The Notorious Jumping Frog Of Calaveras County Summary

Dai’Shown Valrey

Ms. Kimbrough

English III-1

5 March 2015

Mark Twain, born Samuel Langhorne Clemens, was born November 30th, 1835 in Hannibal, Missouri, and died April 21st, 1910 due to heart complications. Twain is famous for his inimitable, unique writing style, most notably seen in one of his most famous novels, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. He’s also known for his elaborate themes; a few of which makes up the story of “The Notorious Jumping Frog of Calaveras County”.

In Twain’s “The Notorious Jumping Frog of Calaveras County”, Twain uses setting and characterization of Smiley to show how gambling could have you stuck thinking about the consequences in the case that you lose. In the story, an unnamed character from the East

makes his way to a western mining town and at the request of a friend in order to ask of a man by name of Leonidas W. Smiley. Only to be wound up in what seems to be a never ending story. The story displays themes such as lies, deceit, competition, and cunningness when it comes to the story of Jim Smiley, a man who is addicted to gambling.
The story takes place in Angel’s Camp, California, somewhere around the mid 19th century, sometime shortly after the California Gold Rush. Not much else is said as to where, when, and what time the story takes place, but it can be assumed that such events took place at some point during the rather winter or spring. “There was a feller here once by the name of Jim Smiley, in the winter of ’49 or the spring of ’50 I don’t recall exactly, somehow, though what makes me think it was one or the other is because I remember the big flume wasn’t finished when he first came to camp”( Twain 686 ).
As stated above, the events of the story take place sometime after the California Gold Rush, a time where news of gold brought thousands of people to California from the rest of the United States. The weather during this time is assumed to be cool and dry due to California’s varied climate; and the fact that the man said that the season was either winter or spring upon Smiley’s arrival.
Throughout the book, the protagonist, Jim Smiley, a gambling addict, is a man known to bet on almost any and everything; and seems to have a lot of luck doing so.

That is until we’re introduced to the stories antagonist; a man known as The Stranger. We don’t know much about The Stranger. Only that he does not seem to be impressed by Dan’l Webster, Jim’s pet frog whom according to Jim, can out jump/ jump higher than any frog. ‘“Well’. Smiley says, easy and careless, ‘He’s good enough for one thing. I should judge he can outjump any frog in Calaveras County”’ (Twain 688). This is confirmed to be true until the protagonists encounter with The Stranger. At some point in story, the two men place a bet of $40 dollars that Dan’l Webster is no better than any other frog; and knowing full and well that this is far from the truth, and due to his already flourishing gambling problem, Smiley accepts. Only to be cheated when he’s not looking as The Stranger fills Dan’l Webster up with a quail shot so that he cannot jump. “Then he says, ‘One-two-three-git!’ and him and the feller touched up the frogs from behind, and the new frog hopped off, but Dan'l give a heave, and hysted up his shoulders so like a Frenchman, but it Twain no use he couldn't budge” (Twain 689). The Stranger is assumed to be associated with the theme of lies and deceit as he is the one who has cheated, while Smiley is associated with his clever and

cunningness.
In Mark Twain’s “The Notorious Jumping Frog of Calaveras County”, Twain uses setting and characterization of Smiley to illustrate how gambling could have you stuck thinking about the consequences in the case that you lose.