1. Mark Twain ( )
“All modern American literature comes from one book by Mark Twain called Huckleberry Finn.”
- Ernest Hemmingway
One of the great writers of American literature, Twain is admired for capturing typical American experiences in a language which is realistic and charming.
Samuel Langhorne Clemens

2. The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County
By Mark Twain

3. Realistic Techniques 1. Settings thoroughly familiar to the writer
2. Plots emphasizing the norm of daily experience
3. Ordinary characters, studied in depth
4. Complete authorial objectivity
5. Responsible morality; a world truly reported
The Realists generally reject the kind of symbolism suggested by Emerson when he said "Every natural fact is a symbol of some spiritual fact." Their use of symbolism is controlled and limited; they depend more on the use of images.

4. Frame Story
A frame story (also known as a frame tale or frame narrative) is a literary technique , whereby an introductory or main narrative is presented, at least in part, for the purpose of setting the stage either for a more emphasized second narrative or for a set of shorter stories.
The frame story leads readers from a first story into another, smaller one (or several ones) within it.

5. Frame Story
1st Narrative
2nd Narrative
Unknown narrator needs to seek information about Leonidas W. Smiley, as requested by a friend of his from the EAST. He will find Simon Wheeler to gather information about the Reverend Leonidas W. Smiley
“lurking suspicion that L.W. Smiley is a myth”
Just a gag to get Wheeler to talk about Jim Smiley
Simon Wheeler tells the tale of Jim Smiley
Jim Smiley is a bit of a gambler, has several pets he uses to swindle/dupe people out of their money. One such pet is his frog.
”A stranger” comes to town and bets Jim $40 that any frog could out jump the one Jim keeps in his box. While Jim is out looking for a frog the stranger feds the frog weights to weigh him down, hindering his ability to jump – subsequently winning the bet and immediately taking off with the money.

6. Purpose of the frame story?
Why does Twain use the frame story structure in his short story? And to what effect does the structure contribute to the overall meaning of the story?

7. Local Color Movement & Setting
EAST
WEST
Friend from the EAST – sets him on his mission
Narrator presumably from the EAST
“ancient mining camp of Angel’s” (3)
County Calaveras
Jim Smiley
Simon Wheeler

8. Naming Leonidas W. Smiley vs. Jim Smiley Simon Wheeler
Unnamed narrator
Andrew Jackson - a westerner and the seventh president of the United States. He was a man of the people and believed in democracy for all.
Dan’l (Daniel) Webster - was an attorney who became one of the leading American statesmen, serving as a senator and Secretary of State. He ran unsuccessfully for president three times and was known for being a very good narrator.
In this short story, a common frog with no name beats the educated frog (Dan’l Webster). The moral of the tale could be that the uneducated, common frog was only able to beat the educated frog through cheating. Alternatively, given Webster’s politics, it might be possible read more deeply into this and suggest that the tale is subversively arguing for equality for all Americans.
Analyze the author’s choices concerning why his characters would have these names, and how that effects the work as a whole.

9. Contrasting motifs that help develop theme:
Motif = a narrative element with a symbolic meaning that repeats itself throughout a piece of literature
Theme = underlying message that a writer wants the reader to understand. It is a perception about life or human nature that the writer shares with the readers, in most cases themes are not stated directly but must be inferred.
Love is not a theme, it’s a topic. What is the message about love?
Love stinks.
Unrequited love can be the most painful type of love.
Love can solve all problems.

10. In your small groups . . .
1. Find all examples of your motifs and make a list with the textual evidence and the paragraph number.
2. Once you’ve found all the examples you can look at the evidence you’ve gathered and come up with a theme. What is the message the author is trying to tell you about this topic?
3. Write one elaborated paragraph defending what theme you think is present in the story.
GROUPS
SPADES - Cunning/Cleverness
CLUBS - Competition
HEARTS - Lies and Deceit
DIAMONDS - East/West or Regions

11. 1.Find all examples of your motifs and make a list with the textual evidence and the paragraph number.
Admiration
Absurdity
Wheeler “regarded it as a really important matter, and admired its two heroes as men of transcendent genius in finesse” (3)
“It always makes me feel sorry when I think of that last fight of his’n, and the way it turned out” (6)
“You never see a frog so modest and straightforward as he was, for all he was so gifted” (7)
“Smiley was monstrous proud of his frog” (7)
Narrator comments that this information on Rev. Smiley is probably just a wild goose chase where Wheeler “would go to work and bore me nearly to death with some infernal reminiscence of him as long and tedious as it should be useless to me” (1)
Narrator comments that Wheeler narrates the story of Jim “without ever smiling” which is “exquisitely absurd” (3)
Mare (5)
Pup (6)
Frog “Smiley said all the frog wanted was education” (7)
“Filled him full of quail shot” (17)

12. 2. Once you’ve found all the examples you can look at the evidence you’ve gathered and come up with a theme. What is the message the author is trying to tell you about this topic?
Theme = Sometimes respect or admiration for something means believing in the impossibility or absurd qualities of something.
Theme = Admiration for something means allowing yourself to be in wonder of the absurdity of a situation.
Theme = In order to completely admire something you have to both respect and accept the absurdity of a situation.
Theme = Part of being able to admire something is the ability to accept the absurdity of a situation.

13. In your small groups . . .
1. Find all examples of your motifs and make a list with the textual evidence and the paragraph number.
2. Once you’ve found all the examples you can look at the evidence you’ve gathered and come up with a theme. What is the message the author is trying to tell you about this topic?
3. Write one elaborated paragraph defending what theme you think is present in the story.
GROUPS
Cunning/Cleverness
Competition
Lies and Deceit
East/West or Regions

14. Why do you think Wheeler is so interested in getting people to listen to his tall tales? Does he just like to hear himself talk, or does he think they can learn something from him?
Why did Jim Smiley give his pets famous political names?
Why is it significant that Smiley’s animals all seem to have no use or value until Smiley finds one? What conclusions can you draw from the fact that despite clear limitations, they almost always win?
Why is it ironic when Smiley loses?
What is the significance of the frog race?
What is “Local Color Movement,” and why is the use of dialect and slang so important to the humor of this story?
How do you know there are cultural differences between the Eastern and Western regions in this story?

15. Why do you think Wheeler is so interested in getting people to listen to his tall tales? Does he just like to hear himself talk, or does he think they can learn something from him?
Why did Jim Smiley give his pets famous political names?
Why is it significant that Smiley’s animals all seem to have no use or value until Smiley finds one? What conclusions can you draw from the fact that despite clear limitations, they almost always win?
Why is it ironic when Smiley loses?
What is the significance of the frog race?
What is “Local Color Movement,” and why is the use of dialect and slang so important to the humor of this story?
How do you know there are cultural differences between the Eastern and Western regions in this story?