Much of the humor in Mark Twain 's short story "The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calveras County" is result of the native dialect in which the "good-natured, garrulous old Simon Wheeler" tells his story to Mark Twain (Twain). The use of the native dialect in addition to giving an authentic ring to the story foregrounds the native folk element of the narrative. Simon Wheeler belongs to the now defunct mining camp of Angel 's and in order to make the story as authentic and realistic as possible Mark Twain makes Simon Wheeler speak in the native dialect of Angel Camp. In the narrative, “He never betrayed the slightest suspicion of enthusiasm; but all through the interminable narrative there ran a vein of impressive earnestness and sincerity, which …show more content…
She is known for her short story, “Désirée’s Baby,” which shows the distinct language and geographical settings of Southern Louisiana before industrialization occurred (Chopin 421). Even though Chopin grew up in St. Louis, she spent over a decade living with her husband in New Orleans, Louisiana. After her husband and mother died, she was left raising six children at the age of thirty-five. In this situation, she realized the ready market for “local color,” or regional, fiction. She decided to approach a literary career from her knowledge of the Creole and Cajun cultures she had come to posess. The background with this short story is slavery. "Désirée’s Baby" was written in 1892 after slavery was abolished but in story takes place during the era of slavery. Racism was really awful at this time and it was very common to see racist people in America. Armand lived in Louisiana with his wife and son and was a slave …show more content…
When Désirée had the baby, her mother noticed immediately that something was wrong with the baby; Madame Valmonde screamed “This is not the baby!” It wasn’t until when the baby was 3 months old that Désirée noticed the appearance of the baby and demanded an answer from Armand. Armand noticed this early already, so he told Désirée that she was at fault for the baby being black, “It means,” he answered lightly, “that the child is not white; it means that you are not white” (424). Désirée believed this because no one knew of her past. This distinctly shows how Désirée’s character lives to learn how close racism and male dominance can get in Southern life. For instance, when Armand says, “The child is not white; it means that you are not white” (424). This is when Armand realizes his wife is not the same as he is, and from this moment on, wants nothing to do with either her or their child. In the beginning of the story, Armand was deeply in love with Désirée, and still was, until the moment he realized their baby was not white. This is a glimpse of how life was in the South. Chopin offers a compelling vision of the class-based and racial prejudice of the South. As many critics would agree, Chopin’s stories have “the freshness which springs from an unexplored field—the quaint and picturesque life among the Creole and Acadian folk of the
In “The Notorious Jumping Frog of Calaveras County,” Mark Twain utilizes humor and contrasting provincial perspectives to demonstrate regionalism throughout the text. One way Twain accomplishes this humor is through the colloquial speech and lousy grammar of the storyteller, Simon Wheeler, which Twain contrasts against the well-spoken and mannered East Coast narrator. Wheeler's vernacular is a valuable representation of the way most people in California mining camps talk, using words and phrases such as “dangdest feller,” “thish-yer,” “jest,” and “ketch[ed]” (Twain 122-123).Additionally, Twain’s deliberate use of misspellings helped to more effectively develop Wheeler’s stories and their regional qualities. A prime example of this is when Wheeler talks about the notorious frog, Dan’l Webster. He exclaims, “and quicker’n you could wink he’d spring straight up and snake a fly off’n
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”,
Mark Twain’s memoir, Life on the Mississippi, and his short story “The Notorious Jumping Frog of Calaveras County,” utilize the definitive styles of a great American writer. Twain’s signature style of writing are found within these two pieces, as he incorporates the language and themes from the American South to depict where he is from. Twain, being a humorist and entertainer, includes comedic dialogue and scenes in nearly all of his writings, each containing various degrees of jest. Life on the Mississippi and “The Notorious Jumping Frog of Calaveras County” both share numerous features commonly found in Twain’s work, but differ greatly in their manipulations of humor.
“Desiree’s Baby” can represent a timeframe status of how slavery and race were a factor that defined people. Armand was very ambiguous by the tone he would had towards Desiree and by his action. Desiree was faithful to her husband, in the other hand we are able to understand or presumed that La Blanche’s boy looked very alike as Desiree’s baby, which most likely Armand might be the father of both kids. Armand was in love at first, but then his pride and ambiguous.
Mark Twain’s “The Notorious Jumping Frog of Calaveras County” is a short story with the lesson that what goes around comes around. In this short story, which first appeared in 1856 and his first successful story, Twain uses local customs of the time, dialect, and examples of social status in his story to create a realistic view of the region in which the story takes place. The way that the characters behave is very distinctive. Dialect is also used to give the reader a convincing impression of the setting in “The Notorious Jumping Frog of Calaveras County”. The social status of the main characters in this story also was something that Twain took into account in writing this story. Mark Twain is a realist who concentrates on the customs, dialect, and social status of specific regions of the country.
In “Desiree Baby”, author, Chopin emphasizes racism by selecting certain words to symbolize the association between light and darkness, and the slaves on the plantation.
Mark Twain, one of the most distinguished American authors in the 19th century, made his living by writing “light, humorous verse, but evolved this literature into a chronicler of the vanities, hypocrisies and murderous acts of mankind.” The Notorious Jumping Frog of Calaveras County, written by Mark Twain, focuses on a narrator from the east suffering through a Westerner’s tale about a jumping frog as the author attempts to entertain the reader through its oddities in the short story, its humorous First, Mark Twain uses educated diction and obscure descriptions of Simon Wheeler in an attempt to entertain the general public reading the newspaper “The Saturday,” the newspaper where Mark Twain published his original version of his short story. To begin, Mark Twain uses the character of Jim Smiley to interest the reader and keep them hooked on the obscure personality of Mr. Smiley and his frog. Jim Smiley, a man addicted to gambling and competition, fools others through deception and false manipulations and gains the reader’s attention through his dedication to winning and competing. Through clever manipulation of words, Jim downplays the skill of his investments (his animals) and in this case, his frog, while failing to mention the skill of the frog and the months of training he put into training this particular animal.... ...
In 'Desiree?s Baby,' Chopin illustrates her idea of the relationship between men and women by portraying Desiree as vulnerable and easily affected, whereas Armand is presented as superior and oppressive. Throughout ?Desiree?s Baby,? Kate Chopin investigates the concept of Armand's immense power over Desiree. At first, Desiree tries to conform to the traditional female role by striving to be an obedient wife. Later in the story, this conformity changes after Desiree gives birth to her part-black son.
Throughout the years many variations of the ideas on race, class, and culture have been presented based upon different factors. In earlier times people’s views were not nearly the same as they are presented today. Ideas that women belong in the kitchen or that African-American’s were an inferior race were common. Those views were very popular during the time of Kate Chopin’s book “Desiree’s Baby.” Chopin’s book explores the controversial areas of race and class as well as touching on the subject of culture. “Desiree’s Baby” shows the life of Desiree from a young child through adulthood. The young Desiree was found by a rich family alone on the streets. Even in a time where race and social class was important the wealthy, a rich couple took in young Desiree without knowing her ancestral background. Desiree lived a good life with the family. The story then switches to when Desiree was a young adult and falls in love with Armand Aubigny. Armand also comes from a wealthy background and still falls for Desiree without knowing her racial background. Eventually, the young couple has a baby but to their surprise the baby comes out with African traits. Armand is not happy and rethinks whether she has African in her background or if maybe she had an affair with a slave. Desiree’s mother offers to have her and the baby come back and stay with them but when Desiree leaves she disappears and is never seen again. Later, Armand finds out that it may not have been Desiree that carries African roots but himself, from his mother’s side. Overall, Chopin’s work looks into the controversial issues of race, class, gender and culture using ironies and the story-line to infer the views of these topics.
Firstly, it is important to understand some of the themes addressed in ‘The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County’. Some major themes in the includes that of the crafty old gambler finally meeting his competition in the person of the stranger; the confrontation between East and West, between the green Easterner and the slick Westerner, represented by the narrator and Wheeler; astuteness being outsmarted, and of questionable exploits, as Wheeler's account of Smiley's mixture of animals and their talents becomes more and more dubious. Much of the humour in Mark Twain's short story "The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calveras County" is
“Desiree Baby” by Kate Chopin is a very thought provoking short story that deals with racism, prejudice, and love. The story takes place in southern Louisiana, where Armand, a prominent landowner, marries a girl of unknown origin named Desiree. The story has a twist when their baby is born and is discovered to be of mixed race. Armand knew all along that he was OF mixed race, and I will prove it by analyzing characterization, diction, and imagery.
In the story of “Desiree’s Baby” by Kate Chopin, there are many literary themes that can be analyzed such as love, racism, gender inequality, and miscegenation. What this analysis will focus on is primarily on the central male character, Armand Aubigny, and on his views towards racism. More specifically, what this essay will aim to prove is that Armand Aubigny looked down upon the African race to the point where he hated them. One of the biggest driving points to aid this idea is how his family name shaped his behavior and actions according to the societal normalities of his time period. Another important aspect that will be considered is his very relationship towards his slaves in how he treated them cruelly even to the point where he is described as “having the spirit of Satan” (Chopin 3). In addition to this, the reader will also see Armand’s negative reaction to being aware of the implications of his son and wife having mixed blood in where he practically disowns them. With all this culminating to Armand finding out the ugly truth that the race he had treated so horribly is actually a part of his very own blood as well.
In “Desiree’s Baby,” Kate Chopin writes about the life of a young lady and her new family. In this short story, the fond couple lived in Louisiana before the American Civil War. Chopin illustrates the romantic atmosphere between Armand and Desiree. Chopin also describes the emotion of the parents for their new born. When the baby was born, Armand’s heart had softened on behalf of others. One afternoon, Desiree and the baby were relaxing in a room with a young boy fanning them with peacock feathers. As they were relaxing, Desiree had sniffed a threatening scent. Desiree desired Armand’s assistance as she felt faint from the odor that she could not comprehend. Armand had denied the request his wife sent. Therefore, he cried out that she nor the baby were white. Thus, Desiree took the baby and herself and walked into the bayou and they were never seen again. In this short story, Chopin illustrates the psychological abuse Desiree faces from her husband.
Twain, Mark. “Adventures of Huckleberry Finn” Concise Anthology of American Literature. Ed. George McMichael, James Leonard, 7th ed. New York City: Pearson, 2011. 1187- 1365. Print
In her story, Desiree’s Baby, Kate Chopin underlined the contrast between lust and love, exploring the problem of a man’s pride that exceeded the love he has for his wife. Armand, the main character of the story, is a slave owner who lived in Louisiana during the era of slavery. He married an adopted young woman, Desiree, and together they have a son who eventually became an obstacle in the way of his father’s happiness, thus removing out the true character of Armand. Desiree’s Baby, by Kate Chopin is a love story, love that ultimately proved to be a superficial love, a story that shed light on the ugly relationships between people. “Lust is temporary, romance can be nice,