One thing I enjoy about this piece and all of Mark Twain's works is that although his character are ridiculous, they are also so familiar. Don't we all know someone of the above description? Don't we all know of a reverend who gambles on everything, including whether or not a woman will pull through an illness? Didn't we all know a little mischievous boy who picked fights with everyone, such as Tom Sawyer? I feel like his characters are caricatures of people that Twain's audience know and that hasn't changed in the hundred years since Twain lived.
Twain's style makes me smile. (Are your corners twitching upwards because that rhymed? I hope so!) His works just scream "READ ME OUT LOUD! YOU KNOW YOU WANT TO!" He writes as if he's speaking to rather than writing to you. For example, "...and kicking up m-or-e dust and raising m-o-r-e racket with her coughing and sneezing and blowing her nose." I so wish I could jump back in time and hear Mark Twain read any of his works at one of those "the trouble starts at 8" events.
The pup with no hind legs upset me a bit; I found myself grimacing at the mental image he painted. But, to Twain's credit, he always paints a vivid picture without at all overwhelming the reader with unnecessary adjectives.
I also admire Twain's ability to create stories out of the tiniest things, such as this jumping frog. I find the following line particularly amusing: "He can out jump any frog in Calaveras County." I just imagined the smug voice of Smiley, sounding like a proud parent gushing about his kid's math scores. After all, a frog SHOULD shine in the realm of jumping! And how does one even go about accurately measuring any one frog's jump against another's?
Ah, but the loveliness in Twain's lying characters. Twain must have found great joy in deception, as many of his characters have this bad-boy quality. I liked the ending of Jumping Frog for the simple fact that you can imagine future stories about Jim/Leonidas W. Smiley. The adventures never end for Twain's characters!
I totally agree about Twain's style! We definitely all know someone like the characters he portrays in his stories. He does make me laugh out loud often as well, because of his sarcastic nature and tone. It's truly fantastic! He definitely also has many bad boy characters that make for great adventure stories!
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