This document provides an agenda and materials for an EWRT 30 class. It begins with an agenda that includes reviewing terms, discussing the short story "The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County", and a lecture on setting and tone. It then defines several literary terms used in stories. It summarizes the plot of "The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County" and analyzes its point of view, characters, and setting. Finally, it distinguishes between the concepts of tone and mood, providing examples from the short story.

1. S
EWRT 30 Class 9
EWRT 30 Class 9 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1UzWv
09dDuU

2. AGENDA
Terms 9-17
Review
Discussion: “The
Celebrated Jumping Frog”
Lecture: Setting, Tone
Guided Writing: Adventure
Story

3. S
TERMS 9-17
In medias res
Flashback
Exposition
Conflict
Suspense
Foreshadowing
Rising action
Climax
Falling action

4. 9. In medias res: Latin for "in the midst of things." We
enter the story on the verge of some important
moment.
10.Flashback: a device that informs us about events
that happened before the opening scene of a work;
often a scene relived in a character's memory.
11.Exposition: the opening portion that sets the
scene, introduces the main characters, tells us what
happened before the story opened, and provides
any other background information that we need in
order to understand and care about the events to
follow.

5. 12.A conflict is a complication that moves to a climax.
Conflict is the opposition presented to the main
character of a story by another character, by events or
situations, by fate, or by some act of the main
character's own personality or nature. More loosely
defined for contemporary fiction, it is the problem or
tension that must somehow be addressed (if not
perfectly resolved) by the end of the story.
13.Suspense: the pleasurable anxiety we feel that
heightens our attention to the story.
14.Foreshadowing: indication of events to come—the
introduction of specific words, images, or events into a
story to suggest or anticipate later events that are
central the action and its resolution.

6. 15. Rising action
A set of conflicts and crises that constitute the part of a
play or story's plot leading up to the climax.
16. Climax: the moment of greatest tension in the story, at
which the outcome is to be decided
17. Falling action
In the plot of a story or play, the action following the
climax of the work that moves it towards its denouement
or resolution.

7. The
Group Review:
Five minutes
“The Celebrated
Jumping Frog of
Calaveras County”
1. PLOT
2. POV
3. CHARACTER
4. SETTING
1. Character
2. Flat characters
3. Round
characters
4. Protagonist
5. Antagonist
6. Motivation
7. Plot
8. Chronological
Order

8. Plot

9. Exposition: The narrator enters the
tavern in Angel’s mining camp and asks
Simon Wheeler about Leonidas W.
Smiley. Simon tells a yarn about Jim
Smiley—a betting man.
Rising Action: Smiley
gets a frog and trains
it to win jumping
contests. Bets with a
stranger.
Climax: A stranger fills Smiley’s frog
with quail shot and the frog loses
Falling Action:
Smiley finds out that the
stranger cheated him so he
chases after him, but the
stranger is gone with his money.
Wheeler is interrupted in a
unfriendly way by the narrator
Resolution: The narrator
leaves, bitter that his quest was
worthless.
Conflict: Smiley bets on old
animals and thinks he can
always win

10. POV

11. The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras
County: POV
Who is the narrator, and, more importantly, can we trust her or
him?
First Person
Through a frame narrative, the narrator (clearly an educated
person from the East) presents the story of Jim Smiley, told in
Simon Wheeler’s uneducated dialect. This is the main device
that Twain uses to present the contrast between East and West:
educated vs. uneducated, refined vs. coarse.

12. The Characterization
of Simon Wheeler

13. Simon Wheeler: Characterization
Method: Directly Describing: “I found Simon Wheeler dozing comfortably by the
bar-room stove of the old, dilapidated tavern in the ancient mining camp of Angel’s”
Method: The Character’s Own Words : "And he had a little small bull pup, that to
look at him you'd think he wan's worth a cent, but to set around and look ornery,
and lay for a chance to steal something. But as soon as money was up on him, he
was a different dog; his underjaw'd begin to stick out like the fo'castle of a
steamboat, and his teeth would uncover, and shine savage like the furnaces.”
Method: The Character’s Own Actions: “Simon Wheeler backed me into a corner
and blockaded me there with his chair, and then sat me down and reeled off the
monotonous narrative which follows this paragraph.”
Method: Detailing Physical Appearance: “I noticed that he was fat and bald-
headed, and had an expression of winning gentleness and simplicity upon his
tranquil countenance.”
Method: Through the Reaction of Others: “To me, the spectacle of a man drifting
serenely along through such a queer yarn without ever smiling, was exquisitely
absurd.”

14. Setting

15. “The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County”
Setting
Where It All Goes Down
Angel’s Camp, California, mid-19th century
Angel's Camp is a gold mining community in the mid-19th
century that the narrator claims to have visited to find Simon
Wheeler. Like any mining town in the West, it was populated
primarily by men, many of them looking for their fortune. As
something of a frontier town, it would probably seem to be
full of loud, uncouth, and uneducated people compared to
the more genteel East.

16. Basic Elements of a Story
1. PLOT - the story line; a unified, progressive pattern of action or
events in a story
2. POINT OF VIEW (POV) - the position from which the story is told
3. CHARACTER - person portraying himself or another in a narrative or
drama
4. SETTING - the time and place of the action in a story
5. TONE - the attitude of the author toward his subject
or toward the reader
6. MOOD - the feeling or state of mind that
predominates in a story creating a certain
atmosphere

17. Lecture Subject
Mood and Tone

18. Tone and Mood
Tone and mood both deal with the
emotions centered around a piece of
writing. Though they seem similar and can
in fact be related causally, they are in fact
quite different.

19. TONE
S Tone is the author or narrator’s attitude toward a subject. While
journalistic writing theoretically has a tone of distance and
objectivity, other writing can have various tones.
S The tone can change very quickly, or may remain the same
throughout the story. Tone is expressed by the use of syntax,
point of view, diction, and the level of formality in the writing.
S If we were to read a description of a first date that included
words and phrases like “dreaded” and “my buddies forced me
to go on the date,” we could assume that the individual didn’t
really enjoy the date.

20. TONE WORDS
Positive Tone Words Neutral Words Negative Words

21. Tone in “The Celebrated Jumping Frog of
Calaveras County”
S I have a lurking suspicion that Leonidas W. Smiley is a
myth; that my friend never knew such a personage; and
that he only conjectured that, if I asked old Wheeler
about him, it would remind him of his infamous Jim
Smiley, and he would go to work and bore me nearly to
death with some infernal reminiscence of him as long and
tedious as it should be useless to me. If that was the
design, it certainly succeeded.
S Which words give the reader a clue about tone?

22. Tone: “The Celebrated
Jumping Frog of Calaveras
County”
S Disparaging, disbelieving
S The attitude of the narrator toward the subject matter
is one of disbelief that his time has been wasted in
such a way. He’s annoyed that he has had to listen
to such a stupid tale (about Dan'l Webster) from a
man who seems to take it so seriously. His effort to
reproduce Wheeler’s ungrammatical dialect feels
slightly mocking.

23. MOOD
Mood is the atmosphere of a
piece of writing; it’s the
emotions a selection
arouses in a reader.

24. MOOD WORDS

25. Mood in “The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras
County”
He was the curiousest man about always betting on anything that
turned up you ever see, if he could get anybody to bet on the other
side; and if he couldn't he'd change sides. Any way that suited the
other man would suit him--any way just so's he got a bet, he was
satisfied. But still he was lucky, uncommon lucky; he most always
come out winner. He was always ready and laying for a chance;
there couldn't be no solit'ry thing mentioned but that feller'd offer to
bet on it, and take any side you please, as I was just telling you. 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 cat-fight, he'd bet on it; if there was a chicken-fight,
he'd bet on it; why, if there was two birds setting on a fence, he
would bet you which one would fly first; or if there was a camp-
meeting, he would be there reg'lar to bet on Parson Walker, which
he judged to be the best exhorter about here, and he was, too, and
a good man. If he even see a straddle-bug start to go anywheres,
he would bet you how long it would take him to get to--to wherever
he was going to, and if you took him up, he would foller that
straddle-bug to Mexico but what he would find out where he was
bound for and how long he was on the road.
Which words establish the mood?

26. Tone: the author or narrator’s attitude about the subject

27. Mood: the atmosphere of a piece of writing

28. One good way to see mood (and, to a degree, tone) in
action is through genre-crossing movie trailers. In film
editing classes throughout the States, a common
assignment is to take an existing film (say, a comedy)
and create a film preview that presents the film as a
different genre (for example, a horror film). This is
accomplished through editing and splicing scenes,
adding new, anxiety-producing music and sound
effects, and adding a new voice-over introduction.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2T5_0AGdFic
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Os6raCCmAFk

29. Guided Writing
Guided Writing

30. An Adventure Story
S One morning, you get out of bed, slide into clothes, pick
up your backpack, put ____________ into it, and go down
the stairs, skipping one because _________.
S __________ smells good, but you have plans with your
friends, so you pass kitchen. You overhear ___________
talking, but they don’t notice you go by. So you walk
____________ quietly, open the side door, and sneak into
the garage.

31. It is pitch black inside. You run your hand up the wall,
searching for the light switch, and you touch
____________, which feels ____________. You try to
wipe it on your __________. Then, you find the light
switch with other hand and turn it on. You look at your
_______ hand and see _________. You find
________to clean it with.
Finally, you secure your mode of transportation, open
the garage door, and head for __________ house.

32. You travel down _________street, past
__________ (landmark), to (A’s) house. You
___________ to get his or her attention.
He/she looks out a window and you say,
“___________.” (Blank) comes downstairs and
you hear him/her in garage. Then you hear a
__________. When the door opens, you find
out what caused the noise. The two of you take
off, to go to B’s house.

33. You and A travel down __________ street, past
(landmark) on the way to meet B. On the way, (A) calls
(B), and says “meet us at the corner of (blank and
blank) and bring (C) with you.”
You all four meet at the corner. You travel together down
_______ Avenue/Drive/Boulevard and past (a
landmark). You see somebody you want to avoid, so
you ___________.
You arrive at _______ (store) on the corner of (blank
and blank), and you go in and you buy _________ for
your day. Finally, you get back on the road, traveling
about five miles out of town, to the edge of the forest.

34. You pull over and sit there for a minute, discussing the
benefits of entering the forest. Some people say the forest is
____________, but you don’t worry because you’re
invincible.
One friend is resistant.
One is enthusiastic.
And one is apathetic.
Pick who is who and begin your characterization of each of
your companions. (Give them qualities that make them
individual. Consider looks, behavior, attitude, and speech
patterns, for example)
Finally, you decide you’re all going in.

35. As you make your way into the forest, even though
it’s now late morning, it gets ______ and _________
and _________ and _________ because
_______________. The forest gets so ___________
that it is difficult to make your way. You stop at a
___________to have conversation about how far
you’re going in. Describe the forest here. (include
the five senses here. What do you see, hear, smell,
taste, touch)
Take off again and walk for _________. All of the
sudden, the forest gets deathly quiet and very
_______.

36. You soon come into a clearing of sorts. It is still quiet.
The four of you express varying emotions.
You look around, trying to assess your location. To your
right, you see a cave hidden behind thick bushes. To the
left, in the top of this big _____ tree, there’s a
___________tree house. Straight ahead of you, in the
distance, sits a mansion/castle.
All of a sudden, you hear _________. And you say, “hey,
that came from the (cave, mansion/castle, or tree
house)!

37. -convince your companions to
enter the ____________
-develop your characters
-figure out what made the noise
-determine your plot, conflict and
climax
-establish setting, mood, and tone
-tell your story

38. Homework
S Post # 9: Best 250 words of
your guided writing (draft)
S Read: “The
Chrysanthemums”
S Study Terms