# Scotty Briggs — Roughing It character guide

> Scotty Briggs in Roughing It by Mark Twain.

**Role:** supporting

**Also known as:** Scott, Scotty

**First appearance:** 0001-roughing-it

## Snapshot

A rough-hewn but warmhearted miner, he becomes the unlikely mourner who must arrange a proper funeral for his friend Buck Fanshaw.

## Who they are

Scotty is a Virginia City miner whose loyalty to Buck Fanshaw drives him to seek a clergyman for the funeral, despite his own unfamiliarity with religious forms. His tension lies in the gap between his rough frontier speech and the solemn ceremony he wants to provide. He matters because his negotiations with the minister produce one of the book's most famous comic dialogues and reveal the genuine tenderness beneath the mining camp's coarse surface.

## Relationships

### [The Narrator](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/roughing_it_se/characters/narrator)

_friendship_

Scotty Briggs is a boisterous, slang-talking miner who befriends the Narrator and provides comic relief.

### [The Narrator](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/roughing_it_se/characters/narrator)

_friendship_

Scotty Briggs is a boisterous, slang-talking miner who befriends the Narrator and provides comic relief.

### [The Narrator](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/roughing_it_se/characters/narrator)

_friendship_

Scotty Briggs is a boisterous, slang-talking miner who befriends the Narrator and provides comic relief.

## In the story

### [Roughing It](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/roughing_it_se/chapters/roughing-it)

A rough-and-tumble miner whose dialect and actions highlight the absurdity of frontier life.

### [XXXI](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/roughing_it_se/chapters/xxxi)

Mentioned as part of the crowd in the barroom and as the listener to the landlord's remark about his father.

### [XLVII](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/roughing_it_se/chapters/xlvii)

Buck Fanshaw's bosom friend and the committeeman who visits the minister to arrange the funeral; he speaks in heavy slang.

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/roughing_it_se/characters/scotty_briggs
- Book: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/roughing_it_se
- All characters: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/roughing_it_se/characters