journal 8

Nika Bogoslovsky
1/16/08
Harte

Quote: "It could not have been a fight, for in 1850 that was not novel enough to have called together the entire settlement."

Summary: This story by Bret Harte is about a settlement of men in the wild west who've been blessed with a baby boy. The only woman in Roaring Camp gets pregnant, from who it's unknown, dies just after giving birth and leaves this baby for the town, entirely made up of men, to care for. He quickly becomes the luck of the town.

Response: What makes this story funny is the blatant attitude Bret Harte has towards the settlement. The way he begins and describes the men as careless to destruction but disgusted with a prostitute is so ironic and odd that it’s funny. I picked this quote to show how Harte makes these men oblivious to all the fights going on in camp but so in tune when there’s a birth about to happen. All these men think Cherokee Sal is a filthy, sinful prostitute but are at her side when she’s about to give birth. They think she’s someone to be feared and that she’s sinful even though she’s doing something as natural as can be when the men are breaking out with fights all the time. It’s they who are sinful, they gamble and fight, even kill each other. They probably even rape Cherokee Sal so much that only to them she would be considered filthy and a prostitute. This kind of stuff doesn’t sound funny but it is because the way Harte puts it out on the table, how are we not suppose to laugh at their dumbness. Are we really supposed to believe that this poor girl is in the wrong?