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The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County

by Mark Twain

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Why does Mark Twain name the animals after prominent Americans?

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Mark Twain uses the names of prominent Americans to give each animal in "The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County" a personality. Andrew Jackson was the seventh president of the United States. He was known for being tenacious, aggressive, and bold. It is fitting that Twain named the frog after Jackson because it is a funny story about an underdog coming out on top. Twain also gives Daniel Webster's name to a frog filled with quail shot, another humorous touch.

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Hello! You asked why Mark Twain gives the animals in 'The Celebrated Jumping Frog in Calaveras County' the names of prominent Americans.

The story starts out with Mark Twain telling us why he meets up with Simon Wheeler. His friend wants Twain to ask Wheeler about a boyhood companion named Leonidas W. Smiley. However, Wheeler regales Twain with stories about a particular Jim Smiley instead, which bores Twain nearly to death. This convinces Twain that Leonidas W. Smiley is just a figment of the imagination and doesn't really exist.

Wheeler tells Twain that Jim Smiley is just the sort of man who would bet on anything. He says that Jim Smiley had a bull-pup by the name of Andrew Jackson who only ever lost one fight. The bull-pup would let his other doggie competitors bite him and throw him over until the bets multiplied. Once the bets reached a certain...

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high level, Andrew Jackson would then grab the other dog's hind legs and hold on for dear life until the other dog gave up the fight. Twain knew that his readers would relate to the name 'Andrew Jackson' (the seventh President of the United States), as the President himself was well known for his aggressive, bold and tenacious personality. Giving the President's name to the bull-dog also lent a touch of humor to Twain's story.

Wheeler also tells Twain that Jim Smiley once trained a frog to jump, and claimed that it became the best jumping frog in all of Calaveras County. He then bet a stranger on this claim. However, when Jim Smiley left to find a frog for the stranger to use in their bet, the stranger put some quail shot in Daniel Webster's mouth. The frog is so weighted down after this that he loses the bet for Jim Smiley. Daniel Webster was a US lawyer, congressman, senator and US Secretary of State and thus Twain knew that his readers would be familiar with the name. It is interesting and humorous that Twain has the stranger fill the frog's mouth with quail shot: the statesman, Daniel Webster, was well-known for his powerful oratory.

Hope this helps. Thanks for the question!

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Why does Twain name the animals in "The Celebrated Jumping Frog" after prominent Americans?

There are two famous names given to animals in this story, and they have different connotations.

The first is Andrew Jackson.  He was known for being sort of a backwoods tough guy.  He was known as the president of the "common man."

By contrast, Daniel Webster was an educated man from the North.  So he would have been seen as more of an elite type.  He was most famous as a great orator.

I think that Twain uses these two different men to indicate that there are these two different aspects of the American personality.  Americans, he is saying, are both the roughneck type and the eloquent educated type.

One of the themes in this is East/civilized vs. West/roughneck.  By giving the animals these names, he is emphasizing that theme and saying both are important.

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