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Get every literary device explanation for The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras CountyPlus so much more...
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Simile
Explanation and Analysis—Heavy Dan’l:
After Smiley bets the Stranger that his frog Dan’l Webster (named after a conservative politician) will jump higher than any frog the Stranger finds, the Stranger sneakily sabotages Dan’l’s chances by filling him with quail-shot. When describing the effect these heavy pellets had on the frog’s jumping abilities, Wheeler uses a pair of similes, as seen in the following passage:
“Dan’l give a heave, and hysted up his shoulders—so—like a Frenchman, but it warn’t no use—he couldn’t budge; he was planted as solid as a church, and he couldn’t no more stir than if he was anchored out. Smiley was a good deal surprised, and he was disgusted too, but he didn’t have no idea what the matter was, of course.”
The first simile here—in which Wheeler says that the frog “hysted up his shoulders […] like a Frenchman”—is likely a reference to what is called the “Gallic shrug,” a French mannerism in which people animatedly shrug their shoulders to express resignation. It’s likely that Twain is also playing with the stereotypical connection between French people and frogs here, an association that emerged from the fact that frog legs are a part of French cuisine (and, for that matter, an association that is generally used in insulting ways). The simile here adds to the humorous tone of Wheeler’s story.
In the second simile, Wheeler describes Dan’l Webster as being “as solid as a church,” a description that helps readers understand just how much the pellets in the frog’s stomach weighed him down. In this moment, then, Dan’l’s normal appearance hides the truth that the Stranger stuffed him with pellets in order to win the bet.
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