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Jumping Frog

Decent Essays

Based on Mark Twain’s comparisons of a comic versus humorous story, The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County, is Twain’s most famous humorous story. How to Tell a Story by Mark Twain is clearly shown in this jumping frog story and abides by the rules he has set forth according to the countless expert storytellers he has heard from by word of mouth. Today we will explore what makes the jumping frog story a humorous one rather an a witty one and explain how Twain accomplished what he did. From the subject of telling a story “gravely”, how one tells a “nub”, and how it contrasts to a comical story. The secret is being expressionless. Twain mention that in order to master a humorous story, it must be told gravely. Well, what does that exactly mean? In the first few paragraphs we can see how our author presents Simon Wheeler as seemingly to have an impartialness, neutrality, yet true genuineness about him as he tells the story. To the author, nothing seemed ridiculous to him no matter how crazy the story progressed. That is exactly what “gravely” means. When a person builds up a story as a bland, ordinary thing although it is evidently the contrary, it becomes the most comedic tale, and that is what Twain takes advantage of in Wheeler’s personality, whether he realizes it or not. It takes a seasoned …show more content…

Everything behind the so-called or nub is told with neutral tone, but when it is time for the nub, you must disregard the very importance of it and treat it just like when your mom tells you, “Get off your phone.” Twain does this exactly and makes you eventually realize that the story Wheeler presented was useless; it was windy and led nowhere because the story was not even about Rev. Leonidas W. Smiley, but about Jim Smiley! Twain has you completely absorbed in the story that you have to notice the trap and acknowledge his fantastic

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