The Outcasts of Poker Flat

Throughout “The Outcasts of Poker Flat,” the characters of Oakhurst, Mother Shipton, and the Duchess vacillate in their strengths and their weaknesses, and these many contrasting, evolving character traits highlight the complexity of humanity.

Oakhurst’s equanimity emphasizes his strength as a gambling man. When the outcasts are dumped outside the town’s limits, Oakhurst is unreactive while the others express grievances: “Mother Shipton’s desire to cut somebody’s heart out, to the repeated statements of the Duchess that she would die in the road, and to the alarming oaths that seemed to be bumped out of Uncle Billy as he rode forward” (Paragraph 7). While other outcasts show a certain strength in their open disdain for the committee’s hypocritical tyranny, Oakhurst demonstrates his strength in his emotional restraint. After Oakhurst initially pleads with the others to continue their travels to Sandy Bar, he “alone remained erect, leaning against a rock, calmly surveying them” (Paragraph 9). As the others drink to forget their troubles, Oakhurst alone abstains and stands guard over the group—and, when Tom and Oakhurst keep watch the second night after Uncle Billy steals the mules, Oakhurst ends up keeping most of the watch as he explains he had “often been a week without sleep” (Paragraph 25). Even though his profession—which the town authorities morally condemned—creates this quality in him, that quality is among Oakhurst’s strengths. His vigil evokes an image of a father watching over his family as they sleep.

The idea of “weakness” is associated with Oakhurst only in the story’s final line, but the word’s full meaning is equivocal: “And pulseless and cold, with a Derringer by his side and a bullet in his heart, though still calm as in life, beneath the snow lay he who was at once the strongest and yet the weakest of the outcasts of Poker Flat” (Paragraph 40). Even in death, his body is “calm,” a trait that once was his most prominent strength. However, his death results from his suicide and displays a side of him that he hid from the rest of the outcasts. Earlier, as the snow buries their campsite and the exiles resign themselves to their fates, “Mr. Oakhurst settled himself coolly to the losing game before him” (Paragraph 30). Oakhurst accepts his imminent death, but unlike the others, he is unwilling to let the dealer dictate how he loses.

Mother Shipton and the Duchess contrast in how they handle conflict, as the hardship of the exile highlights their strengths differently. Mother Shipton releases curses when the escort leaves them, while the Duchess cries frantically. When they turn to alcohol to alleviate their anxiety, Mother Shipton falls asleep, and the Duchess becomes “maudlin” (Paragraph 9). As their plight continues, Mother Shipton—“once the strongest of the party” (Paragraph 30)—becomes physically weakened by her starvation. With her dying words, she is still “querulous,” but she speaks “in a voice of querulous weakness” (Paragraph 30).

The Duchess’s strong emotionality, once seen as weakness by the others (or at least by the stoic Mother Shipton), transforms itself into a strength. As the days pass and the characters understand the severity of their predicament, “[t]he Duchess, more cheerful than she had been, assumed the care of Piney” (Paragraph 30). When she sees the extra firewood, her decision to hide her tears from Piney signals her growth in thinking first of others’ wellbeing. The Duchess remains strong for Piney. The varied strengths and weaknesses of Oakhurst, Mother Shipton, and the Duchess illustrate the complexities and paradoxes of human nature. This story provides the commentary that it is futile to focus on individual traits; that one aspect of someone’s personality does not define a person’s entire moral character.