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The Outcasts Of Poker Flat By John Oakhurst

402 Words2 Pages

At the beginning of The Outcasts of Poker Flat, the character John Oakhurst is introduced as a gambler, who has a calm tone and handsome face, with a compassionate, generous, honorable attitude, along with valuable leadership skills. Throughout the story, John Oakhurst shows qualities of being the strongest and then the weakest character. He shows his noble side when he returns money to Tom Simson, also known as “The Innocent”, after he won a gamble. Mr. Oakhurst considered it to be an unfair match due to Tom’s little experience with gambling and returned his money to Tom and told him to not gamble. However, the town of Poker Flat “a secret committee” gets rid of the improper citizens and Mr. Oakhurst was designated as one of them due to strong and lucky gambling skills. …show more content…

Oakhurst along with other improper citizens named “Uncle Billy, Duchess, and Mother Shipton” were cast out of the town of Poker Flat in lieu of being hanged. The four outcasts set out to the nearest town, but were stopped mid-way due to a snow storm. Tom Simson had ran away with his young lover, Piney. They offered to share their rationings with Mr. Oakhurst and the others. At the beginning of the storm, the six were optimistic they would continue their journey once the storm passed. However, Uncle Billy stole their horse, mule and some of their rationings. The five continued to care for each other, but Mother Shipton starved herself to death to give her supplies to Piney. Mr. Oakhurst and Tom Stinson decide they must attempt to go get help or more

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