Analysis: The Celebrated Jumping Frog Of Calaveras County
Mark Twain vividly captured the flavor of the Old West in his story, “The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County.” Twain was a regionalist whose stories focused largely on America’s Old West. He illustrated the essence of the time and area using local color. The Old West was known for the lawlessness and excessive gambling of its citizens. For this reason, Twain used gambling allusions such as “found him flush” and “risk two-and-a-half.” In addition, Twain captured the spoken mannerisms of the people. Old West colloquialisms include words such as “thish-yer,” meaning this here, and “bully rag,” or intimidate. He also included figures of speech that were created in the West, “throwed up the sponge” being a prime example. Twain’s characters