The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County

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The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County

• Mark Twain

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Mark Twain

• Most celebrated humorist in American history
• Also one of the greatest realists
• Adventures of Huckleberry Finn a revelation of
  illusions that exist in American life

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Mark Twain

• Samuel Langhorne Clemens
• News reporter and had a love for steamboats
• Twain twelve feet

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Make the connection

• Tall tale a humorous story characterized by
  outrageous exaggeration and outlandish events
• Its not only what you say, but how you say it

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Comic Devices

• Hyperbole outrageous exaggeration

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Comic Devices

• Understatement saying less than what is really
  meant, usually for ironic purposes

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Comic Devices

• Comic comparisons similes and metaphors that
  surprisingly link very dissimilar things and thus
  create colorful, outlandish images

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Comic Devices

• Comic characters situations
• Unusual people dealing with unlikely events
  probably the oldest and reliable comic device

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Understanding vernacular

• Vernacular language the language commonly
  spoken by people in a particular place or region
• A big part of Twains writing

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Understanding vernacular

• Types
• Unique vocabulary
• Idioms (expressions that make no literal sense,
  i.e. raining cats and dogs)
• Dialect (local variations of spoken words)