calaveras county

THE CELEBRATED JUMPING FROG OF CALAVERAS COUNTYCamus | Cardenas | Tan | Calderon | Lawas | Somido

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Mark Twain (as of 1971)

• The story was written in 1865 by Mark Twain.

• Mark Twain (a.k.a. Samuel Clemens) was one of America’s prolific writers, though he was also known to be a steam ship pilot, inventor, entrepreneur, and journalist.

• His best known works are Huckleberry Finn, The Prince and the Pauper, and the Adventures of Tom Sawyer.

• Twain was a master storyteller, renowned for his casual, funny, and satirical, style.

STORY BACKGROUND• The story's original title was "Jim Smiley

and his frog"

• It was written in 1865, during which a civil war was taking place.

• The story is set in Calaveras County, California, U.S.A. and...

• Angels Camp, which is the only incorporated city in its area.

SUMMARY

THEMES• Satire, the point of the story is being pointless.

• Humor, the stupidity and incredulity of the story matched with the silliness of the circumstance make it a light hearted and funny piece.

• Folklore, the story of the frog reflects the style of American tales at the time.

• History/Society, the relationship and characteristics of the storyteller reflect the cultural differences of the eastern and western United States.

• Deception

CHARACTERS/ANIMALS

Simon WheelerThe Narrator (Twain

himself)

Fifteen-Minute Nag

Andrew Jackson

Jim Smiley

Dan'l Webster

Others:

-Stranger-Leonidas W. Smiley

FIGURES OF SPEECH Wheeler uses descriptive language to describe things in a way that uses local color, or dialect

representing a region. Since the frog jumping contests takes place in a rural area of the California hills, Wheeler represents a rural mindset.

Wheeler uses idiomatic expressions, or cultural figurative expressions. For example, when he picks up the frog he uses an idiom.

"Why, blame my cats, if he don't weigh five pound!" (p. 4)

The phrase “blame my cats” is figurative. He is not actually blaming any cats for the weight of the frog

“He never smiled, he never frowned, he never changed his voice…” -- Repetition

Wheeler uses unusual adjectives and adverbs, such as “curiosest,” “uncommon lucky,” and “anywhere”

Wheeler uses dialect by pronouncing words differently than we would, and Twain writes them as they sound. Examples of this are “solittry,” for solitary, “reg'lar” forregular, and “feller'd” for feller would

Twain uses apostrophes and misspellings in order to emphasize the southern accent of the storyteller, or something.

OTHER STUFF Mark Twain is the author of the story and he wrote it as a first-person-

narrative.

Twain portrays himself as an impatient Easterner who has no patience for the untutored and unbelievable stories of Simon Wheeler who he has been duped into listening to. Twain portrays himself as the educated condescending Easterner who knows better than to believe what he hears from an uneducated Westerner. Yet he ends up the butt of the joke. He can be seen the stereotype of Eastern snobbery during the nineteenth century.

The story uses a literary device called a "framed story", that is, a story withing a story.

REFERENCES http://americanliterature.com/author/mark-twain/short-story/the-celebrated

-jumping-frog-of-calaveras-county

https://suite.io/melissa-howard/cp32gd

http://www.enotes.com/homework-help/what-significance-animal-s-names-23019

http://www.enotes.com/homework-help/qestion-notorious-jumping-frog-calaveras-county-361024

http://www.novelexplorer.com/the-celebrated-jumping-frog-of-calaveras-county/themes-and-characters-85/

QUIZ!

1. The story is set in Calaveras County,

_________ USA

A. Louisiana

B. Texas

C. Arkansas

D. California

2. What year did Mark Twain write this story?

A. 1863

B. 1865

C. 1922

D. 1891

3. What is the real name of Mark Twain?

A. Orion Clemens

B. John Marshall Clemens

C. Samuel D. Clemens

Samson Clemens

4. Which one of these stories isn’t created by

Mark Twain?

A. The Prince and the Pauper

B. Huckleberry Finn

C. The Adventures of Tom Sawyer

D. Charlotte’s Web

5. Twain is renowned for his _______ style.

A. casual, funny and satirical

B. mysterious, horror, and gothic

C. adventurous, descriptive, and fast-paced

D. dark, melancholy, and woeful.

6. What major event was happening in the United States during the time Mark Twain wrote this

story ?

A. The Great Depression

B. The American Revolution

C. The Civil War

D. Industrial Revolution

7. What is the frog’s name?

A. Andrew Jackson

B. Fifteen-minute nag

C. Dan’l Webster

D. Parson Walker

OH, NO! I'M AN IDENTIFICATION ITEM!

8-9. Aside from the frog, identify two other pets

Smiley had

10. How much was Smiley and the stranger’s bet?

A. 20 US dollars

B. 40 US dollars

C. 50 US dollars

D. 35 US dollars

11. What did the stranger stuff the frog with in order to make Smiley lose the bet?

A. water

B. lead

C. quail shot

D. Hydrogen peroxide

12. What animal was Wheeler about to tell a story about before the

narrator left?

A. pig

B. cow

C. parrot

D. calf

13. What figure of speech is exhibited in this phrase: “He never

smiled, he never frowned, he never

changed his voice…”

A. repetend

B. repetition

C. metaphor

D. simile

14. Give one theme exemplified in the story.

Oh, no! I'm an identification item!

15. What literary technique serves as a companion piece to a story within a story?

Oh, no! I'm an identification item!

BONUS QUESTIONS!

B1. Who is Holden

Caulfield’s younger sister?

B2. Who is the author of the novel “The Catcher in the Rye”?