The Notorious Jumping Frog

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This an evaluation of the short story "The Notorious Jumping Frog of Calaveras County" by Mark Twain. This is a short narrative about a man telling a story, about the story of Jim Smiley. Mark Twain was mainly interested in capturing the reader’s attention. The theme of the story is Deception. The frame of the story affects the main action by giving it different points of view.
The story begins with the narrator being sent by his friend to visit Simon Wheeler. He is told to find out about his friend Leonidas W. Smiley. The narrator mentions in the beginning that he believes that Leonidas W. Smiley is a myth, but he does it. When the narrator ask about Leonidas W. Smiley ,Wheeler says that he doesn’t know anyone by this name, however he does know a man name Jim Smiley. From there Wheeler begins to tell the story of Jim Smiley a man who is willing to gamble on anything. Smiley is said to be also a very lucky man and eventually uses his luck to train animals. Wheeler explains that Smiley has succeeded in training a frog to jump higher than any other frog in Calaveras County one day he finds a stranger who’s willing to bet that his frog can’t …show more content…
The part of the story that I found most interesting was Jim Smiley. Jim smiley was so good at what he did he could turn any underdog into a winner .The main character was a man of perseverance that always believed in himself. He was in fact so confident that he didn’t care what he was gambling on or what position he took. Jim Smiley recognized that the side he bet on was the winning side and I admired this about him. Jim Smiley trained animals by teaching them one trick that allowed the animal to stand out and become a winner. Although Smiley does go through losses throughout the story, I appreciated that the author didn’t allow this to change his personality or his

The Notorious Jumping Frog Analysis

In Mark Twain’s story, “The Notorious Jumping Frog of Calaveras County,” there is a competition between a stranger and Jim Smiley. Smiley was always ready to place a bet and he most always came out the winner. He was lucky, “uncommon lucky” according to the narrator. The foreigner came into town and Smiley, as usual, wanted to put up a bet against him. Smiley bet that his frog, Dan’l, could outjump any frog in Calaveras County. The foreigner did not have a frog so Smiley went to find one for him…

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The Notorious Jumping Frog Of Calaveras Analysis

steamboats on the Mississippi River where the story takes place: “the crew are grouped on the forecastle; the broad stage is run far out over the port bow.” Dialect, a way of speaking which is specific to a certain region, is used in Twain’s The Notorious Jumping Frog of Calaveras County. Twain spells the words phonetically with sentences like this: “There couldn’t be no solit’ry thing mentioned but that feller’d offer to bet on it, and take ary side you please.” The dialogue between the characters is influenced…

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How Is Hyperbole Used In The Notorious Jumping Frog

“ The Notorious Jumping Frog of Calaveras County” by Mark Twain is a short story about a man named Smiley who is known for his jumping frog Dan’l Webster. The narrator meets Smiley, who challenges him to a frog-jumping contest for 40 dollars. Throughout the story, Twain employs hyperbole to exaggerate situations for funny effect. One example where hyperbole is used is when Smiley frog Dan’l Webster, is described as being able to out-jump any frog in Calaveras County by “three feet in one particular…

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Analytical paper 1

The Notorious Jumping Frog of Calaveras County Jonathan Coggin Date: November 10, 2014 Professor Morgan ENG 202: American Literature II Fall B 2014 Thesis Statement and Outline-Analytical Paper 1 “The Notorious Jumping Frog of Calaveras Country” Thesis: Twain’s purpose for writing this story was to relay a lesson that people are equal and the winner is not always the civilized and educated one. And Twain seems to imply that all his readers agree with him about gambling. Critical…

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American Lit Essay

story in 1865 originally titled “The Notorious Jumping Frog of Calaveras County”. In Twain’s short story he plays around with the narration by using low diction due to the narrator’s southern style of speech. Not only is Twain’s dialogue and narration intriguing to his readers but also his use of rhetorical strategies such as symbolism, allegory, and dramatic irony grabs his audience’s attention and can cause them to reflect on the unique story. Twain uses frogs to symbolize money and greed because…

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The Outcasts Of Poker Flat Compare And Contrast

a serious issue and in a bet the odds are not always good but people will still bet anyway. In the two books “The Notorious Jumping Frog of Calavaras County” and “The Outcasts of Poker Flat” One of the regionalistic qualities these two books share is that both of the main characters love to gamble and will likely gamble on everything thing they can. In The Notorious Jumping Frog of Calaveras County Jim Smiley was the betting man in the west. “If there was a dog fight, he’d bet on it; if there…

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Racism In Mark Twain's The Adventures Of Huckleberry Finn

Mark Twain, born Samuel Langhorne Clemens, was a 19th-Century American author. Many Critics have written about his work and brought up some issues. The most notorious issue that is brought up is racism. One critic believes that Mark Twain, and his novel The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn are racist and that “readers who continue to admire Huckleberry Finn do so not because they fail to see its racist implications, but because they find the racism in it laughable and refuse to take it too seriously…

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William Cullen Bryant's 'To A Waterfowl'

1. The Romantic world view is not necessarily have to do with a boy and girl. There is no characteristics to affection of love. Romanticism is more based on ideas, nature, beauty, and fantasy. Such as “To a Waterfowl,” by William Cullen Bryant, “Thou’rt gone, the abyss of heaven hath swallowed up thy form; yet, on my heart,” (Bryant) Addressing a romantic idea having nothing related to a boy or a girl or intercourse. Actually, the Romantic period happens in the eighteen hundreds and foreshadows…

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