Thursday, January 28, 2010
The Notorious Jumping Frog of Calaveras County
Here is some back ground on this story. Twain started writing during the California Gold Rush. The miner's stories helped him along in the start of his career. By the way, he didn't strike it rich. The stories brought him success as a humorous and satirical writer. In "The Notorious Jumping.....", the main character Simon Wheeler really brings color to the story with his digression from Rev. Leonidas Smiley to rambling about Jim Smiley, a horse, a dog, and a jumping frog. He is telling one thing then he goes off on a tangent when he is reminded of something. The reader never gets a full character development. I think Simon Wheeler is one of those people that likes to hear himself talk, and does that to get attention. I really enjoyed this short story . The humor really caught my attention. This story takes me back to the past, and I imagine the uncivilized lifestyle of the Western settlers and miners. The stories are so crazy that it reminds me almost of a tall tale, or it is at least an extreme exaggeration of an actual event. The people back east probably had no idea, except from maybe some newspaper articles, of what was really going on out west. Not only this was some form of news, it was also entertainment. The reason it became so popular, because it was not like some of the boring European stories and poems (like the stuff we read in class), but it was fresh, funny, and new.
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I agree. Mark Twain, or "Two Fathoms", was something new and interesting. He seemed to be the type of writer that would be happy to have his work put in the newspaper or published in a book with other poets of the time. His writings seemed to pinpoint the readers who are hard to make laugh. But that sounded like that was his goal- that each writing produced laughter from someone somewhere. His stories almost seemed to be told or read around a camp fire when a group was on a trip in the woods. And I also think he was the complete opposite of Emily Dickinson; however, if she was to read one of his writings I think even she would laugh.
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