![]() ![]() ![]() Oakhurst, along with a young woman known as The Duchess, another older woman called Mother Shipton, and a robber and drunkard called Uncle Billy, is escorted to the edge of Poker Flat and forbidden to return. He is the prototype of the philosophical gambler found in Westerns and in country and western music. He observes, ironically, their vigilante tactics and concludes that the town is "experiencing a spasm of virtuous reaction, quite as lawless and ungovernable as any of the acts that had provoked it." Oakhurst, a stock character in later Westerns, is correct in his observations and faces the judgment calmly. He realizes that the citizens of Poker Flat are continuing their purge of undesirable elements and that he may be among the next lynched or driven out of town. Summary- "The Outcasts of Poker Flat" opens as John Oakhurst, a gambler (and a minor character from Harte's earlier "The Luck of Roaring Camp"), steps onto the main street of Poker Flat on November 23, 1850. Realism Theme: Change and Transformation- The women faithfully tackle the responsibility of keeping up the spirit of the innocent Piney Woods, changing from angry and bickering harlots into motherly figures at the end.
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