The Deuce of Clubs Symbol Analysis

Before committing suicide, John Oakhurst writes his epitaph on a playing card, the deuce of clubs, which symbolizes Oakhurst’s understanding that life is a game of luck. Oakhurst’s epitaph, which he pins on a tree, reads, “Beneath this tree lies the body of John Oakhurst, who struck a streak of bad luck on the 23[r]d of November, 1850, and handed in his checks on the 7th [of] December, 1850.” It’s significant that Oakhurst chooses a deuce of clubs as his makeshift tombstone and the vessel for this message, as the club strongly resembles a three-leaf clover, solidifying its association with luck. As a serial gambler who appears to carry a pack of playing cards around with him everywhere, Oakhurst views the world through the lens of chance. However, this sometimes makes Oakhurst seem weak and submissive, letting events passively happen to him. When he is exiled from Poker Flat, he takes the news stoically, as “He was too much of a gambler not to accept Fate. With him life was at best an uncertain game, and he recognized the usual percentage in favor of the dealer.” In his mind, life depends on the luck of the draw—he can’t control which cards he’ll be dealt, so he accepts everything that comes his way with remarkable calmness.

However, Oakhurst’s worldview, as symbolized by the deuce of clubs, also suggests that life is a game of choice that requires active participation in addition to calm acceptance. When the other outcasts want to stop and make camp prematurely, Oakhurst does his best to dissuade them: “But Mr. Oakhurst knew that scarcely half the journey to Sandy Bar was accomplished, and the party were not equipped or provisioned for delay. This fact he pointed out to his companions curtly, with a philosophic commentary on the folly of ‘throwing up their hand before the game was played out.’” With this, it’s clear that Oakhurst isn’t entirely passive. He uses his sharp decision-making skills to discern the next best course of action—carrying on rather than stopping to camp—but this time, it’s his companions that prevent him from taking action. However, by the end of the story, it seems that Oakhurst does “throw[] up [his] hand before the game was played out” by tacking his “hand”—the deuce of clubs—to the tree and committing suicide under it. Rather than trying to make it back to town with Tom, Oakhurst resigns himself to death “before the game [is] played out,” raising the question of whether or not he fought hard enough against his unlucky circumstances.