Harte makes good use of dialogue to emphasize the crude, rough, and uneducated characteristics of the men of Sandy Bar, particularly Tennessee's partner. However, the dialogue alone is not the only portrayal of their crudeness. At the beginning of the story, Harte tells of the townspeople's crude manner of giving newcomers new names--those names often being offensive to the newcomers. Harte tells us that Tennessee is known to the townspeople to be an obsessive gambler, …
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showed last 75 words of 329 total
…townspeople as being quite sympathetic and kind as they accompany Tennessee's partner to the burial site. Harte also tells of their attempts at kindness in the time following Tennessee's death and burial. I believe these qualities surfaced due to Harte's apparent love for the West. His story reflects his views that although the men of western towns were often crude and uneducated, most of them were capable of loyalty and kindness when the opportunity arose.