Mark Twain – "The Celebrated Jumping Frogs of Calaveras County"

Samuel Langhorne, or Mark Twain (his pen name), lived in Missouri during his childhood (Wilhelm). His father died when he was very young causing him to find a job as a printer's apprentice. After several years though, Twain managed to have his dream job: a riverboat pilot. During the Civil War, Twain moved out to Nevada and met another author who lectured him. From his experiences in Nevada, Twain wrote his short story "The Celebrated Jumping Frogs of Calaveras County". Twain later wrote "The Adventures of Tom Sawyer" and "The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn" from his experiences he had as a riverboat pilot. These two novels made him a very well known and iconic writer (Wilhelm).

Twain's novels resemble Realism, and more specifically, Regionalism very well. Twain's short story "The Celebrated Jumping Frogs of Calaveras County" takes place down south, and this is very noticeable due to how the characters in the short story talk. An example is, "And Smiley says, sorter indifferent like, 'It might be a parrot, or it might be a canary, may be, but it ain't - it's only just a frog.' And the feller took it, and looked at it careful, and turned it round this way and that, and says, 'H'm - so 'tis. Well, what's he good for?'" (Twain). The reader can tell the short story takes place in a certain region because of the accents of the characters. Most of Twain's novels are a form of Regionalism. "The Adventures of Tom Sawyer" and "The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn" both portray Regionalism very well because they both take place in small towns and along the Mississippi River. They show the reader one specific area and the people in that area which is what Regionalism does. The same thing is done in Twain's "The Celebrated Jumping Frogs of Calaveras County".

Society is pretty important in Twain's "The Celebrated Jumping Frogs of Calaveras County". All of the characters in "The Celebrated Jumping Frogs of Calaveras County" try very hard to keep a steady income and to support their families (Twain). Most of the characters accomplish this just barely, and Smiley, one of the main characters, makes his income by gambling (Twain). According to Smiley though, he has practiced so much at gambling, that he usually wins most of the time, so his hard work really pays off in the end (Twain). Obviously Smiley is just playing with fate and luck, but he does not realize this, and he thinks he is a terrific gambler and that he can make his whole living off of gambling. Not a good idea. One of Smiley's friends says that is good at horse racing, dog fights, cat fights, cock fights, bird fights, and even bug fights (Twain). Along with society, religion is somewhat mentioned in Twain's "The Celebrated Jumping Frogs of Calaveras County". Smiley tries to make bets against God which is why religion is mentioned (Twain). That is pretty much the only time religion is mentioned though. The American Dream is important in this short story though because Smiley tries to go from "rags to riches" by gambling and doing what he knows how to do (Twain).

Works Cited:


Twain, Mark. "The Celebrated Jumping Frogs of Calaveras County." Glencoe Literature. Ed. Jeffrey Wilhelm. American Literature ed. Colombus: McGraw-Hill, 2010. 498-502. Print.

Wilhelm, Jeffrey. "Meet Mark Twain". Glencoe Literature. Ed. Jeffrey Wilhelm. American Literature ed. Colombus: McGraw-Hill, 2010. 496. Print.