Silent Reading, 20 min

Mark Twain, "The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County" (527-531)

• Read the story.
• Find at least three places in the story where Twain uses the vernacular. Explain why the vernacular makes the story more authentic, more vivid, or more comic.
• Find two or more examples of each of the following comic devices: hyperbole, comic comparisons, comic characters and situations.
• Writing Activity: The narrator leaves when Wheeler starts to tell him about Smiley's "yaller one-eyed cow that didn't have no tail." What amazing story do you think Wheeler might have told about that cow? Write Wheeler's "yaller one-eyed cow" story. Include at least two comic devices (such as hyperbole, understatement, comic comparisons, and comic characters and situations). You may also want to try imitating the vernacular that Twain uses or another vernacular that you are familiar with. Read aloud as you write. Remember that much of the humor of this kind of story comes from its sound.