Mark Twain.ppt

1、Mark Twain (1835-1910),REALISM,1. Background a. changes-three fundamental conflicts: agrarian ideals of Jefferson VS industrial ideals of Hamilton/ plantation gentility of the South VS the commercial gentility of the North/ culturally mature East VS raw and expanding west. b. Its based on the accura

2、te, unromanticized observation of human experiences.,2. Major features A. Truthful treatment of material B. Open ending C. Focuses on commonness of the lives of the common people D. An objective rather than an idealistic views of human nature and human experience.,E. Realists are ethical writers, in

3、terested in the problems of the individual conscience in conflict with social institutions. F. local colorism/color(the detailed representation in prose fiction of the setting, dialect, customs, dress, and ways of thinking and feeling which are distinctive of a region. ) G. American naturalism (The

4、American naturalists accepted the more negative implications of Darwins theory ),About the author,1. Life 2. Literary achievements: optimistic-pessimistic 3. Significance a. Local colorist (the Mississippi valley and the West) b. Magic power with language, the use of vernacular(方言) c. Humor and sati

5、re d. Cracker-barrel philosophy,The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County,1. Plot summary 2. Character analysis Jim Smiley: addicted to gambling The stranger: cheat by filling Danl with quail shot Simon Wheeler: story-teller, uneducated man in the East The narrator: an educated man from the Ea

6、st Danl Webster: the “educated” frog,The narrator is sent by a friend on an errand to visit an old man, Simon Wheeler, to find an old acquaintance of his friend, Leonidas W. Smiley. The narrator finds Simon at the decayed mining camp of Angels The narrator asks the fat, bald-headed man about Leonida

7、s. Simon responds that he doesnt know a Leonidas Smiley, but he knows of a Jim Smiley. From there Simon tells the story of Jim.,Jim Smiley loves to bet. He bets on anything from the death of Parson Walkers wife to fights between his bulldog pup (named Andrew Jackson) and other dogs. Once, Jim caught

8、 a frog and named it Danl Webster. For three months, he trained the frog to jump high. At the end of those three months, the frog had in fact jumped higher than any other. Jim carried the frog around in a box. One day, a stranger to the town asks Jim what is in the box of his. Jim tells that in the

9、box is a frog that can jump higher than any other frog in Calaveras county.,The stranger looks at the frog and responds that the frog doesnt look any different than the other frogs of Calaveras county, so he mustnt be the best. He tells Jim if he had a frog, hed bet him $40 that the frog he had coul

10、d beat Jims. Jim agrees to bet, and he gives the box to the stranger to hold while Jim was to catch another frog for the stranger. While Jim is catching the strangers frog, the stranger pours lead shot into the frogs mouth.,When Jim comes back, they set the frogs up ready to begin. They aligned the

11、frogs up evenly, and on the count of three let them loose. The freshly caught frog (the strangers) jumped off, while Danl Webster didnt budge a bit. Jim was surprised and disgusted. He gave the money to the stranger and the stranger giddily left. Jim wonders why Danl looks all of the sudden so plump

12、y. He takes the frog and tips him upside down. The frog coughed out handfuls of shot. Jim set the frog down, and chased after the stranger. But the stranger was long gone, and Jim never caught up to him.,At this point in the story, Wheeler is called away by someone on the front porch, and tells the

13、narrator to keep seated. The narrator realizes that Jim Smiley isnt the least bit related to Leonidas W. Smiley, and starts walking away. Simon catches the narrator at the door just before he leaves, and starts telling him another story, about Jims one-eyed cow. The narrator excuses himself and leav

14、es.,Andrew Jackson: the dog 3. Themes Cunning and Cleverness Competition Lies and Deceit Contrasting Regions 4. Analysis Symbolism, Imagery & Allegory: The names for the dog and the educated frog. Setting: Angels Camp, California, mid-19th century,Narrator: first person Genre: frame narrative Tone:

15、disparaging贬低, disbelieving Writing style: clever and colloquial,Defamiliarization Defamiliarization is the artistic technique of forcing the audience to see common things in an unfamiliar or strange way, in order to enhance perception of the familiar. This distinction between artistic language and

16、everyday language applies to all artistic forms: The purpose of art is to impart the sensation of things as they are perceived and not as they are known. The technique of art is to make objects unfamiliar, to make forms difficult to increase the difficulty and length of perception because the proces

17、s of perception is an aesthetic end in itself and must be prolonged. (Shklovsky 16),A frame narrative框架叙述(also frame tale, frame story, etc.) is a literary technique that sometimes serves as a companion piece to a story within a story, whereby an introductory or main narrative is presented, at least

18、 in part, for the purpose of setting the stage either for a more emphasized second narrative or for a set of shorter stories. The frame story leads readers from a first story into another, smaller one (or several ones) within it.,Local color or regional literature is fiction and poetry that focuses on the characters, dialect, customs, topography地形, and other features particular to a specific region. Oxford Companion to American