of questionable quality, is portrayed as quiet, manly, intelligent and in control. He appears somewhat vain which implies he must have something to be vain about, be it status, belongings or an unusual amount of savvy. Harte wants the reader to embrace Oakhurst as the hero of Poker Flat, regardless of his little gambling habit. By placing his flawed protagonist in a short story, Harte offers the reader no time to consider likeability factor.
Oakhurst leaves a lot to the imagination. The only thing we really know is his profession/pastime. As the story develops we learn that he seems to be a good man, a sympathetic soul who kindly shares gambling advice and helps prostitutes in need. However, can we be sure that a gambler—a winning gambler at that—can be trusted? The many levels of this story reveal themselves in the details, much like Oakhurst himself. Depths are only hinted at in Harte’s text, inviting the reader’s own interpretation. Harte leaves the conclusion of Poker Flat deliciously open-ended and Oakhurst remains a frustratingly shadowy figure like a set-piece on a stage. The story pivots, essentially, on Oakhurst’s character until the very end and beyond.
Journal #3
ENGL 48B, Harte
January 17, 2007
"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’re after somebody," he reflected; "likely it’s me." He returned to his pocket the handkerchief with which he had been whipping away the red dust of Poker Flat from his neat boots, and quietly discharged his mind of any further conjecture." (Bret Harte 428)
This excerpt is from Bret Harte’s The Outcasts of Poker Flat of 1869. The four short sentences above paint a detailed portrait of a Western character: the gambler. Oakhurst is an archetype; the gambler wearing his poker face; a man so detail-oriented the dust on his boots cannot even escape his attention.
Old West stereotypes were lovingly developed and gleefully explored by Harte and his contemporaries. Here, the gambler, a man of questionable quality, is portrayed as quiet, manly, intelligent and in control. He appears somewhat vain which implies he must have something to be vain about, be it status, belongings or an unusual amount of savvy. Harte wants the reader to embrace Oakhurst as the hero of Poker Flat, regardless of his little gambling habit. By placing his flawed protagonist in a short story, Harte offers the reader no time to consider likeability factor.
Oakhurst leaves a lot to the imagination. The only thing we really know is his profession/pastime. As the story develops we learn that he seems to be a good man, a sympathetic soul who kindly shares gambling advice and helps prostitutes in need. However, can we be sure that a gambler—a winning gambler at that—can be trusted? The many levels of this story reveal themselves in the details, much like Oakhurst himself. Depths are only hinted at in Harte’s text, inviting the reader’s own interpretation. Harte leaves the conclusion of Poker Flat deliciously open-ended and Oakhurst remains a frustratingly shadowy figure like a set-piece on a stage. The story pivots, essentially, on Oakhurst’s character until the very end and beyond.
# posted by Katja @ 3:39 PM 
