Regionalism in "The Celebrated Jumping Frogs of Calaveras County"

Regionalism is the subgenre of Realism that deals with the setting of the story and how that affects the general theme of the story (Anderson). "The Celebrated Frogs of Calaveras County" was one such story that fit into this genre.

"The Celebrated Jumping Frogs of Calaveras County" is a story about a man who taught a frog how to jump very high and long (Twain). Truthfully it was a very pointless story, although I have to admit I kind of liked it. It reflected regionalism in the dialect and vernacular that was used (Anderson). One of the men in the story, the man who is telling the story of the man with the jumping frog to the narrator, has a very uneducated and endearing way of talking (Anderson). For example, the following excerpt:

"He ketched a frog one day, and took him home, and said he cal'klated to edercate him; and so he never done nothing for three months but set in his back yard and learn that frog to jump. And you bet you he did learn him, too. He'd give him a little punch behind, and the next minute you'd see that frog whirling in the air like a doughnut see him turn one summerset, or may be a couple, if he got a good start, and come down flat-footed and all right, like a cat. (Twain)"

This selection shows you exactly how the man in this story speaks in a language that can be at times hard to understand. In the sentence where he references the frog turning a "summerset," I believe he was trying to say somersault. By using this vernacular, Twain appealed to the people because he used a character who spoke much like they did (Twain).

Another characteristic of Regionalism is using a character that is not the typical kind of character one would find in a Romantic novel for instance (Anderson). Rather than being a daring hero who flies away to exotic locales, the hero of a Realism work of literature was supposed to be a commonplace person who was much like the readers of the stories (Anderson). This concept is obviously displayed in the way that the main character of the story is uneducated yet sincere and endearing (Twain). One gets the sense that though the character is rambling on about things that have nothing to do with the story the narrator requested, the narrator still finds him to be an endearing and sweet man (Twain).

"The Celebrated Jumping Frogs of Calaveras County" is a story that shows the love of story-telling in certain regions of the country (Twain). Somebody always seems to have some kind of words of wisdom that they wish to impart. In this story the person imparting the wisdom is an old man who is reminiscing about the days of old in which a crazy many went around betting everybody on just about anything (Twain). In a twisted sense, although it is unintended, the narrator ends up teaching a lesson about the general lack of merit involved in excessive gambling (Twain). The subject of the story told by the main character ends up getting beat at his own game in the end (Twain).

Anderson, George P., Judith S. Baughman, Matthew J. Bruccoli, and Carl Rollyson, eds."regionalism." Encyclopedia of American Literature: Into the Modern: 1896–1945, vol. 3, Revised Edition. New York: Facts On File, Inc., 2008. Bloom's Literary Reference Online. Facts On File, Inc. http://www.fofweb.com/activelink2.asp?ItemID=WE54&SID=5&iPin= EAmL1330&SingleRecord=True (accessed February 14, 2011).

Twain, Mark. "The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County." Glencoe Literature. Comp. Jeffrey Wilhelm. American Literature ed. Columbus; McGraw-Hill, 2010. 498-502. Print.