The Notorious Jumping Frog of Calaveras County

Mark Twain

Literary Focus: Humor and RegionalismHumor: literature purposely meant to entertain

All types of humor include exaggeration (hyperbole) and irony

3 types of HumorHumor of situation: comes from situational

irony in plotHumor of character: based on exaggerated

personalitiesHumor of language: includes sarcasm,

exaggeration, irony, and puns

Mark Twain

Tall TaleHumorous story Exaggerated charactersImpossible events

StyleFrame Story

Twain introduces a 2nd narrator, Simon Wheeler, who tells the story

“The Notorious Jumping Frog of Calaveras County”

RegionalismDialect

Distinct form of language as it is spoken in one geographical area or by one social or ethnic groupUses unconventional spellingSuggests the way the words actually

soundEstablishes settingAdds local color (regionalism)Develops characters

“The Notorious Jumping Frog…”

Contrast the two narrators—unnamed narrator and Simon WheelerLanguage—how does each narrator use

languageTone—attitude toward the subject (the story of

the jumping frog)How does each narrator feel about Jim Smiley’s

Tall Tale?

“The Notorious Jumping Frog…”

Analyzing Dialect and HyperboleFind three examples of exaggeration/hyperbole

combined with dialect Write out the exampleExplain why combining dialect and hyperbole creates humor.

Write the first paragraph of Simon Wheeler’s next story….“Well, thish-yer Smiley had a yaller one-eyed cow that

didn’t have no tail, only just a short stump like a bannanner, and—”

Maintain Wheeler’s voice as narrator by copying his…DialectUse of exaggeration/hyperbole

“The Notorious Jumping Frog of Calaveras County”