http://www.thoughtaudio.com/titlelist/TA0051-JumpingFrog/index.html

• “The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County” was Twain’s first successful short story, published in a magazine the Saturday Press in 1865.

• Established Twain as a new leading American humorist.

Tall Tale

• A humorous story that includes actions by a character that are impossible (or at least not realistic).– In American literature, tall tales were generally

a part of the frontier literature genre: Paul Bunyan, Pecos Bill, Davy Crockett, John Henry were tall tales.

– Uses HYPERBOLE (exaggeration).

Story-within-a-story

• a narrative (storytelling) structure wherein one story contains the telling of another story

• also known as (a.k.a.) a “frame” or “envelope” narrative

Story-within-a-story

• “The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County” is a story-within-a-story.

• GROUP TASK: –Explain the outside frame/envelope

story.–Explain the inside story-within-a-story

Story-within-a-story

• “The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County” is a story-within-a-story.– STARTS WITH OUTSIDE FRAME/ENVELOPE STORY: The

narrator tells a story about the time he was sent by a friend of his to meet a man named Simon Wheeler in order to find out about a man named Rev. Leonidis Smiley. The narrator finds Wheeler in a bar in the mining town Angel’s Camp. Wheeler does not know a Reverend Leonidis Smiley, but he does know a Jim Smiley.

– SWITCHES TO INSIDE STORY-WITHIN-A-STORY: During this meeting, Wheeler tells the narrator (Twain) a long story about Jim Smiley, which includes the story of the jumping frog.

– RETURNS TO OUTSIDE FRAME/ENVELOPE STORY: Wheeler is called away and the narrator manages to escape more stories from Wheeler.

Follow up questions (group discussion):

1. Realism is known for representing everyday life. Using the Realism handout, describe how the basic tenets of realism are reflected in “Jumping Frog.”

2. Drawing from the documentary about Mark Twain (use your film notes), how is “Jumping Frog” related to his own life and experiences?

3. How does Twain’s use of dialect contribute to the story?

4. What devices does Twain use in “Jumping Frog” to convey humor? Cite two comic passages in the story and explain how and why they are humorous.

Follow up assignment (homework):• Draw a diagram or other visual representation of

this story that shows the relationship between the outside (frame/envelope) story and the story-within-a-story.

• Use words and images.• Include the characters and what they do.• Include representations of the important elements of the

story.Grading (20 points): • 1-18 points for effective and accurate representation of

the story-within-a-story and characters.• 2 point for creativity and effort.

• The following are examples of diagrams done by students in previous years’ classes that are good models for this assignment.

• Do not copy these concepts (come up with one of your own), but notice how they represent the outside and inside stories (“envelope narrative” and “frame narrative”) in different ways. They also include quite a bit of detail and show good effort.