The Luck Of Roaring Camp Essay

The Luck of Roaring Camp Within literature, realism acts as a fictional story within a setting of historical events. Realism began as an artistic movement in the late nineteenth century. This type of writing can be seen in many authors. One author in particular is Bret Harte. Harte born in New York, moved to California in his late teenage years. While in California, Harte worked as a teacher, a miner, and an editor. Harte’s The Luck of Roaring Camp, a short story in which he wrote for a magazine he edited, pictures the realism of life in a mining camp but did so within an emotional structure. The Luck of Roaring Camp is a story set in 1850 within a small mining camp. This particular camp is comprised of all men and one Indian woman, who Harte describes as a prostitute. This woman, named Cherokee Sal, who is about to give birth has
It was Stumpy who stepped up to become the child’s guardian. As the idea of a wet nurse was vetoed, it was settled upon using the milk of “the only other being of Cherokee Sal’s sex and maternal condition in the settlement was an ass” (Baym, 2012, p. 354). It was shown that throughout times until the end of the 19th century, animal’s milk was the most common source of artificial feeding and the animal source depended upon the available animals of the area (Stevens, 2009). Luck became more than a child for the men of the camp; the baby symbolized life and became a Christian symbol when they take the baby to the church for it christening. Realism again revels itself when Harte ties in the death factor that many experienced during the time of the Gold Rush. Harte describes the mining camp as “deaths were by no means uncommon in Roaring Camp” (Baym, 2012, p. 353). Hygiene was also something left to be desired during this time. Harte embellishes on this as Kentucky refers to “all garments as a second cuticle” (Baym, 2012, p.