Use Of Diction In The Celebrated Jumping Frog Of Calaveras County

Mark Twain's "The Notorious Jumping Frog of Calaveras County" is a short story with the lesson that what goes around comes around. In this short story, which first appeared in 1856 and his first successful story, Twain uses local customs of the time, dialect, and examples of social status in his story to create a realistic view of the region in which the story takes place. The way that the characters behave is very distinctive. Dialect is also used to give the reader a convincing impression of the setting in "The Notorious Jumping Frog of Calaveras County". The social status of the main characters in this story also was something that

Throughout Life On The Mississippi and The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County the authors show many instances of how the authors wanted things in literature to be perceived as how they really were instead of being described as how they made someone feel or being dark about their description. While reading Life On The Mississippi Twain talks about how the captain of the boat was describing mile marker on the river and he says “they all looked about alike to me; they were monotonously unpicturesque.” (Twain 2). This quote shows that the captain was describing these objects as they were meaningful to himself as Twain just saw the objects as what they were to him, just objects. This section of the text explains how writers were going to a form of

Samuel Langhorne Clemens, better known by the pseudonym Mark Twain, has been central to American literature for over a century. His seemingly effortless diction accurately exemplified America’s southern culture. From his early experiences in journalism to his most famous fictional works, Twain has remained relevant to American writing as well as pop culture. His iconic works are timeless and have given inspiration the youth of America for decades. He distanced himself from formal writing and became one of the most celebrated humorists. Mark Twain’s use of the common vernacular set him apart from authors of his era giving his readers a sense of familiarity and emotional connection to his characters and himself.

In the story “The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County” by Mark Twain, the use of diction provides differences upon the certain class of characters. The text consist of three characters as the narrator looks for someone known as Smiley. He comes across a man by the name of Simon Wheeler and is caught in his story of another man by the name of Smiley which provides a story within a story. As clear of a difference as black and white, the diction of the narrator is more profound and well educated than other characters is this humorous fiction piece. The differences is the use of diction is a bit extreme, providing a possible time era and a separation in educational class.

One of the examples of Twain’s exaggeration is when Wheeler describes Smiley. He says that he would bet on anything, if he bet on how far a bug would go, he would follow that bug to Mexico. This gives the story a very humorous tone. In this story a feeling of regionalism is seen too because Smiley finds pride in his frog being the best in his area. Whereas Harte does not use humor as his main element to present the West, instead he uses comic relief. In Harte's story, the citizens of Poker Flat mining camp have decided to rid the county of trouble makers, and exile a gambler Mr. John Oakhurst, prostitutes the Duchess and the Mother Shipton, and a drunken thief Uncle Billy. The exiles must find shelter and head for the next camp, Sandy Bar which is located further into the mountains. Sandy Bar is a day journey and the banished have very few Supplies, plus it is winter, and snow is expected. Harte chooses to use sarcastic narrative to emphasize the direness of the group's situation, plus, to emphasize the lack of the group's propriety and common sense. One example of Harte's humorous, sarcastic narrative is the line, Mr. Oakhurst seldom troubled himself with sentiment, still less with propriety; but he had a vague idea that the situation was not fortunate. Another example would be, but they were furnished with liquor, which in this emergency

In Mark Twain’s book, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, the protagonist, Huck Finn, struggles in-between the Southern values of slavery and his own conscience, letter revealing situational irony. Situational irony is an occasion in which the outcome is significantly different from what was expected or considered appropriate. Slavery was commonplace in Huck’s time. No one has told him differently, but somehow the isolation on the raft, away from the laws of civilization changed that misguided outlook.as a port uneducated boy, Huck questions the precepts that society takes for granted. This self questioning is heighten by the difference of social orders: Huck and Jim’s microcosmic community where everyone wants everyone else to be satisfied

War has the ability to change many things about the world. While most associate the changes of war with boundaries and governments, people often forgot the influence it has over society and culture. The United States experienced a change similar to this shortly after the Civil war. Citizens were shown the brutality and devastation of war which lead to them having a grim outlook on the world. This viewpoint inspired a new generation of artists and authors who ,with their combined works, created Realism. Writers like Mark Twain, Stephen Crane, Abraham Cahan, Ambrose Bierce, and Henry James pushed the drastic shift from feelings to reality in the hopes of appealing to the more literate working class. Many stories, in order to capture reality, relied on similar techniques and themes such as: simplicity, truth, and criticism.

In "The Notorious Jumping Frog of Calaveras County", Twain displayed an extraordinarily amount of boasting.

One of the most noteworthy aspects of Twain’s The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is the skillful way in which Twain relates Huck’s thoughts. By telling the story from the first person point of view, Twain not only lets the reader into Huck’s mind, but he also allows Huck to characterize himself in terms of dialect—his manner of speaking, as we hear his thoughts in his own uneducated and thoroughly “countrified” voice.

Smiley has missed the point of Adventures of Huckleberry Finn and has depressed the book to a fractions of its ideas. She sees the book as a failed social commentary on racism and enabling the reader to avoid responsibility. A Short sighted sentiment from Mrs. Smiley, but Mark Twain has a light directed elsewhere. He lights out the territory of social improvements by vexing the reader to view from different vantage points.

One writing that Mark Twain is not as famous for, but is still a well known piece of work for showing the use of humor in his writings is, “The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County”. This work starts off slow without much humor until later on in the writing. The humor picks up as Twain includes bits of sarcasm to the mix. The humor in this short work is not so hidden or subtle as it may have been in some of Twain’s other writings. One example of this sort of dry humor is, “And Smiley says, sorter indifferent like, ‘It might be a parrot, or it might be a canary, may be, but it an't it's only just a frog.’” (Jumping Frog). This shows a side and type of writing that is not usually seen with Twain. Usually the humor in his writings was always sort of hidden away and harder to pick out, but in this work, it is more obvious that he is trying to make it humorous. “The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County” may not be as widely known as some of Twain’s other work, but it is a good example of how he includes humor into his writings to catch the reader’s attention and to provide some comic relief from, at times, tense situations.

Part of the reason that makes Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain a masterpiece is because of the way he forced the readers to fondle the details to find a greater meaning. He places details in the language for the readers to further their understanding of the characters and get a good feel for the setting of the novel. Twain places a heavy emphasis on Jim’s dialect, he does this by making Jim’s speech hard to read and digest. He does this to show Jims place in society, his level of education, and to show how most slaves during the time period talked. Twain also uses his language to show how slaves were treated in different states and to show the amount of education they receive. For example

Each witter has their own style and uses syntax and diction in different and unique ways. Chapter 12 of The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, and “The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County,” written by Mark Twain both demonstrate a great American theme through the use of these three forms of writing. The novel and the short story consist of the first-person point of view style of writing, as well as patterned syntax sentences, and finally informal diction with polysyndeton.

Each writer has their own style and uses syntax and diction in different and unique ways. Chapter 12 of The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, and “The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County,” written by Mark Twain demonstrates three types of writing. The novel and the short story consist of the first-person point of view style of writing, as well as patterned syntactic sentences, and finally informal diction with polysyndeton.

The following paper will briefly show arguments, and conclusions within the writings of Mark Twain’s story Huckleberry Finn. I will discuss the various themes that Mark Twain is bringing to light within his story. This paper will show how Mark Twain uses those themes within the story, and how they are specifically used. I will also briefly discuss the life of Samuel Clemons, the author known as Mark Twain, and give the reasoning behind choosing the name of Mark Twain when writing his novels. Themes of escapism will be discussed.