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The Notorious Jumping Frog Analysis

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The use of language in writing is a form of self-expression and is a way to reveal key things about narrators’ characters. The narrators in “The Notorious Jumping Frog” and “Baker's Bluejay Yarn” by Mark Twain, have a very specific style of language which reveals things about their characters. In “The Notorious Jumping Frog” the narrator’s name is Simon Wheeler, The story takes place in Calaveras County, a mining town in California. Wheeler is originally asked about a man by the name Leonidas W. Smiley, but Wheeler started talking a completely different man by the name of Jim Smiley, a man with a gambling problem, who once lived in town. In “Baker's Bluejay Yarn” the narrator's name is Jim Baker. The story takes place in a lonely area in …show more content…

The foremost thing that becomes evident is his inability to stay on topic. The inability to stay on topic is demonstrated when Wheeler’s narration begins, it starts with “Rev. Leonidas W. H’m, Reverend Le-- well, there was a feller here once by the name of Jim Smiley…”(Twain 392). When asked about Rev. Leonidas Smiley, Wheeler quickly changes the subject to someone with a similar name, who is completely irrelevant to the conversation. This not only demonstrates his inability to stay on topic but also shows how his attention span is so short that he can not remember what he is originally asked about. Another way which reveals Wheeler’s character through his language is through his poor grammar. His poor grammar is evident in many places throughout his narration, and one particular instance when he says “Lots of the boys here has seen that Smiley, and can tell you about him” (Twain 392). Wheeler's grammar is incorrect and he should have actually said: “Lots of the boys here have seen Smiley, and can tell you about him”. Wheeler’s poor grammar can be partially attributed to the community around him. Wheeler lives in a mining camp, and most people in mining camps are not highly educated, hence why he uses improper grammar. Taking into account his inability to stay on topic, his short attention span, and his poor grammar, Wheeler’s language leads the readers to believe that he is not educated and is incapable of telling a comprehensible

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The jump in “Prelude to Jumping in the River” by Katia Grubisic undergoes similar process as making important decisions in terms of the preparation and the aftereffects. Both the jump and making important decisions require lengthy preparation. In the poem, before the man jumps into the river, he “lays his light shirt, glasses, straw hat / and shoes” (1-2) on a piece of wood. This shows that he has spent some time organizing his clothing and “the mental preparation / takes some time” (4-5) after he has undressed. Similarly, before making important decisions, the decision-maker needs time to check every detail and weigh the benefits and drawbacks of each option in order to decide which one is better.

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The narrator in The Notorious Jumping Frog of Calaveras County does very little storytelling. He introduces us to Simon Wheeler by a barroom stove in an old tavern; then we spend the next three full pages listening to him (Twain 662-665). The narrator interrupts Wheeler and he ends our story (Twain 666). In The Outcasts of Poker Flat the narrator is outside the story and we do not know who it is. The narrator follows John Oakhurst from the beginning when he becomes an outcast (Harte 674) to the end when he dies (Harte 684).

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Had this not been required reading , I would not have read past the first few lines. Ms. Wheeler’s writing was more technical in nature. She uses US Standard English, to explain her work with student’s explaining how she decodes her students work looking for differences are in their first vernacular from the US Standard English, and discusses

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Twain: In “The Notorious Jumping Frog of Calaveras Country” the tone of the narrator’s relationship began on the very first page. The narrator says that he has a “lurking suspicion” that Leonidas W. Smiley is made up and that Wheeler would “bore me to death with some exasperating reminiscence of him as long and as tedious as it should be useless to me” (Twain 1285). The narrator says that Simon Wheeler’s story telling is a “monotonous narrative” with no expressions (Twain 1285). Wheeler tells a Story about a man named Jim Smiley and uses figurative language to portray imagery throughout.

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