"The Luck or Roaring Camp"

I really loved the story “The Luck of Roaring Camp” by Bret Harte.  I’ve always been a fan of Western literature.  Growing up my favorite movie was Tombstone.  I loved all of the wild action, the lack of law and order, the abundance of gunfights.  I could watch Tombstone every day of the week without it ever getting old.  When I was reading “The Luck of Roaring Camp” I noticed all of the similarities between how that town, Roaring Camp, and the town of Tombstone are represented.  Roaring Camp is dirty, rugged, full of criminals all running from the law, very much like Tombstone.  Tombstone is run by a gang, the law in that town is virtually nonexistent due to the fear that the gang, the Cowboys, enforces.  As I read the story and it explained gamblers and drinkers and people shooting their revolvers just like a lot of the scenes in Tombstone.  One thing that I thought this story did well was show how humanity can restart.  While Roaring Camp is a dirty and rough place everything changes as soon as a baby is brought into the mix.  As soon as the baby is born, and the mother dies, all of those men who were originally depicted as mean and gruff become more human, more motherly.  I think it is almost comical how clean and caring the men become.  Each one of them does his part to care for the baby, Tommy Luck, the “luck” of Roaring Camp.  It’s funny how when the baby is born another character, Kentuck, calls him a “damned little cuss” but he uses it is as an endearment.  It is clear that all of the men in the town love the baby and it helps them to better themselves.  I think that this story does a great job of showing that anyone can change if they find something worth caring for.  For these men, before the baby, there was nothing to care for.  They were simply trying to get by, avoid the law, make a little money, and have a good time.  They gambled, they fought, they drank to their fill whenever they pleased.  They were noisy, they were messy and they were just downright gross.  Once they find something worth truly caring for, the baby which is attributed to their newfound luck, they really turn over a new leaf.  They begin to refurbish the broken furniture within the camp.  They start to bathe regularly if they intend to spend time with the baby, they are quiet and they are more civilized.  The end of the story is tragic which I think only attests to the fact that in an instant everything can change in an instant.  As soon as the flood comes it changes the landscape and the well-being of the camp.  Many people die, including the baby and Kentuck and the men who survive are left to rebuild for themselves and restart.  Their lives change again in an instant just as quick as they did when little Tommy Luck was born and the camp decided that keeping him would be the right thing to do.