The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County

by

Mark Twain

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Themes and Colors
Regional Differences Theme Icon
Integrity and Community Theme Icon
Appearances vs. Reality Theme Icon
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.

Regional Differences

Throughout Mark Twain’s “The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County,” Twain emphasizes regional differences. In the story, an unnamed narrator from the East visits a small mining town in the West, where he gets roped into hearing a long, rambling story from an old man named Simon Wheeler about a gambler named Jim Smiley and his pet frog, Dan’l Webster. Through portrayals of foreign identity and differing communication styles, the story recognizes the cultural…

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Integrity and Community

In Mark Twain’s “The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County,” an old man named Simon Wheeler tells the unnamed narrator, an out-of-towner, a long and boring story about a man named Jim Smiley and his pet frog, Dan’l Webster. Wheeler depicts Smiley as a passionate gambler who is willing to place a bet on anything—once, he even openly bet money that the local parson’s wife would die from her illness. Although Jim Smiley…

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Appearances vs. Reality

When the unnamed narrator visits a small mining town in the West, he meets with an old man named Simon Wheeler to ask after a man named Leonidas W. Smiley. However, Wheeler launches into an unrelated story about a similarly named Jim Smiley, whose pet animals are unlikely heroes. Smiley trains his animals for various competitions, which other people bet upon. Because Smiley’s animals appear weak and unable to win, people are willing…

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