Appearance vs Reality in Bret Harte's The Outcasts of Poker Flat

摘要: Hypocrisy is the state of play-acting to have an opinion, idea, belief, behavior, or virtue that one does not have in his/her real life. This study sheds light on the theme of appearance and reality in one of the works of Bret Harte, the outcasts of poker flat, which is one of his famous short stories. Harte is an American writer and he is best known for his short stories. The work is an example of local color and regionalism fiction in which the writer depicts California during the first half of the nineteenth century. He is renowned for his similar writings on the life of the miners and gamblers of the California Gold Rush. In this paper, we would like to argue that if someone is considered wrong might not necessarily be so. The protagonist of the story is being accused of immorality by his surroundings. Therefore, we argue that the accusation very much fits those who accuse him rather than him.