In The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County Simon Wheeler’s stories about Jim Smiley and his pets feature many exaggerations, and thus fall into the tall tale category. An example of the tall tale in The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County is when Wheeler describes Smiley as a man who will make a bet on anything, even something as dumb as which of two birds will fly off of a fence first (Wilson 22). In The Adventures of Tom Sawyer the tall tale is shown in some of the adventures that Tom and his gang go on by the Mississippi River (Napierkowski 11). In The Adventures of Huck Finn the style of the tall tale is shown when Huck is trying to free Jim and some of the things that happen during this time (Telgen 12). Those are just a few examples of the tall tale and how it is used in the stories that are going to be discussed.

The following paragraphs will discuss some

The first character talked about is Jim Smiley. Jim is a resident of Calaveras County’s Angel’s Camp in either 1849 or 1850. Jim is known for his love of betting and will bet on almost anything – no matter how ridiculous. Jim has been known to even bet on whether people will recover from an illness or not. Jim would also make a bet just so that he could make a bet. Jim was considered a lucky man and frequently won his bets. Jim’s several pets include an old horse, a dog named Andrew Jackson, cats, chickens, and a frog named Dan’l Webster, who is the “celebrated frog” mentioned in the title of the story. Jim uses his pet’s abilities as the basis for many of his bets (Wilson 18-19).

Mark Twain is an author who likes to use the tall tale to accommodate his characters. It doesn’t show as much in The Man That Corrupted Hadleyburg as it does in the other three stories. Through research The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County seems like the story that shows the most use of the tall tale to accommodate characters. It also shows up a lot in The Adventures of Huck Finn and in The Adventures of Tom Sawyer. Mark Twain is a very recognizable author who is famous for his use of the tall tale to accommodate his characters.

Edward Richards is a hard working man of modest means; he is Hadleyburg’s bank cashier and one of the “nineteen principal citizens” of the town. At the start of the story, Edward has little aspirations for material gain. His first reaction to the sack of gold reflects his sense of honesty. Edward advertises the sack in order to bolster the town’s reputation for honesty, but he entertains notions of keeping the money for himself (Milne 150).

In The Adventures of Tom Sawyer Injun Joe is known as a “half-breed,” meaning he is half-white and half Native American. In the story, Injun Joe is the villain and a force of evil in St. Petersburg, the town in which the story takes place. Injun Joe is an angry vengeful man who thinks nothing of robbing, killing, stealing, or threatening old widows and young boys. Injun Joe’s name, an abbreviated slang pronunciation of “Indian Joe,” shows that his identity is tied to his being a Native American. The townspeople cannot think of him as anything but an Indian (Napierkowski 5-6).

Some topics in this essay:
Huck Finn, Mark Twain, Andrew Jackson, Tom Sawyer, Jim Huck’s, Edward Richards, Jim Smiley, Huck Jim, Dan’l Webster, Angel’s Camp, huck finn, tall tale, tom sawyer, adventures tom, adventures tom sawyer, andrew jackson, frog calaveras, adventures huck finn, tale accommodates, dan’l webster, calaveras county, jumping frog, frog calaveras county, tall tale accommodates, jumping frog calaveras,