• The Outcasts Of Poker Flat Selection Test Answers Prentice Hall Pdf
• The Outcasts Of Poker Flat Selection Test Answers Prentice Hall Answer
• The Outcasts Of Poker Flat Selection Test Answers Prentice Hall Answers

The Outcasts of Poker Flat. Harte, Francis Bret. The Luck of Roaring Camp, The Outcasts of Poker Flat & The Idyl of Red Gulch. Harvard Classics Shelf of Fiction. To Build a Fire, by Jack London 'The Story of an Hour' Richard Cory- Poets.org - Poetry, Poems, Bios & More. The Life You Save May Be Your Own. My English class project presentaion for Mrs. France class 2010 1st and 2nd period. The Outcasts of Poker Flat Questions and Answers The Question and Answer sections of our study guides are a great resource to ask questions, find answers, and discuss literature. Home The Outcasts of Poker Flat Q & A Ask a question and get answers from your fellow students and educators. Browse Questions; All. The Outcasts of Poker Flat. Harte, Francis Bret. The Luck of Roaring Camp, The Outcasts of Poker Flat & The Idyl of Red Gulch. Harvard Classics Shelf of Fiction. To Build a Fire, by Jack London 'The Story of an Hour' Richard Cory- Poets.org - Poetry, Poems, Bios & More. The Life You Save May Be Your Own.

The Outcasts of Poker Flat

We present “The Outcasts of Poker Flat” by Bret Harte. Here is Jim Tedder.

John Oakhurst was a gambler. He had lived in the small western town of Poker Flat for only a short time. He had defeated many people at cards. He had also won a lot of their money. For that reason alone, he was not well liked.

On the morning of November twenty-third, eighteen fifty, he saw some men talking as he walked down the main street of town. As he came near, they got quiet. He said to himself, “Hmmm, I guess they are talking about me. And that can’t be good.” Oakhurst was right. Some of the town’s leaders had met secretly and decided to force some people to leave. They thought Poker Flat would be a better place to live if those people were gone.

Besides Oakhurst, two women of low morals were led to the edge of town. They were the “Duchess” as she was called, and “Mother Shipton.” A man called “Uncle Billy” was added to the group. He was known to drink too much. Some people thought that he had also stolen some gold. They had no proof. But that did not matter. Uncle Billy was just no good, and he had to go. The “outcasts” were told that if they ever came back, they would be killed.

So, the four of them slowly rode out of town. The “Duchess” cried and said she would probably die on the road. Mother Shipton and Uncle Billy cursed. “Mother” said she would like to “cut the heart out” of the people who done this to them. But John Oakhurst rode in silence. He thought all of life was a gamble. He had just run into some bad luck. That was all.

The outcasts were headed for Sandy Bar, a camp not too far away. But it was high up in the cold Sierra Mountains, and the path was anything but smooth. Around noon, Mother Shipton became so tired she fell off her horse. She said that was as far as she was going today. Oakhurst tried to make them move on because they had no food or fuel. But the three would not listen. Instead they began to drink alcohol that Uncle Billy had hidden. Soon they were quiet and asleep.

Oakhurst did not drink. He stood nearby and watched them. He began to think about his life and about how lonely he was. Yet he was stronger than his three companions. He could have left them there and set off alone. But he did not.

Then, he heard someone call “John Oakhurst.” A young man named Tom Simson came riding up. The gambler knew Tom. They had once played cards and Oakhurst had won. But after the game, he told young Tom that he was too easy to beat. And he gave him back his money. Tom said Oakhurst would be his friend for life.

Tom was not alone. From behind a tree came his new wife, a girl named Piney Woods. Her father had not wanted her to marry Tom. So they had run away. Tom told Oakhurst that he had a little food. He also showed him an old log house just off the path. Years of harsh weather had nearly ruined it. But it was all they had, and it would have to do. The women could spend the night in there. The men would make a fire and sleep on the ground by the door.

The night seemed to pass quickly. But the weather became colder. The wind increased, and it began to snow. Oakhurst had a bad feeling. He turned to where Uncle Billy had slept, and found him gone. He had left the others and even taken their horses. Oakhurst said Uncle Billy had probably gone for help. But he knew better. The group of five decided to wait for the snow to stop before traveling farther. They no longer had horses. From here on, they would be on foot.

By the third day out from Poker Flat, the snow had gotten deep. They could no longer see the path. Food was running low. Everything around them was white and cold. One week later they still had not moved. The snow had continued to fall and was deeper than ever. And it continued to fall. It formed a prison they could not escape. Still, they could see smoke rising from the warm fires in the houses down below in Poker Flat. The site seemed especially cruel.

But the little group of outcasts tried to keep up their spirits. They tried to stay as warm as they could. They sat together by their own open-air fire. And Tom Simson pulled a small accordion from his pack. Piney Woods played the instrument. They all sang songs. The music took on a defiant quality, a quality of resistance. But the outcasts had to listen to the sad cries of their mostly empty stomachs. The hunger got worse with each passing day.

At midnight on the tenth day, Mother Shipton called Oakhurst to her side. She said, “Give this to the young ones.” In a bag was all her food. She had not eaten for days. She had saved the food for the others. She turned quietly to the wall of the log house, and died.

John Oakhurst began to think that none of them would live out the storm. He gave Tom Simson a pair of snowshoes and asked him to try to walk back to Poker Flat for help. He guessed it would take Tom at least two days, if not more, to get there. Tom kissed his new bride and left on foot. Soon he was out of sight. The Duchess and Piney were surprised, and frightened, when Oakhurst also turned to leave. “You’re not going, too,” they cried. He said, “Only a little way. I need to find us some help.”

At that time of year, daylight did not last long. When night came, Oakhurst had not returned. The two women were too hungry, weak, and cold to even add more wood to the fire. They passed the stormy night holding each other close. And that is the way they were found the next morning when help arrived from Poker Flat. They had frozen to death during the night.

The rescuers from town said that they had been right to force the outcasts to leave Poker Flat. But they never thought the punishment would end up like this. Justice was one thing, but freezing people to death was not their aim. And then they thought of the gambler. Where was he? What had happened to him? They searched as best they could. And then, they found him.

Under a tall tree a playing card was stuck into the wood by a knife. On the card was written: “Beneath this tree lies the body of John Oakhurst, who had some bad luck starting the twenty-third of November, eighteen fifty. He handed in his cards on the seventh of December, the same year.”

Oakhurst sat there, cold and still. They said he looked peaceful. A single bullet from a small hand gun nearby had ended his life. John Oakhurst had been both the strongest, and the weakest, of the outcasts of Poker Flat.

“The Outcasts of Poker Flat” by Bret Harte was adapted for VOA Learning English and read by Jim Tedder.

How well do you understand this story?

Quiz - The Outcasts of Poker Flat by Bret Harte

For Teachers

This lesson plan has activities to use when teaching with this story.

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Words in This Story

gambler - n. a person who risks money or other possessions when playing a game

prison – n. a place where a person is kept as punishment for a crime

cruel - adj. causing or helping to cause suffering; terrible and unfair

outcast - n. someone who is not accepted by other people

snowshoe - n. a light, wide frame that is attached to your shoe to make it easier to walk on soft snow without sinking

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Related

by HE10Realism
Last updated 10 years ago

Discipline:
Social Studies Subject:
History

Realsim in 'The Outcasts of Poker Flat'

Ashley Huckstep

•Regionalism is a story that focuses on specific features like characters, dialects, customs, and history of a particular region. 'The Outcasts of Poker Flat' is set during the time of the gold rush in California. You can tell the region the story takes place by the harsh wheather and the mention of the mountians. You also get a feel for how the people speak, and what type of people live in the region.

The Outcasts Of Poker Flat Selection Test Answers Prentice Hall Pdf

•Realism in literature is a story that shows the subjects as they appear in everyday life, without adding to it.

Naturalism is the aspect of realism that suggests nature has some control over humans. This is shown in “The Outcasts of Poker Flats” when after they stop for Mother Shipton, a storm comes in. The outcasts try to wait out the snow storm, but it continues. Mother Shipton, the Duchess, and John Oakhurst realize that while their supplies dwindle, they are at the mercy of mother nature, and unless the storm stops and they have a way to travel, they are stuck and may die.

Text to Text: This story reminds me of the story we read 'To Build a Fire.' In 'To Build a Fire,' the man tries to bulid a fire, but the snow from the tree destorys it, just like the Outcasts try to wait out the storm, but it continues. In both stories the main character dies becasue of nature's cruetly. This shows the natralist aspect of realism. Instead of natature helping the character like it may in Romaticsim, it watches the people in the story indifferently like it would in real life. The cold and lack of supplies kills the outcasts, and the man's inabllity to make a fire becasue the snow fell on the fire he had made with all of his matches kills him. The universe takes no notice of the people that live within it.

Text to World:I think that what the 'Council' of Poker Flats did, and the issue in the story of weather or not they had the right to bann people from the town or not still rings true today. We have the same problems in our justice system. How far can we go? If a man kills some can the goverment kill him? Or does that mean that they have stooped to the level of the cirminal? In 'The Outcasts of Poker Flat,' the outacsts are banished and end up dieing becasue of it, so the question is, who is worse the ones who committed the crimes or the ones who indircetly killed the crimials for their crimes? Both in the real world and in the story, you have too look at how much power should everyone have over eather other.

Psychology is another aspcet of Realism. In 'The Outcasts of Poker Flat,' it delves into Mr. Oakhurst mind as well as some of the other characters. One example of this is when they are discussing that Mr. Oakhurst doesn't drink, he thinks to himself, becasue it is a habit that doesn't go well with gambeling. When they talk about how Mr. Oakhurst takes a longer watch shift becasue he is used to not sleeping, he again mentions the fact he has this skill becasue of his gambleing. Thoughout the story he is defined as the gambler though his own mind and it shows the reader how he thinks. Even at the end when he kills himself he talks of his luck that had finnally run out before he shot himself. This displays Realsim, because Realist authors were interested in why people are the way that they are.

Recources:http://www.theoutdoorforum.com/NewHampshire/images/Old-Man-in-Snow-Storm.gif http://www.californiapictures.com/images/wteone.jpg http://universalnewsletter.net/sitebuilder/images/globe_and_rings_transparent-615x528.jpg http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OcwXVsRjhqU&feature=fvwhttp://www.proprofs.com/quiz-school/upload/yuiupload/587498581.jpg http://www.huntfor.com/absoluteig/samples/1.jpg

Text To Self:In the sitituation that the outcasts are in, the older outcasts, Mr. Oakhurst, Mother Shipton, and the Duchess, remind me of myself. I can imangine that they must have felt pretty helpless when they realized that they were trapped in the cabin and would probably all die there. They must have felt guilty and responsible for Piney and Tom. One time when I got home from school, I discovered that my brother and three sisters and I were locked out. That day had been the one day this year that had an advisory warning for wind speed, and had been the coldset day of the year so far. When they had tried to use the key to unlock the door they discovered that the screen door was locked and doesn't have a keyhole, sotthey were locked out. I got home fifteen minutes after them, and after figuring out we couldn't get in, I tried to call for help, but could only reach my grandma, who was fourty minutes away. Becasue it was the coldest day of the year so far, only my brother was wearing a jacket, the rest of us hadn't thought to put one on. My littlest sister, Abby, only had a longsleve shirt on, so I took off my sweatshirt and gave it to her. This is kind of like when Mother Shipton saves her food for Piney and Tom. There was literally nothing I could do about the cold, execpt for wait with them, knowing we were all shivering, just like Mr. Oakhurst, the Duchess, and Mother Shipton could only wait with Tom and Piney, knowing that they were all most likey going to die.

The Outcasts Of Poker Flat Selection Test Answers Prentice Hall Answer

Artists during this time painted normal things you would see everyday instead of people in a pose. It is very candid subject.

The Outcasts Of Poker Flat Selection Test Answers Prentice Hall Answers

This video shows mother nature's indifference to the man's troubles.