Hyperbole In The Notorious Jumping Frog

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Twain’s Sense of Humour
With Twain’s style of complexity in characterization and sophisticated narrative structure, Mark Twain’s “The Notorious Jumping Frog of Calaveras County” was one of the best works that he had ever written. Mark Twain’s, “The Notorious Jumping Frog of Calaveras County” is about a man by the name of Jim Smiley was a man who would bet on anything. Smiley made a frog his pet and bets a stranger that his frog, Dan’l Webster, could jump higher than any frog. When Smiley was distracted, the stranger filled Dan’l Webster with lead, resulting in Smiley losing the bet. Before Smiley could figure out what just happened, the stranger vanished along with the money he won by cheating. In “Notorious Jumping Frog of Calaveras County”, …show more content…

on the road” (Twain pg 681). Twain’s description of Jim Smiley, he exaggerates Smiley’s proneness to bet on anything or declaring a bet. Twain’s use of hyperboles enhances a character’s characteristics, like Jim Smiley’s excessive use of betting on unthinkable things. This creates a humorous effect to the story because it exaggerates some truths about characters to show how humorous Smiley’s actions are when he places many bets. In addition, exaggeration is a great way to bring out singularities of characters in the story, “ … if there were two birds setting on a fence, he would bet you which one would fly first ” (Twain pg 681). In this case, the exaggeration here is Jim would find a way to make a bet out of anything. It would not matter how insignificant something was, Smiley would seek an opportunity to turn any situation into a way to make a profit and will satisfy his gambling urges. Twain’s use of hyperboles is an excellent way to bring out the characters’ characteristics and revealing interesting information. Rather than explaining that Smiley has trouble controlling his gambling urges and bets on anything and takes advantage in any opportunity that he sees he could make money. Twain wants the reader to get interested and wants the reader to know how serious Jim Smiley’s …show more content…

In this quote, Simon Wheeler’s speech contrasts false and the truth. Here, the story describes Smiley’s voice as having a “gentle-flowing key” when in reality he finds Smiley dull and boring.Another use of irony that Twain put in the story is dramatic irony, “The feller took the money… Smiley he stood scratching his head…” (Twain pg 683). This quote points out a dramatic irony that happened to Smiley. Smiley was oblivious to what happened to him and the reader knows what occurred. In addition, there is a dramatic irony due to what happened to the frog whereas Smiley does not have a

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