Realism/Regionalism
What major American event signals a change from the Romantic period to the Realism period?
The Civil War
Who wrote "The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County"? (need both first and last name)
Mark Twain
Who wrote "The Outcasts of Poker Flat"? (need both first and last name)
Bret Harte
What is the historical setting (time period) of both "Outcasts" + "Jumping Frog"?
mid 1800s
What is the style that is based on the patterns and the rhythms of language as Americans actually spoke it?
Regional Dialect
In Realism stories, what is more important than the plot?
Characters: Local Color stories tend to be concerned with the character of the district or region rather than the individual.
Who cheats Jim Smiley in "Jumping Frog"?
A stranger who isn’t a local, he was just passing through the camp; he is a con artist, cheating then one who always wins his bets
Why does Poker Flat get rid of the outcasts?
They recently got religion and the outcasts are sinners
What is the geographical setting (place/state) of both stories?
California (rural town)
Who kills themself at the end of "The Outcasts of Poker Flat," showing that someone can be "at once the strongest and yet the weakest" of people?
Mr. John Oakhurst
What is it called when writers depict and analyze distinctive and unique qualities of a geographical area and its people?
Regionalism
What is the climax of the story?
A stranger fills Smiley's frog with quail shots, and the frog loses the bet.
Why are the outcasts forced to stay in the cabin? (there are technically 2 reasons)
Uncle Billy takes the horses/mules and the outcasts are snowed in
What is the physical setting (specific surroundings) of "Outcasts of Poker Flat"?
between two cliffs in a wooded area, in a dilapidated log cabin, by the campfire
Which of the characters is the stereotypical "uneducated, sweet and innocent"?
Piney Woods
What characteristic of Realism does Mark Twain specifically use the most in his literature?
Humor
Why did the dog Andrew Jackson "limped off a piece and laid down and died"?
Smiley enters Andrew Jackson into a fight with a dog that has no hind legs (biting down on a dog's hind legs is Andrew Jackson's signature move to win fights).
What does the Duchess and Piney's dying fire symbolize as they drift off to sleep in the blizzard alone in the cabin?
Dying fire = their impending death
What is the physical setting (specific surroundings) of "Jumping Frog" (outer setting)? What is the physical setting (specific surroundings) of "Jumping Frog" (inner setting)?
Outer setting: bar room in a dilapidated tavern
Inner setting: mining camp in the West
Who is Dan'l Webster in "The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County"?
A frog: He is often used in Smiley’s bets and is the victim of the stranger’s prank. His name is an allusion to the famous 19th century politician
What does the narrator serve as a mediator between in Local Color stories?
The rural folk of the tale (in the story) and the urban audience (outside the story) to whom the tale is directed.
Describe a theme of the story.
Cunning and cleverness, competition, lies and deceit, urban vs. rural, distrust of outsiders, etc.
Describe a theme of the story.
Purity and innocence vs. sin, fate and luck, morality vs. immorality, the brutality of the Old West, true religion, etc.
As seen in "The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County," telling tall tales was a common form of entertainment in the West. What does this suggest about people who lived there?
Entertainment could have been hard to come by and people were often eccentric/extra on the frontier.
What is the author of "Outcasts of Poker Flat" saying about the characters in the following passage:
"[The two women] slept all day and the next, nor did they waken when voices and footsteps broke the silence of the camp. And when pitying fingers brushed the snow from their wan faces, you could scarcely have told from the equal peace that dwelt upon them which was she that had sinned."
In death, we are all sinless. It makes the reader question whether or not someone's perceived sin really categorizes a person. How different were these women, the virgin and the prostitute?