Simon Wheeler embarks on a winding discourse on Jim Smiley's gambling habits. He basically says that Smiley would gamble on anything, even: “…if there was two birds setting on a fence, he would bet you which one would fly first.” The exaggeration here is that
Jim Smiley would find a way to make a bet out of anything
.
What is Simon Wheeler manner as he tells the story of Jim Smiley?
Wheeler tells the story in
a wordy, rambling, bumbling, and unpolished manner
—just as the humorous American story should be told, according to Mark Twain.
How would you characterize Jim Smiley based on Simon's description?
Jim
is opportunistic, obsessive, sneaky, and ultimately naive
. 1. Jim is opportunistic : the storyteller, Simon Wheeler, describes Jim as “lucky,” but really Jim's supposed luck comes from his habit of taking advantage of any situation he thinks might earn him some money.
What type of person is Jim Smiley?
An honest and hardworking man
, Smiley never cheats in his bets and instead spends his efforts training his weak-looking animals—including his mare, his bulldog named Andrew Jackson, and his frog named Dan'l Webster—to be unlikely champions.
How does the narrator use hyperbole to describe Jim Smiley in The Notorious Jumping Frog of Calaveras County?
1) Simon Wheeler maintains that Jim Smiley was “always betting on any thing that turned up….” Accordingly, Jim Smiley placed bets in dog fights, cat fights, chicken fights, and horse races. Here, Wheeler uses hyperbole
to emphasize Jim Smiley's love of gambling
.
What do the boys call Jim Smiley's horse?
Thish-yer Smiley had a mare–the boys called her
the fifteen-minute nag
, but that was only in fun, you know, because, of course, she was faster than that–and he used to win money on that horse, for all she was so slow and always had the asthma, or the distemper, or the consumption, or something of that kind.
What does Smiley do if he Cannot get someone to bet?
2. What does Smiley do if he cannot get someone to bet?
Smiley changes sides and tries to get the person to bet in the opposite way.
Why does Smiley get angry?
Why does Smiley get angry? He realizes that
the reason his frog could not jump as high was because the man weighed down the frog with quail shot
.
How does a stranger cheat Smiley out of a bet on his frog?
Smiley took the bet, leaving
Dan'l with the stranger while he went to the swamp to find another frog
. The wily stranger opened Dan'l's mouth and poured in a teaspoon full of “quail shot” (or bird shot, the pellets found in a shotgun shell), and waited for Smiley to return.
Why did Jim Smiley train his frog jump?
Answer: For three months, Jim Smiley did nothing but sit in his backyard and teach his pet frog, Dan'l Webster, how to jump higher. Smiley trained the frog to jump on
command when he tapped its back
, and he taught it to catch any fly with its tongue, no matter the distance.
What does Thish yer mean?
Thish-yer. phonetic rendition of dialectical “
this here
,” a substandard emphatic form of “this.”
Mark Twain's main purpose for writing was
to entertain
. He wanted to make people laugh and entertain them with his silly writing style and funny characters.
How did Smiley train his frog?
How long did Smiley train his frog, and to do what? For 3 months, he taught the frog to jump. He trained the frog
to catch flies by tapping him from behind
.
Is Smiley a gifted gambler or an addicted gambler explain?
Jim Smiley was a man who
was hopelessly addicted to gambling
. He placed bets compulsively, but he also invested in gambling seriously as his occupation. He would bet on just about any random event if he had someone to bet against him, and in those cases he wasn't picky about which side he was on.
What is Jim Smiley's dog's strategy for winning dogfights what eventually happens to him?
What is Jim Smiley's dog's strategy for winning dogfights? … The dog's strategy is
to appear weak, having only front legs, and then reveal his nature during the fight when the other dogs are
unable to grab his hind legs to win.
How does the frog lose the race?
While Smiley is out catching a frog for him, the stranger
pries open Dan'l Webster's mouth and fills the frog with quail shot
, which weighs him down and makes him lose the race and Smiley the money.
