Mark Twains Jumping Frog Essay

In "The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County, Mark Twain creates some memorable characters. The longer a character appears, the more sides you see of them and the more believable they become. They contrasted with what Easterners of the era expected, which made them even more appropriate, realistic, and likable. The main protagonist in the story is a man in Simon Wheeler’s narration named Jim Smiley. Showing many sides to his character, Jim is obviously a round character, showing emotions including joy, confusion, and anger. At one point, it is shown that he can be rather happy-go-lucky. About one third of the way through the story, Simon directly characterizes Smiley, saying, “Any way, that suited the other man would suit him – any way just so he’s got a bet, he was satisfied” (Twain). It implies that he had been very pleased in the past, and was likely in a very upbeat mood as Simon’s tale began. He is also directly characterized as being very clearly annoyed. Simon Wheeler says near the end of the story that after he finds that his unnamed opponent had cheated, “… he was the maddest man…”. The contrast between how he feels at this point and when the story began is clear. This roundness gives the protagonist more dimension and a more believable feel. Despite being round, however, Smiley is a static character. Though the story does not clearly state it, one can reasonably assume he experiences little to no change of heart throughout the entire story, remaining addicted to gambling. A quote from the beginning of the story sets his initial mentality, Simon wheeler stating clearly, “… he was the curiousest man about always betting on anything…”. Simon says that he would bet on practically everything. One can reasonably state that Jim Smiley is the same by the end of the story based on sentences from the story’s end. An example of this is after Jim finds out that his opponent cheated and ran away with forty of his dollars, “he set the frog down and took out