Bret Harte

Welcome back to the second part of the four-part series of essays discussing whether or not Patrick Bateman was, indeed, a psychopath. We will be exploring personality disorders, specifically looking at antisocial personality disorder. Click here to read part one. Patrick Bateman is a self-absorbed, pop-culture obsessed, materialistic, greedy, young man who feigns social niceties and political correctness yet has no issue saying what he really feels when he believes no one is listening. He has…

Bret Harte was a nineteenth century American author and poet. He is best remembered for his short fiction stories featuring gamblers, minors, and other figures of the California Gold Rush. Harte’s short story “The Luck of Roaring Camp,” manages to be tragic without tipping into melodrama, and rustic without tripping over its local color. It is also a balancing act between the potentially new plot of a newborn baby boys effect within an all-male wild mining community, and Harte’s method of…

“Share our similarities, celebrate our differences” (M. Scott Peck). The Notorious Jumping Frog of Calaveras County by Mark Twain and The Outcasts of Poker Flat by Bret Harte have similarities and differences using regionalistic qualities in the setting, characters, and the narrator. The settings in The Notorious Jumping Frog of Calaveras County and The Outcasts of Poker Flat have many differences. In The Notorious Jumping Frog of Calaveras County, there is very little said about the setting.…

Bret Harte High School senior water polo player Grace Johnson saved her best for last. In the final game of her high school career, Johnson and the Bullfrogs took on Calaveras in Angels Camp. Johnson wanted to leave the pool as a winner. So, in her final game, Johnson scored a career-high nine goals to lead Bret Harte to a 14-7 win. “I think I did really well,” said Johnson. “I’ve never scored nine goals in a game before. I didn’t even know that I had that many. I couldn't have done that…

This explains how some species, such as humans, have stopped growing in size and instead grow intellectually. Furthermore, both Bret Harte’s “The Outcasts of Poker Flat” and Jack London’s “To Build a Fire” illustrate this idea. Through their characters’ adaptation, or lack thereof, both authors demonstrate different facets of Darwin’s theory of survival. In Bret Harte’s “The Outcasts of Poker Flat,” Uncle…

regionalism and naturalism writing movement, authors like Bret Harte and Mark Twain, were able to use regionalistic qualities to create stories that captured imaginations of readers living in the East, Midwest, and South. Many writings during this time period were filled with these qualities, but not all stories used them in all aspects of the story. “The Jumping Frog of Calaveras County” by Mark Twain, and “The Outcasts of Poker Flat” by Bret Harte, are two stories in which this statement is…

Gold Rush Californians from all over the world have had their dreams of fortune crushed once they realized all of the gold had been taken right under their noses. Bret Harte, the author, wrote many tales including the “Luck of Roaring Camp”, ”Outcasts of Poker Flat”, and “Bulger’s Reputation” in his book “Bret Harte’s Gold Rush” that are based off of his experiences as a prospector. The miners in “Luck of Roaring Camp” tried their best to change their habits, however they eventually failed to…

Costello’s skits. Some humor in short stories are hidden and subtle and usually have a long lead into them requiring a lot of attention on the reader’s part. Through delving into the short stories of Bret Harte, Mark Twain, and Charles Chestnut the different forms of humor will be made clear. In Bret Harte’s short story, The Outcasts of Poker Flats the humor is subtle and ironic as the story progresses. The irony of The Outcasts of Poker Flats is first seen in the name of the town Poker Flats…

The story “The Luck of Roaring Camp” by Bret (Francis) Harte has many common ideas with another story known as “The Handsomest Drowned Man in the World” by Gabriel García Márquez. These stories are full of heartbreak, relationships and emotion. Most importantly, both stories surround the big idea of Change. These stories, both represent change and how it affects their lives. In “The Luck of Roaring Camp”, change brings happiness into people’s lives and develops them into well rounded characters.…

Calaveras Enterprise Sports Editor Guy Dossi spoke with Bret Harte head soccer coach Joel Barnett during Bullfrog practice in Angels Camp. The two spoke of how Barnett is doing more teaching this year, different coaching strategies and the strength of the Mother Lode League. GD: You knew heading into this season that you would have a pretty green team when it comes to soccer knowledge and fundamentals. So do you find yourself having to do more teaching of the little things, even at this point in…