“The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County”. The theme of the Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County is a amusing story about Jim Smiley and how he trained a frog and used his frog for gambling. There are several ways this story relates to the realism era. Realism is a attempt to represent subject matter truthfully without artificiality and avoiding artistic conventions or implausible,exotic and supernatural elements. One of the seven aspects is cleverness or cunning. Cleverness or Cunning is used to demonstrate how smart Jim thinks he really is. Jim uses the frog he teaches to jump in bets to win money and his cleverness is what makes him win based on luck. This relates to the realism era by the story becoming comical in the end and him losing because his frog had eaten lead and the stranger had won and bet JIm. …show more content…
At the end of the story Jim had meet a stranger that had made a bet with him and said “May be you understand frogs, and maybe you don't understand ‘em ; may be you've had experience, and may be you an’t only a amature, as it were. Anyways, i've got my opinion, and ill risk forty dollars that he can outjump any frog in Calaveras County”. This quote explains that he has his opinion on the frogs and Jim. the stranger thinks that Jim is just a fraud and the frog is just based on luck . after they race the frogs Jim realizes that he can't win every gamble in the end because his frog ended up eating lead. This relates to the realism era because it shows the drama and exaggerated emotionalism of the romantic
Jim Smiley is a dumbstruck guy. He thinks everything she be about how his frog is the best frog, just as John Oakhurst feel about himself. Jim has a big head, exactly like John does. In this line” "Well," Smiley says, easy and careless, "He's good enough for one thing, I should judge he can outjump any frog in Calaveras county."” (Twain) It shows Jim has a full of himself attitude and will not let anyone tell him anything different than that his frog is the best around. In this line “Mr. Oakhurst's calm, handsome face betrayed small concern in these indications.” (Harte) it seems as if John Oakhurst knows for a fact he is a handsome man. Jim Smiley was a go get ‘em kind of guy and John Oakhurst seemed like a laid back kind of guy. The absolute
What makes Jim Casy interesting is the contradiction. Sprituality (affecting the human spirit or soul as opposed to material or physical thing) Jim Casy is described very harshly for such a wise man. In his first introduction, he was described as “bony, tight of skin, and set on a neck as stringy and muscular as a celery stalk. ”(19) Although Jim Casy seems wise, intelligent, and omniscient, his physical description is contrary to his characteristics and personality.
Another account continues as Twain's narrator Simon persists with the use of his diction, as he describes the "monstrous pride" that Jim Smiley has for his newfound frog. Smiley states that he "ketched a frog"(185), and named him Dan'l Webster, who was a well-known mountain man of that time period. Mark Twain uses Dan'l Webster as the talented, but rough mountain man who would fit right in with Simon's (the narrator's) descriptive inference. He also uses the slang "ketched" to add color and infer Smiley's lower class and uneducated upbringing, typical of what Twain wants to portray of the Americans in early California mining camps.
In “The Notorious Jumping Frog of Calaveras County,” Mark Twain utilizes humor and contrasting provincial perspectives to demonstrate regionalism throughout the text. One way Twain accomplishes this humor is through the colloquial speech and lousy grammar of the storyteller, Simon Wheeler, which Twain contrasts against the well-spoken and mannered East Coast narrator. Wheeler's vernacular is a valuable representation of the way most people in California mining camps talk, using words and phrases such as “dangdest feller,” “thish-yer,” “jest,” and “ketch[ed]” (Twain 122-123).Additionally, Twain’s deliberate use of misspellings helped to more effectively develop Wheeler’s stories and their regional qualities. A prime example of this is when Wheeler talks about the notorious frog, Dan’l Webster. He exclaims, “and quicker’n you could wink he’d spring straight up and snake a fly off’n
"The Notorious Jumping Frog of Calaveras County - Mark Twain - AlbaLearning Audiolibros Y Libros." The Notorious Jumping Frog of Calaveras County - Mark Twain - AlbaLearning Audiolibros Y Libros. N.p., n.d. Web. 31 Jan. 2014. .
Briefly, the story I read was about a young prince being transformed into a donkey. It was one of the witchcraft stories where the young boy/girl had to retrieve a certain thing to be transformed back into his/her normal self. A role of magical realism was played as well as fantastical literature. "Bring out the apple," said Terror. "I would give my name, my rank, and my reputation, as a warrior to possess even a quarter of your magic"(32). Magical Realism and fantastical literature are brought together by the fantasy of a young boy being transformed and the magic that would make that transformation happen.
In the short story, “The Notorious Jumping Frog of Calaveras County” written by American writer Mark Twain, the main character, Smiley, is addicted to making bets and is willing to bet on anything and everything such as; animals, activities, and even human beings. Although the main character, Smiley, can be considered wise and quick witted because of his ability to win almost all the bets he makes. But it seems that luck has something to do with his bet winning as well along with the fact that he does not miss a chance to make pointless bets.
Realism is a style of writing which shows how things are in life. It showed how mostly every person thought life was just perfect. They were not seeing the
For example, Simon Wheeler was, “fat and bald-headed, and had an expression of winning gentleness and simplicity. . .” (Twain 115). This laid-back description was typical of folks in Angel’s Camp. Also, Twain portrayed the individuals as uneducated. This was evidenced by Wheeler’s statement that Jim Smiley, “ketched a frog one day, and took him home, and said he cal'lated to educate him” (Twain 117). Since frogs have the innate ability to jump it is rather preposterous to believe that an educated man would attempt to train a frog to jump. Another characteristic of folks in this camp was that they had a great deal of leisure time to sit and talk. This was supported by the narrator’s statement that Wheeler, “backed me into a corner . . . sat me down and reeled off the monotonous narrative. . .” (Twain
Watt argues that the characters in a novel owe their individuality to the realistic presentation. "Realism" is expressed by a rejection of traditional plots, by particularity, emphasis on the personality of the character, a consciousness of duration of time and space and its expression in style.
An alternative interpretation is that it is difficult to show your true self. Although the animals are all humanoids Kermit's green skin still, shines through. This shows that as much as we pretend to be something else (in this case a human) our true nature (a green frog) will always shine through. Furthermore, the scriptwriter has an important job of instilling positive
-The conflict between man and nature in this book are shown many times, most occurring on the Mississippi River, as Huckleberry and Jim escape many towns. The first time it appears is when Jim predicts a storm coming. Two days later it does, and floods ensue. Jim and Huckleberry have to wait out for the next few days until the river recedes. Later on, Huckleberry loses Jim in a massive fog, but they are later reunited. Huckleberry makes up a false story explaining how he got lost, but Jim doesn’t buy it.
Realism is a literary style in which the author describes people, their actions, their emotions and surroundings as close to the reality as possible. The characters are not perfectly good or completely evil; they exhibit strengths and weaknesses, just as real people. The characters often commit crimes or do immoral things, and are not always just good or just evil. In a realistic novel, aspects of the time period or location are also taken into consideration. Characters dress in clothes that befit them, and speak with local dialects. Most importantly, characters are not sugar coated or exaggerated. The characters do things as they would normally do them, and are not worse or better then their real life counterparts.
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn has been the source of criticism on many occasions. One major objection to the novel is based on the portrayal of black characters in general and Jim in particular as a “minstrel” with absurd dialectal speech and superstition. Former English professor at University of Alabama Claudia Durst Johnson states, “Black characters, including Jim, are reduced to minstrel or childlike roles which deny their humanity and maturity” (72). However, critics...
Throughout the novel, Jim internally aspires toward the significant and frequently occurring image, courage. From the very beginning he sees "himself saving people from sinking ships . . . an example of devotion to duty, and as unflinching as a hero in a book" (3).