The Luck of Roaring Camp

Harte uses diction to separate the narrator from the other men in the camp. His language is formal, educated, and detached, especially when compared to the men’s rough vernacular. For example, Kentuck sends Stumpy to attend Sal’s birth by saying, “See what you kin do. You’ve had experience in them things” (2). In stark contrast, the narrator describes Stumpy as an “extempore surgeon and midwife” (2).

The narrator’s diction also establishes his character and his view of the events he describes. He is clearly an educated man and expects the same of his readers. Without explanation, he tosses a few Latin words into his commentary, such as ab initio (1), meaning from the beginning, and ex officio (3), meaning by virtue of office. His vocabulary is also that of an educated man, and he uses words men in the camp would likely not understand like “apostrophizing” (5), “imperceptibly” (6), and “lugubrious” (7).

This diction is also used to portray Roaring Camp with mild amusement. He does not describe Stumpy as a fugitive; rather, he says the camp is “indebted to his company” (2) due to him escaping the consequences of the “legal informality” (2) of two previous, possibly bigamous families.