The Luck of Roaring Camp

Due to the weather today, I wasn't able to attend class. My commute plus snow and ice don't really add up to be anything safe, but a summary and "connections" about The Luck of Roaring Camp will hopefully make up for the quiz I missed. Just a little insight about me before I start: I've found that I'm enjoying the literature we're reading in class more than I've ever liked any type of literature before. I'm not sure if it's just because American literature is more appealing to me or what, but I'm glad I like it because it makes it easier to do the assignments and more fun to test my knowledge about them.

The Luck of Roaring Camp was set in 1850 California in a rugged mining camp. After a prostitute from the settlement, Cherokee Sal, gives birth to a child, she passes away and leaves the men of the camp to take care of the baby. The child, later named Thomas Luck, is a new thing to the men, whereas death was a common occurrence. Stumpy, a man of the camp, decides to take the baby under his care with the help of an ass's milk, but the entire settlement of men took to the child immediately. He somewhat civilized the men and the entire Roaring Camp; even the dirty miner Kentuck would wash up just to be able to hold him. Everything was changed about the rowdy place just to fit the needs of the child, and Luck seemed to bring good fortune to the settlement.

At the end, a flood comes to wash away their prosperity and it seems to prove that even a regenerated community is not immune to disaster. In the water, everything is crashed and destroyed and no one is able to find Stumpy, Luck, or the house they resided in. Stumpy is found to be dead and a relief boat brings about a man and a child, which turns out to be Kentuck, who had apparently been with Luck as soon as the flood hit. The baby did not survive and Kentuck was on the edge of his life, saying as he passed that the child must have needed him to go with him and he had The Luck with him now.

To me, The Luck of Roaring Camp seemed to somewhat try and break down the stereotypes of the typical "Western" mining character. Somehow, it seems that Bret Harte didn't want to deny that his characters were rough and tough but that didn't have to be in all walks of life. It seems as though Harte wants us to believe that to write a story of gambling, irresponsible men would be boring; the change in them provided the excitement. As stated in the biography introduction, many people believed that Harte wanted to "challenge accepted beliefs." It was surprising to me at the end of the story just how much his characters lasted; usually, at the end of a novel, I hate for the story to be over because I want to know more of what happens to the people in it. I felt the same way with this short story; these men and this child were so everlasting. I think that had somewhat to do with the shift in their moral compass.

Secondly, going out on a limb here, I believe his writing may have even had some reflection on Harte's life. Though it may be completely by coincidence and even sort of ironic, Harte's huge success and just as extreme downfall seemed to eventually typecast him into a struggling author. Despite the love he'd once received from his readers, he was forgotten and easily discarded when he strayed away from his "norm." He had received the stereotype of a Western writer and no one expected anything except gamblers and myths of the Wild West. So when he shied away from that, it just wasn't what he was supposed to be doing. Instead of like in his stories, though, his big change wasn't exactly exciting to his American audience and he eventually lost his consulship and died in 1902.