Exploring North American Tall Tales and Humorous Storytelling
The Notorious Jumping Frog of Calaveras County by Mark Twain and The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne are examples of distinctly North American storytelling forms known as tall tales. These tales feature exaggerated characters and events, utilizing hyperbole, understatement, and local color to entertain. Additionally, humor plays a significant role in storytelling as humorists convey funny stories with a serious demeanor, creating a unique storytelling experience.
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The Notorious Jumping Frog of Calaveras County Mark Twain
are distinctively North American forms of storytelling featuring outlandish characters and events, often with comic effect. Based on oral tradition, tall-tales usually focus on larger-than-life heroes and amazing exploits. They generally aim at fooling or impressing the listener or reader, using various narrative strategies. Some of them are: TALL-TALES (1) HYPERBOLE/ OVERSTATEMENT: a figure of speech exaggerating or overstating a claim or a point. (2) UNDERSTATEMENT: the technique of downplaying the significance of the outlandish, often to ironic or humorous effect. (3) LOCAL COLOR: writing that brings a region alive by portraying its dress, mannerisms, customs, character types, and speech.
Drink, then, replied he, still with the same cold composure. Dost thou know me so little, Hester Prynne? Are my purposes wont to be so shallow? Even if I imagine a scheme of vengeance, what could I do better for my object than to let thee live, - than to give thee medicines against all harm and peril of life, - so that this burning shame may still blaze upon thy bosom? Nathaniel Hawthone, The Scarlet Letter, 1850 LANGUAGE A realist-like dialogue And a dog might tackle him and bullyrag him, and bite him, and throw him over his shoulder two or three times, and Andrew Jackson which was the name of the pup Andrew Jackson would never let on but what he was satisfied, and hadn t expected nothing else and the bets being doubled and doubled on the other side all the time, till the Money was all up... (p. 123)
The humorous story is told gravely; the teller does his best to conceal the fact that the even dimly suspects that there is anything funny about it, but the teller of the comic story tells you beforehand that it is one of the funniest things he has ever heard, then tells it with eager delight, and is the first person to laugh when he gets through. And sometimes, if he has had good success, he is so glad and happy that he will repeat the nub of it and glance around from face to face, collecting applause, and then repeat it again. It is a pathetic thing to see . How to Tell a Story (1897) HUMOR Humorous Stories and Sketches (p. 70)
Mark Twains The Notorious Jumping Frog of Calaveras County (1865) What is the plot? Who speaks? Who are the characters? HOW SIMON WHEELER IS DESCRIBED BY THE NARRATOR? Vernacular Language: Narrator X Simon Wheeler WHAT DO THESE LANGUAGES TELL US ABOUT THE CHARACTERS? How is Wheeler s narrative described by the narrator? How is Jim Smiley described? Where does the narrative humor come from?
Mark Twains Letters from the Earth Letters I, II, IV, VI
Anti- Catholic Feeling
The Law of Nature = The Law of God Letter I Tiger X Rabbit God The spider kills the fly, and eats it; the bird kills the spider and eats it; the wildcat kills the goose; the well, they all kill each other. It is murder all along the line. Here are countless multitudes of creatures, and they all kill, kill, kill, they are all murderers. And they are not to blame, Divine One? (p. 338) Archangels: Gabriel Michael Satan
Put into each individual, in differing shades and degrees, all the various Moral Qualities, in mass, that have been distributed, a single distinguishing characteristic at a time, among the non-speaking animal word courage, cowardice, ferocity, gentleness, fairness, justice, cunning, treachery, magnanimity, cruelty, malice, malignity, lust, mercy, pity, purity, selfishness, sweetness, honor, love, hate, baseness, nobility, loyalty, falsity, veracity, untruthfulness each human being shall have all of these in him, and they will constitute his nature. In some, there will be high and fine characteristics which will submerge the evil ones, and those will be called good men; in others the evil characteristics will have dominion, and those will be called bad men. Observe behold they vanish! (p. 338) MORAL QUALITIES
The spider kills the fly, and eats it; the bird kills the spider and eats it; the wildcat kills the goose; the well, they all kill each other. It is murder all along the line. Here are countless multitudes of creatures, and they all kill, kill, kill, they are all murderers. And they are not to blame, Divine One? (p. 338) God This is a strange place, an extraordinary place, and interesting. [ ] The people are all insane, the other animals are all insane, the earth is insane, Nature itself is insane. Man is a marvelous curiosity . (p. 339) Satan Humans as the noblest work of God (p. 339)
1. Sexual Intercourse 2. Singing 3. Playing an Instrument 4. Praying and Going to Church Limit 5. Hatred of Nations (especially of the Jews) 6. Intellect Letter II Human Beings Behavior on Earth X Behavior in Heaven By this time you will have noticed that the human being s heaven has been thought out and constructed upon an absolutely definite plan; and that this plan is, that it shall contain, in labored detail, each and every imaginable thing that is repulsive to a man, and not a single thing he likes! (p. 342)
Incest or One-Way Possibility? The Flood: God s only good idea Letter IV how Earth was populated God failed: He took a pride in man; man was his finest invention; man was his pet, after the housefly, and he could not bear to lose him wholly . (p. 343) God s fault: favoritism Noah and the Ark: no rudder, no sails, no compass, no pumps, no drinking water, etc. Satan s fault: he is being too realistic and effacing the supernaturality. The Supreme Art
The housefly left behind Adulation: God wants to be the only God As I was saying, jealousy is the key . (p. 346) The fear that if Adam and Eve ate of the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge they would be as gods so fired his jealousy that his reason was affected, and he could not treat those poor creatures either fairly or charitably, or even refrain from dealing cruelly and criminally with their blameless posterity (p. 346) Diseases as a result of Jealousy What do you think of the human mind? (p. 347) Letter VI the role of the fly Jealousy
Howellss definition of Realism Characters The narrator First Paragraph War in Editha s eyes War in George Gearson s eyes How does Editha convince George to fight? The word convert (p. 380) Description of Editha s face (p. 381) War in Mrs. Gearson s eyes William Dean Howells s Editha (1905)
