30 pages • 1 hour read
Bret HarteThe Luck of Roaring Camp
Fiction | Short Story | Adult | Published in 1868A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Symbols & Motifs
Luck
Luck is a prominent motif in the story and reinforces the role of chance in daily life, particularly the helplessness of humans before the forces of Nature. The word is present in the title and is frequently repeated throughout the story. It’s also implied in the setting; the Gold Rush and prospecting are both endeavors that require good fortune to succeed. As the story opens, the men demonstrate their familiarity with gambling, placing bets on whether Cherokee Sal and her baby will survive her labor.
Luck refers both to Tommy himself and the hope and good fortune that he brings to the camp. Except for his mother’s death, Tommy brings good luck. The men themselves improve with his presence, and the claim becomes even more successful. But as luck can turn, so does the motif’s meaning. The narrator observes ripples in the smooth procession of the “golden summer” (6) days. He remarks that Tommy’s contentment is “to be hoped” (7), while the boy’s contemplative gravity worries Stumpy. In the end, the camp’s luck turns and brings a fatal flood, emphasizing how nature can give and destroy life in equal measure.
Still, Tommy’s luck has already redeemed the men, especially Stumpy and Kentuck. In the story’s final lines, Kentuck embraces his afterlife with Tommy, stating “he’s a-taking me with him. Tell the boys I’ve got The Luck with me now” (9).
The Expressman
The expressman appears several times in the story to emphasize the camp’s isolation and its difference from ordinary camp culture. Historically, this figure was extremely important in prospecting camps as he brought supplies and news to the men. Camps were utterly dependent on the expressman as their “only connecting link with the surrounding world” (8). With this, the expressman in “The Luck of Roaring Camp” underlines the theme of Isolation and Community.
In the story, the expressman serves several purposes. The men need him to bring the necessary equipment for raising Tommy from Sacramento, and they entrust him with a bag of gold dust for their purchases. They are dependent on his judgment; as the prospectors’ representative, he is to choose only “the best that can be got […] d—n the cost!” (5) The expressman plays his part and brings back a rosewood cradle, a purchase that inspires Stumpy to renovate his cabin. While the men emphasize their isolation, the expressman here shows the value of interconnectedness.
The expressman also tells “wonderful stories” (8) about Roaring Camp’s transformation to the outside world, comparing it favorably to the neighboring community of Red Dog: “They’ve got vines and flowers around their houses, and they wash themselves twice a day” (8). But he points out other aspects of the camp’s life that set it apart from the broader and rougher society. He declares, “[T]hey’re mighty rough on strangers, and they worship an Ingin baby” (8). In this way, the expressman is a more objective observer of Roaring Camp’s progress than the narrator, highlighting the positives and negatives of their redemption and fervor. His reactions symbolize the possibilities and limitations of Roaring Camp’s new brand of masculinity in the wider world.
The Blossoms of Las Mariposas
These flowers, brought to Tommy as a gift, are a mixed symbol. “Mariposa” is the Spanish word for butterfly, a creature that metamorphoses from a caterpillar. Often seen as a metaphor for rebirth and resurrection, the butterfly symbolizes transformation and hope. As a gift, then, the flowers symbolize the camp’s transformation as well as Tommy’s life and death. The prospectors use the flowers to celebrate Tommy’s life and demonstrate their newfound generosity, their appreciation of beauty, and their love for Tommy.
However, “mariposa” can also refer to mariposa lilies, a flower native to the Pacific Northwest in the United States. Lilies have mixed meanings in American culture; they are commonly used in funerals and are thought to represent souls leaving the physical world. In Christian iconology, lilies are frequently associated with both the Virgin Mary and Jesus’s resurrection, making them an apt gift for baby Tommy, the story’s Christ figure. A common Easter flower, this gift foreshadows Tommy’s death at the end of the story.
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By Bret Harte
