The Luck of Roaring Camp

by

Bret Harte

Stumpy Character Analysis

One of the main characters in the story, Stumpy is something of a leader at the Roaring Camp settlement; he’s also the Luck’s father figure. Unlike the other men of Roaring Camp, Stumpy has fathered two families in the past at other settlements, and this experience with family life and children is what qualifies him, in the other men’s eyes, to deliver Cherokee Sal’s baby. When Stumpy takes on the Luck as his own son after Sal’s death, no one in the community balks, as they seem to believe that he’s best equipped for this kind of responsible, fatherly role. But even though Stumpy is the Luck’s primary caregiver—the two share a cabin—Stumpy welcomes the other men’s participation in rearing the baby, heeding to the age-old adage that it takes a village to raise a child. And by letting the other men participate in raising the Luck, Stumpy helps spread the Luck’s positive influence throughout the camp, encouraging the men (most notably Kentuck) to get in touch with a more tender, maternal side of themselves. Both Stumpy and the Luck die in the flood at the end of the story, though their bodies are found separately (the Luck is found in Kentuck’s arms). Stumpy’s cabin is also entirely washed away.

Stumpy Quotes in The Luck of Roaring Camp

The The Luck of Roaring Camp quotes below are all either spoken by Stumpy or refer to Stumpy. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
Sin, Redemption, and Children Theme Icon
).
The Luck of Roaring Camp Quotes

Within an hour she had climbed, as it were, that rugged road that led to the stars, and so passed out of Roaring Camp, its sin and shame forever. I do not think that the announcement disturbed them much, except in speculation as to the fate of the child. “Can he live now?” was asked of Stumpy. The answer was doubtful. The only other being of Cherokee Sal’s sex and maternal condition in the settlement was an ass. There was some conjecture as to fitness, but the experiment was tried. It was less problematical than the ancient treatment of Romulus and Remus, and apparently as successful.

Related Characters: Stumpy, Cherokee Sal
Related Symbols: Tommy Luck (“The Luck”)
Page Number: 18
Explanation and Analysis:

The introduction of a female nurse in the camp also met with objection. It was argued that no decent woman could be prevailed to accept Roaring Camp as her home, and the speaker urged that “they didn’t want any more of the other kind.” This unkind allusion to the defunct mother, harsh as it may seem, was the first spasm of propriety,—the first symptom of the camp’s regeneration. […] But when questioned, [Stumpy] averred stoutly that he and “Jinny”—the mammal before alluded to—could manage to rear the child. There was something original, independent, and heroic about the plan that pleased the camp.

Related Characters: Stumpy, Cherokee Sal
Related Symbols: Tommy Luck (“The Luck”)
Related Literary Devices:
Page Number: 20
Explanation and Analysis:

Stumpy imposed a kind of quarantine upon those who aspired to the honor and privilege of holding “The Luck.” It was a cruel mortification to Kentuck—who, in the carelessness of a large nature and the habits of frontier life, had begun to regard all garments as a second cuticle, which, like a snake’s, only sloughed off through decay—to be debarred this privilege from certain prudential reasons. Yet such was the subtle influence of innovation that he thereafter appeared regularly every afternoon in a clean shirt, and face still shining from his ablutions.

Related Characters: Kentuck, Stumpy
Related Symbols: Tommy Luck (“The Luck”)
Related Literary Devices:
Page Number: 22
Explanation and Analysis:

The winter of 1851 will long be remembered in the foothills. The snow lay deep on the Sierras, and every mountain creek became a river, and every river a lake. Each gorge and gulch was transformed into a tumultuous watercourse that descended the hillsides, tearing down giant trees and scattering its drift and debris along the plain. Red Dog had been twice under water, and Roaring Camp had been forewarned. “Water put the gold into them gulches,” said Stumpy. “It’s been here once and will be here again!” And that night the North Fork suddenly leaped over its banks, and swept up the triangular valley of Roaring Camp.

Related Characters: Stumpy (speaker), Kentuck
Related Symbols: Tommy Luck (“The Luck”), The Flood
Related Literary Devices:
Page Number: 25
Explanation and Analysis:

In the confusion of rushing water, crushing trees, and crackling timber, and the darkness which seemed to flow with the water and blot out the fair valley, but little could be done to collect the scattered camp. When the morning broke, the cabin of Stumpy nearest the river-bank was gone. Higher up the gulch they found the body of its unlucky owner; but the pride, the hope, the joy, the Luck, of Roaring Camp had disappeared.

Related Characters: Stumpy
Related Symbols: Tommy Luck (“The Luck”), The Flood
Page Number: 25
Explanation and Analysis:
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Stumpy Quotes in The Luck of Roaring Camp

The The Luck of Roaring Camp quotes below are all either spoken by Stumpy or refer to Stumpy. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
Sin, Redemption, and Children Theme Icon
).
The Luck of Roaring Camp Quotes

Within an hour she had climbed, as it were, that rugged road that led to the stars, and so passed out of Roaring Camp, its sin and shame forever. I do not think that the announcement disturbed them much, except in speculation as to the fate of the child. “Can he live now?” was asked of Stumpy. The answer was doubtful. The only other being of Cherokee Sal’s sex and maternal condition in the settlement was an ass. There was some conjecture as to fitness, but the experiment was tried. It was less problematical than the ancient treatment of Romulus and Remus, and apparently as successful.

Related Characters: Stumpy, Cherokee Sal
Related Symbols: Tommy Luck (“The Luck”)
Page Number: 18
Explanation and Analysis:

The introduction of a female nurse in the camp also met with objection. It was argued that no decent woman could be prevailed to accept Roaring Camp as her home, and the speaker urged that “they didn’t want any more of the other kind.” This unkind allusion to the defunct mother, harsh as it may seem, was the first spasm of propriety,—the first symptom of the camp’s regeneration. […] But when questioned, [Stumpy] averred stoutly that he and “Jinny”—the mammal before alluded to—could manage to rear the child. There was something original, independent, and heroic about the plan that pleased the camp.

Related Characters: Stumpy, Cherokee Sal
Related Symbols: Tommy Luck (“The Luck”)
Related Literary Devices:
Page Number: 20
Explanation and Analysis:

Stumpy imposed a kind of quarantine upon those who aspired to the honor and privilege of holding “The Luck.” It was a cruel mortification to Kentuck—who, in the carelessness of a large nature and the habits of frontier life, had begun to regard all garments as a second cuticle, which, like a snake’s, only sloughed off through decay—to be debarred this privilege from certain prudential reasons. Yet such was the subtle influence of innovation that he thereafter appeared regularly every afternoon in a clean shirt, and face still shining from his ablutions.

Related Characters: Kentuck, Stumpy
Related Symbols: Tommy Luck (“The Luck”)
Related Literary Devices:
Page Number: 22
Explanation and Analysis:

The winter of 1851 will long be remembered in the foothills. The snow lay deep on the Sierras, and every mountain creek became a river, and every river a lake. Each gorge and gulch was transformed into a tumultuous watercourse that descended the hillsides, tearing down giant trees and scattering its drift and debris along the plain. Red Dog had been twice under water, and Roaring Camp had been forewarned. “Water put the gold into them gulches,” said Stumpy. “It’s been here once and will be here again!” And that night the North Fork suddenly leaped over its banks, and swept up the triangular valley of Roaring Camp.

Related Characters: Stumpy (speaker), Kentuck
Related Symbols: Tommy Luck (“The Luck”), The Flood
Related Literary Devices:
Page Number: 25
Explanation and Analysis:

In the confusion of rushing water, crushing trees, and crackling timber, and the darkness which seemed to flow with the water and blot out the fair valley, but little could be done to collect the scattered camp. When the morning broke, the cabin of Stumpy nearest the river-bank was gone. Higher up the gulch they found the body of its unlucky owner; but the pride, the hope, the joy, the Luck, of Roaring Camp had disappeared.

Related Characters: Stumpy
Related Symbols: Tommy Luck (“The Luck”), The Flood
Page Number: 25
Explanation and Analysis: