Use Of Regionalism In The Notorious Jumping Frog Of Calaveras County

In the 1850's, a new literary movement emerged. This movement, termed regionalism, shows fidelity to a particular region or culture, namely through character's speech, manners, and beliefs. One distinct characteristic of regionalism present in all such texts is the idea that people within these cultures are very difficult to change because the characters want to preserve their distinct way of life. Two short stories in particular effectively demonstrate regionalism—Mark Twain's "The Notorious Jumping Frog of Calaveras County," published in 1865, and Bret Harte's 1868 publication of "The Luck of Roaring Camp." Both Twain and Harte use regionalism within their short stories; however, they do so by utilizing completely different aspects of local

color. Twain uses humor to effectively demonstrate regionalism, while Harte strictly focuses on the raw, realistic characteristics of a typical California mining camp in the 1850s.

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

the counter there, and flop down on the floor ag’in as solid as a gob of mud” (Twain 124).These simple mispronunciations and jargons add to the sense of regional dialogue distinction, especially when compared against the narrator’s eloquent language. In fact, from such a simple discrepancy in language, the narrator ostensibly characterized Wheeler as uneducated and his stories “as long and as tedious as it be useless to [him]” (Twain 121). Moreover, the sheer silliness of the vernacular from the mining camps adds to the humor of the story. This amusement compliments Twain’s illustration of Wheeler’s appearance and behaviors, which can be compared to that of the average miner—“fat and baldheaded…and simpli[stic]” (Twain 122). Overall, Twain’s portrayal of the seemingly uneducated, ungrammatical Wheeler helps to develop a realistic sense of the California mining camps, including how the miners act within their own society.
In addition to demonstrating humorous regionalism through colloquial parlance, Twain also focuses his amusement on the distinct activities taking place in the story.

These events define the essence of regionalism, particularly because such affairs would not usually take place outside of the mining camps. In fact, the whimsical competitions and betting that occurs within the story set up a notably realistic atmosphere of California during the Gold Rush era. As alluded to throughout the short story, gambling is a famed and frequent pastime in the mining camps. The infamous Jim Smiley is especially known for gambling, as he would “[bet] on anything that turned up you ever see” (Twain 122). For example, “if there was a horse-race, [he’d bet on it]; if there was a dog-fight, he’d bet on it; if there was a cat-fight, he’d bet on it… why, if there was two birds sitting on a fence, he’d bet [on] which one would fly first” (Twain 122). In fact, Smiley “ketched a frog one day… and said he cal’lated to educate him… he never done nothing for three months but… learn that frog to jump” (Twain 123). Wheeler noted that “Smiley would ante up money on [the frog] as long as he had a red” (Twain 124). The betting and humorous jumping-frog competitions are simply a characteristic of the lawless Wild West, and are thus subject to regionalism because the activities are not partaken in within other regions. However, there is also a connection to regionalism with the art of storytelling itself. As

it becomes apparent, the West is a far more laid back lifestyle, and its inhabitants, including Wheeler, display this persona. In contrast, the narrator gives the impression of being impatient and too good for all the nonsense he is hearing from Wheeler because he lacks “both time and inclination” to hear another word (Twain 125). Thus, regionalism is present in not only the vernacular, but also in the activities partaken in throughout the story and within the art of story-telling itself.