The Celebrated Jumping Frog

Only Jim existed
Narrative Changes in This Story
• Second Part: The narrator changes into Simon
wheeler
General knowledge Female horse Of Jim • bet Weak dog Famous jumping frog
The effects of narrative changes
At the beginning of the novel, the relationship between the narrator and the readers are close. “ I ” lead the readers to enter the story and open a whole new world. Soon after the story spreads, the author rapidly switches the direction ,leaves the reader and puts the characters to the front desk. Simon tells the following story . At the end of the story, the original narrator picks up the pieces and once again close to the readers. The relationship between them is close—— estrangement——close. This strategy gives the readers great freedom to develop their own judgments and perspectives without the author‟s subjective tendency influence.
The stranger cheats And beats Jim. Jim lose his be And finds the Shots in frog.
Narrative Changes in This Story
• Third Part: The narrator becomes “I” again.
Mark Twain
Brief Introduction
• "The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County" is an 1865 short story by Mark twain, his first great success as a writer, bringing him national attention. The story has also been published as "Jim Smiley and His Jumping Frog" (its original title) and "The Notorious Jumping Frog of Calaveras County". In it, the narrator retells a story he heard from a bartender, Simon Wheeler, at the Angels Hotel in Angels Camp, California, about the gambler Jim Smiley. Twain describes him: "If he even seen a straddle bug start to go anywhere, he is bet you how long it would take him to get to—to wherever he going to, and if you took him up, he would foller that straddle bug to Mexico but what he would find out where he was bound for and how long he was on the road."
Whole Story The original narrator
Simon
“ I”
The Story Clue
The bets of Jim Smiley act as the story clue all through the story.
bet on Parson Walker.（ best） narrow-minded
第一故事时在赌马比赛中smiley的那匹母马有哮喘病肺痨病等跑起来四肢乱甩还不停的打喷嚏人们都瞧不起它在比赛中愿意让它二三百码以的赛程可是就是在比赛中情况却发生突这匹母马每次都以能极其微弱的优势击败对手突转的巧妙运用营造出了一个充满幽默情趣的意境
The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County
Narrative conversion‟s influence on story structure
• According to these transformations of narrator, Mark Twain makes this story a complex linked structure. From the overall point of view, compound structure including narrative structure and story structure two parts.
foolish
The story clue
Although the hero of the story that old Simon tells is Jim Smiley. the writer doesn‟t applies enough descriptions on his personalities. What really count most in the novel are the bets made by Jim. He bets on things from horse races to the slightest stuff in daily life. To make a bet on straddle-bug, he could even follows it to Mexico. Three bets on dog ,horse and frog act as the main parts of the whole story. Mark Twain presents a lively society life through these little stories with abundant humorous languages and native slangs. Mark Twain is regarded as the father of the United States„ modern literature.
bet
bet
Hale Waihona Puke Jim Smiley Loves to bet. He bets on anything.
It is very old. But always wins him prizes at the last moment of the bet.
It looks weak but never yields to competitor until Death.
• At this point in the story, Wheeler is called away by someone on the front porch, and tells the narrator to keep seated. The narrator realizes that Jim Smiley isn't the least bit related to Leonidas W. Smiley, and starts walking away. Simon catches the narrator at the door just before he leaves, and starts telling him another story, about Jim's one-eyed cow. The narrator excuses himself and leaves.
bet on Parson Walker‟s wife.( death)
cruel
A gambler bet on Andrew Jackson .(fighting)
mean
bet on the fifteen-minute nag.( running)
greed
bet on Jumping frog, Daniel.( higher)
Narrative Changes in This Story
• First Part: The narrator is “I”.
Received the letter
Accepted the request
Went to see Simon Wheeler
Leonidas was wanted
Unwillingness
Narrative Mode
• First-person narrative • In a first-person narrative the story is relayed by a narrator who is also a character within the story, so that the narrator reveals the plot by referring to this viewpoint character as "I" (or, when plural, "we"). Oftentimes, the first-person narrative is used as a way to directly convey the deeply internal, otherwise unspoken thoughts of the narrator. • Second-person narrative • The rarest mode in literature (though quite common in song lyrics) is the second-person narrative mode, in which the narrator refers to one of the characters as "you", therefore making the audience member feel as if he or she is a character within the story. Another common place to see this is in preschool television shows in which characters will tell the audience to follow them, or ask the audience questions. • Third-person narrative • Third-person narration provides the greatest flexibility to the author and thus is the most commonly used narrative mode in literature. In the third-person narrative mode, each and every character is referred to by the narrator as "he", "she", "it", or "they", but never as "I" or "we" (firstperson), or "you" (second-person). In third-person narrative, it is obvious that the narrator be merely an unspecified entity or uninvolved person that conveys the story, but not a character of any kind within the story being to told.