Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County

571 Words3 Pages
What Is Expected In “The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County”, author Mark Twain displays the literary characteristics of Regionalism writing. Mark Twain shows literary characteristics of Regionalism by displaying a certain geographic setting, using local color, and using satire. First, Mark Twain shows a specific geographic setting. For example, the characters talk without full pronunciation. The narrator states,”… his under jaw’d begin to stick out like the fo’castle of a steamboat, and his teeth would uncover and shine savage like the furnaces (Twain, 529). Secondly, there are swamps near them. Jim Smiley leaves the stranger to go get a frog out of the swamp (Twain, 530). Also, the narrator gives a specific location of where Simon Wheeler is located. The narrator states, “ I found Simon Wheeler dozing off comfortably by the barroom stove of the old, dilapidated tavern in the ancient mining camp of Angel’s…(Twain, 526)”. The ancient mining camp of Angel’s is referring to a mining settlement located in Calaveras County, California. Next, Mark Twain uses local color. The people in the town don’t really care about others. This is shown when Simon Wheeler corners the man. The narrator tells, “Simon Wheeler backed me into a corner and blockaded me there with his chair and then sat me down and reeled off the monotonous narrative which follows this paragraph (Twain, 526)”. The people’s mannerisms also aren’t as good because the guy who frog races with Jim cheats him. The author writes, “So he set there a good while thinking and thinking to hisself, and then he got the frog out and prized his mouth open and took a teaspoon and filled him full of quail shot__filled him pretty near up to his chin—and set him on the floor (Twain, 531)”. A third example of local color is how Jim Smiley says the name of his frog. He says Dany’l instead of Daniel (Twain, 529).
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