This paper makes a reflective analysis of the short story by Harte in order to make out the distinguishing features of the short story, its themes, the major action, the characters, etc.Īs aforementioned, “The Outcasts of Poker Flat” is a central example of the author’s concern for regionalism and local color. However, rather than writing soberly realistic stories, local colorists tended to write stories infused with ‘eccentrics as characters’ and ‘whimsical plotting’…” (Cummings) Therefore, it is fundamental to realize that Bret Harte celebrates many of his essential features as a short story writer in “The Outcasts of Poker Flat”.
Harte, for example, focused many of his stories on the gold-mining camps and towns. Cummings (2006) maintains, the local-color writers, also called ‘local colorists’, presented their narratives in a regional dialect and “attempted to portray life in the various sections of burgeoning America. It is essential to remember that Bret Harte is one of the predominant American writers associated with this genre and Harte celebrates this genre in this short story through various means.
