Mark Twain: America’s Master Storyteller
“Anyone who
can think of
only one way to
spell a word
obviously lacks
imagination .”
- Mark Twain
1835-1910
Mark Twain was praised in his
obituary published in The New York
Times as “the greatest American
humorist of his age,” and author
William Faulkner called him “the
father of American literature.”
Twain opposed imperialism and was
a supporter of civil rights.
Born Samuel Langhorne Clemens in Florida, Missouri, he
adopted the pen name of Mark Twain. His family later
moved to Hannibal, the fictional town of St. Petersburg in
his novels The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and Adventures of
Huckleberry Finn. Missouri was a slave state, so Twain was
familiar with slavery, a theme he would explore in his later
writing.
At age 11, Twain was forced to leave school when his father
died. He worked for several years as a printer’s apprentice
before his subsequent jobs took him across America. He
went on to become a river boat pilot, journalist, editor,
lecturer, and writer.
The Notorious Jumping Frog of Calaveras County
The Notorious Jumping Frog of Calaveras County
Movement
Regionalism
The Notorious Jumping Frog of Calaveras County
Context
1. Historical
2. Literary
The Notorious Jumping Frog of Calaveras County
Plot
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Introduction
Rising action
Climax
Falling action
Dénouement
Types of Point of View in Fiction
Point of view
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
Innocent eye
Stream of consciousness
First person
Omniscient
Omniscient limited
Omniscient objective
The Notorious Jumping Frog of Calaveras County
Point of view
First person
The Notorious Jumping Frog of Calaveras County
Style: Structure
1. Frame tale
2. Epistolary tale
The Notorious Jumping Frog of Calaveras County
Style: Setting
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Place
Time
Weather conditions
Social conditions
Mood or atmosphere
The Notorious Jumping Frog of Calaveras County
Style: Satire
1. Tall tale genre
2. American East
3. American West
The Notorious Jumping Frog of Calaveras County
Style: Tall tale
1. Events
2. Characters
The Notorious Jumping Frog of Calaveras County
Style: Diction
Dialect
The Notorious Jumping Frog of Calaveras County
Style: Anthropomorphism
Animals
Types of Characters in Fiction
Characters
1. Individual
2. Developing
3. Static
The Notorious Jumping Frog of Calaveras County
Characters
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
Mark Twain
Simon Wheeler
Jim Smiley
The Stranger
The Fifteen-Minute Nag
Andrew Jackson
Dan’l Webster
Conflict in Fiction
Conflict
1. Type
–
–
External
Internal
2. Kind
–
–
–
–
Man vs. man (physical)
Man vs. circumstances
(classical)
Man vs. society (social)
Man vs. himself (psychological)
The Notorious Jumping Frog of Calaveras County
Conflict
1. Type
2. Kind
The Notorious Jumping Frog of Calaveras County
Theme
1. Culture clash
2. Deception
3. American culture