Life on the Mississippi The Notorious Jumping Frog of Calaveras County Mark Twain Life on the Mississippi The Notorious Jumping Frog of Calaveras County

Mark Twain Literary Focus: Humor and Regionalism Humor: literature purposely meant to entertain All types of humor include exaggeration (hyperbole) and irony 3 types of Humor Humor of situation: comes from situational irony in plot Humor of character: based on exaggerated personalities Humor of language: includes sarcasm, exaggeration, irony, and puns

From Life on the Mississippi Excerpt from Twain’s autobiography Twain portrayed America in a way that still defines our national character through Images Expressions Characters Ways of thinking Table work: create a chart in your notes of the above categories. Find examples (minimum 3 per category)from “The Boy’s Ambition” which fit the categories and in your opinion are distinctly American.

Analyzing “The Boy’s Ambition” Images “The day was glorious with expectancy…the day was a dead, empty thing” “The white town drowsing in the sunshine” “A sow and a litter of pigs loafing along the sidewalk” “The Great Mississippi, the majestic, the magnificent Mississippi” Expressions “Steamboat a-coming” “…shook the bottom out of all my Sunday School teachings” “St. Looey like an old citizen” Characters The steamboat— “She is long and sharp and trim and pretty…” Cabin boy, deckhand Cub engineer Pilot…the grandest position of all The town drunkard Ways of Thinking “There was one permanent ambition…to be a steamboat man” “I first thought to be a cabin boy…later I thought I would rather be a deckhand” All the boys are jealous of the cub engineer—his dirty clothes, his steamboat talk, his money, his prowess with the girls”

“The Notorious Jumping Frog of Calaveras County” Tall Tale Humorous story Exaggerated characters Impossible events Style Frame Story Twain introduces a 2nd narrator, Simon Wheeler, who tells the story

“The Notorious Jumping Frog…” Regionalism Dialect Distinct form of language as it is spoken in one geographical area or by one social or ethnic group Uses unconventional spelling Suggests the way the words actually sound Establishes setting Adds local color (regionalism) Develops characters

“The Notorious Jumping Frog…” Contrast the two narrators—unnamed narrator and Simon Wheeler Language—how does each narrator use language Tone—attitude toward the subject (the story of the jumping frog)

“The Notorious Jumping Frog of Calaveras County” Analyzing Dialect and Hyperbole Find three examples of exaggeration/hyperbole combined with dialect Write out the example Explain why combining dialect and hyperbole creates humor. Write the first paragraph of Simon Wheeler’s next story…. “Well, thish-yer Smiley had a yaller one-eyed cow that didn’t have no tail, only just a short stump like a bannanner, and—” Maintain Wheeler’s voice as narrator by copying his… Dialect Use of exaggeration/hyperbole