relfection: The Notorious Jumping Frog of Calaveras County

While reading “The Notorious Jumping Frog of Calaveras County”, I recognized that there was a lot of diction and humor in the story.
The diction that Mark Twain uses is very unique. He uses it when he talks about Simon Wheeler when he “reeled off the monotonous narrative which follows this paragraph…but all through the interminable narrative there ran a vein of impressive earnestness and sincerity” (Twain, 525). The other diction that he uses is that of old English, or English that is not correct. This type of diction is also shown in Huckleberry Finn and the Adventures of Tom Sawyer.
The other element that Mark Twain is known for in his stories is humor. The humor in the story is shown in that of the description of Jim Smiley. The description begins with the description that Jim Smiley makes a lot of bets and that he even bet on his own wife. The humor really beings when the Stranger and Jim Smiley have a bet that Jim’s frog is the farthest jumping frog in Calaveras County. This is shown when “he says, ‘I do wonder what in then nation that frog throw’d off for- I wonder if there ain’t something the matter with him-he ‘pears to look mighty baggy, somehow’…and turned [the frog] upside down and he belched out a handful of shot” (Twain, 529). He tried to catch the cheater but the Stranger was already long gone with Jim’s 40 dollars.

reflection of the Outcasts of Poker Flats

After reading The Outcasts of Poker Flats, I recognized the characterization and how it changed the characters in The Outcasts of Poker Flats.
The characterization of the characters is shown immediately in the story when the four outcasts, Mr. Oakhurst, a woman known as the “Duchess”, another woman titled “Mother Shipton”, and Uncle Billy are shown banished from the town of Poker Flats. Mr. Oakhurst is calm, quiet, and smart while Uncle Billy is “a suspected sluice robber and confirmed drunkard” (Harte, 536) The “Duchess” is like any other regular woman while “Mother Shipton” is accused of being a witch and is shown as an evil person when the group travels out the Poker Flats. As they go along on their journey, they meet up with Tom Simson and his to-be-wife, Piney. Both Piney and Tom are shown quickly as being very optimistic however bad the situation is.
As they go along on their journey, most of their characteristics change. The characters who do not change are Uncle Billy, Tom, and Piney. The “Duchess” becomes friendlier with the others, especially Piney. Mr. Oakhurst acts as a leader and tries to lead everyone to safety. The one who changed the most was “Mother Shipton”. She who was evil when the group left Poker Flats became very kind and gave all of her food to Piney, thus starving herself to death. All this is shown when “the lovers looked into each others eyes and were happy. Mr. Oakhurst settled himself coolly…The Duchess, more cheerful then she had been…Only Mother Shipton seemed to sicken and fade” (Harte,540).