Simone Sutton

Ms. Brown

AP English III

Tuesday December 1, 2009

The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County

The Jumping Frog is the story of a gambler named Smiley and many of his exploits in gambling. The old man Wheeler describes Smiley as “uncommon lucky”. A lot of his lucky outcomes seemed to be results of cheating or a set up but one cannot be sure. He was also a braggart and boasted to anyone who would listen about the abilities of his horse, his dog and his frog. In the end it was this that leads to his downfall. Bragging boasting and gambling are bad habits, and not all other players are willing to play fair. Smiley ultimate downfall was his hubris.

The unnamed protagonist is sure is tricked by Mr. Ward into asking Wheeler about another man named Smiley who probably doesn’t exist. “I have the lurking suspicion that your Leonidas W. Smiley is a myth…and that you only conjectured that if I asked old Wheeler about him it would remind him of the infamous Jim Smiley, and he would… bore me nearly to death with some reminiscence of him.” Even though the narrator doesn’t want to hear the story he stays anyway either because he is trapped by Wheeler or out of respect. “I let him go on his way, and never interrupted him once.”

The story about the Gambler Jim Smiley was actually true, and tells of his seeming addiction to gambling and “uncommon” luck. He would always look for a bet and would try any bet under any conditions, even unfavorable conditions. “… anyway just so’s he got a bet, he was satisfied… he most always come out winner.” Smiley has a habit of relying on one trump card for his victories, “main dependences”, such as his horse for horse races and his dog, Andrew Jackson, for dog fights. “Smiley had a mare... and he used to win money on that horse”, “And he had a little small pup... as soon as money was up on him, he was a different dog.” But when Smiley lost it is like his “trump cards” lose themselves too. “He gave Smiley a look that said it was his fault…and then he limped off... and died”

“One day a feller—a stranger in the camp, he was—come across with his box.” So, Smiley meets someone who has not had any contact with him before and doesn’t know his reputation as a gambler. Even though Smiley is a relatively honest guy the stranger is not. Smiley offers the stranger a bet, in frog jumping and even offers to get him a frog. Smiley knows the abilities of his from and bets a lot of money, forty dollars, on his frog. Smiley plays fair but the stranger does not. Smiley loses but gives the stranger the money anyway. But when he realizes that the other guy cheated he ran to catch him and the story ends there without a conclusion.

If Smiley had not been so bragadocious and overconfident, he might not have lost his forty dollars to the stranger. But his personality got the better of him and the stranger left with his money. The story of Jim Smiley doesn’t have a conclusion but, the narrator hears from wheeler that Smiley is still around as has not changed his ways.