The Luck of Roaring Camp Themes

“The Luck of Roaring Camp” is a satirical rehashing of the biblical birth and death of Christ. In the story, a prostitute dies while giving birth in a small settlement in the American West (where she was the only woman), leaving the all-male community in charge of a newborn. But the baby, whom the men name “the Luck,” quickly changes Roaring Camp for the better, spurring the men to clean up their foul language…

Despite his name, baby Luck seems far from lucky. His mother, Cherokee Sal is the town prostitute, and she dies in childbirth, orphaning baby Luck and leaving him under the care of 100 gruff, unpleasant, and even criminal men in the wilderness of the American West. And to the men, who are now suddenly in charge of a newborn, the Luck’s birth doesn’t seem all that lucky at first, either. But over the course of…

Roaring Camp is a small gold-mining settlement in the American West—Northern California specifically, given the story’s reference to the Sierra Nevada mountain range and redwood trees. The settlement is incredibly insular: it’s tucked away in the wildness, far away from other towns, and is populated by 100 gruff men who are suspicious of outsiders. But rather than focusing on the negative effects of isolation—of which there certainly are many—the story focuses on how insular communities…

Like many of Harte’s stories, “The Luck of Roaring Camp” takes place in a settlement in the American West during the Gold Rush era. But it’s not all campfire songs and panning for gold at Roaring Camp—the men of Roaring Camp have led difficult lives, and simply surviving in the wilderness is a feat in itself. This is the brutal environment that the titular baby Luck is born into; when his mother, the town prostitute…