Bret Harte, Book Review Example

In his The Outcasts of Poker Flat, Bret Harte discusses a small community with its traditions, norms, and beliefs. I think that Harte’s story is the bright example of how regionalism and local color worked in the American literature. First, Harte provides the detailed description of the setting: “The spot was singularly wild and impressive. A wooden amphitheatre, surrounded on three sides by precipitous cliffs of naked granite, sloped gently toward the crest of another precipice that overlooked the valley”. The vivid picture of the primeval nature is the distinctive feature of Harte’s regionalism. Second, Harte pays special attention to the timing of his events: John Oakhurst “struck a streak of bad luck on the 23^rd of November, 1850” (Harte). This is the time near Thanksgiving, which families spend together in the anticipation of the holiday. Harte’s emphasis on the time adds the share of complexity to the events in the story. Finally, regionalism and local color in Harte’s story is associated with isolation. Throughout the story, the reader cannot escape the persistent feeling of loneliness which pressures the characters and does not leave them a single chance to reunite with their community: “The wind lulled as it if feared to waken them. Feathery drifts of snow, shaken from the long pine-boughs, flew like white-winged birds, and settled about them as they slept” (Harte). In his story, Harte does not describe too many events but, instead, concentrates on characters, the ways they talk, think, behave, and cope with their community difficulties.

I think that Harte tries to convey the cultural specificity of small regional communities. Everything in Poker Flat is different from how the reader imagined the life in America. The story creates a vision of a small closed community which opens itself to a limited number of members. Everything Harte’s characters do reflects their belonging to their community. Even the fact of Oakhurst’s suicide is the act which fits into the system of his beliefs and the norms he had to follow as the member of Poker Flat.

Works Cited

Harte, B. “The Outcasts of Poker Flat”, Bartleby.com. Bartleby.com, 1998. Web. 31 May 2010.