The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County is a short satiric story written by Mark Twain and published in 1865. The story tells of a man incredibly fond of arguing and betting. One day, he bet his frog would jump over all the others in Calaveras County. Twain used two types of language: his narrator sounds well educated, and Simon Wheeler, from whose words the tale is retold, uses vernacular speech. This emphasizes the nature of the narrative, indicating that the story is an absurd tale from the frontier. This frame narrative separates the reader from the characters, allowing them to focus on the message of the story and form a moral assessment of what is happening.
The author manipulates stereotypes, exaggerates, and takes the situation to the point of absurdity in order to create a satirical narrative. Twain played on conventional ideas about uneducated Americans in the West and cultured Americans in the East. The reader must first solidify their expectations; that is why the Wheeler character speaks Western vernacular, using “feller” instead of “fellow,” or “reg’lar” instead of “regular” (Twain 17). He destroys the reader’s expectations when a Western simpleton fools his competitor. Twain used language to show and highlight the difference between the characters.
In addition to hyperbole and metaphor, Twain used symbolic figures to create references to the political situation. The names of Wheeler’s dog and frog allude to leading statesmen – President Andrew Jackson and lawyer and politician Daniel Webster. Using these names may mean that Twain implies democracy for all. An uneducated frog beats an educated one, which can be a metaphor for the equality of all Americans under the law.
Using different language styles and symbolic references, Twain shows that sometimes everyday wisdom is more important than refined education. People of action, people of the frontier, may look and sound uncultured and dark, but they have essential knowledge and skills. After all, in America, everyone has the opportunity to show their wits and try to win the fight. Thus, Mark Twain tried to reconcile two different ways of life under one law and the principles of democracy.
Work Cited
Twain, Mark. The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County Illustrated. Read Books Limited, 2020.