The Notorious Jumping Frog of Calaveras County

When reading the “Notorious Jumping Frog of Calaveras County”, I was fascinated by the different bets within the story and how they revealed the characteristics of Jim Smiley. From the time when Simon Wheeler tells the story of Jim Smiley till the end when the frog loses bets are being made that help identify Jim.

Jim Wheeler constantly makes bets, if there was a “horse race you‘d find him flush or you‘d find him busted at the end of it; if there was a dog fight, he‘d bet on it; if there was a chicken fight, he‘d bet on it; if there was a cat fight, he‘d bet on it” (526). This shows that not only was he a gambler, in sense, always playing the game of luck. Then, Jim is portrayed as a cruel man by make his dog fight even though he has no legs and in the end the dog couldn’t win and he gave Smiley a “look, as much as to say his heart was broke, and it was his fault, for putting up a dog that hadn‘t no hind legs for him to take holt of and then he limped off a piece laid down and died” (527). This shows that Jim is cruel because he tortured this dog and made him fight till death, knowing that the dog did not stand a chance due to it being handicapped. Finally, he is portrayed as a smart man when he figures out that his frog had been messed with in order for him to lose, he wondered to himself if there “ain‘t something wrong with him-he ‘pears to look might baggy…Why blame my cats if he don’t weigh five pounds! And turned him over and he belched out a double handful a shot” (528). This reveals that he is a man of wit because be figured out that he only lost the bet that his frog was could jump the longest because the stranger had messed with it.

These few examples given help identify what type of person Jim Wheeler is, which can be shown by his different types of bets that he makes.

“Outcasts Of Poker Flat”

When reading “Outcasts Of Poker Flat”, I was extremely intrigued by Bret Harte’s use of characterization. From the first paragraph to the last paragraph characterization is to show how there life style leads to there fate.

John Oakhurst has a gambler life style living life as a game, because he was too “much of a gambler not to accept Fate. With him life was at best an uncertain game, and he recognized the usual percentage in favor of the dealer” (537). Later in the story its revealed that whenever John was ahead he would cast in his checks and get out while he was ahead. This leads to his fate of him committing suicide, during a time of bad luck, because before it could be worse he cashed in his life. Another situation where a characters life style leads to there fate is Uncle Billy, who was a suspected sluice robber (536). This corrupt life style leads to him getting exiled from Poker Flat and latter getting stranded in the snow all because of his want for gold and robbing. Finally, Tom Simson and Piney life style of basing all choices of emotion causes them to run away, so they can be together. This decision to run away for love leads to them also being stranded in the snow.

Using the characterization of John Quaker, Uncle Billy, Tom Simson and Piney as examples, the fate of a character can be revealed based on there choice of life style.