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Jumping Frog Of Calaveras County

Last updated 7 months ago
13 questions

Learning Goal: Read FJCC in order to answer short answer, true/false, and multiple choice questions.


CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.W.11-12.1 Write arguments to support claims in an analysis of substantive topics or texts, using valid reasoning and relevant and sufficient evidence.
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.11-12.1 Cite strong and thorough textual evidence to support analysis of what the text says explicitly as well as inferences drawn from the text.
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.SL.11-12.1 Initiate and participate effectively in a range of collaborative discussions (one-on-one, in groups, and teacher-led).
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.L.11-12.1 & L.11-12.2 Demonstrate command of the conventions of standard English grammar and usage when writing or speaking.
1

Have you ever known someone who could talk their way into—or out of—anything? What made them so convincing? Did it ever backfire?

1

Turn to your neighbor and share your response, then record their response.

In compliance with the request of a friend of mine, who wrote me from the East,1 I called on good-natured, garrulous2 old Simon Wheeler, and inquired after my friend’s friend, Leonidas W. Smiley, as requested to do, and I hereunto append3 the result. 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.Q1
1

Simon Wheeler is described as good-natured and talkative.

1

The narrator suspects that his friend made up the mention of Leonidas W. Smiley.

I found Simon Wheeler dozing comfortably by the bar-room stove of the old, dilapidated4 tavern in the ancient mining camp of Angel’s, and I noticed that he was fat and bald-headed, and had an expression of winning gentleness and simplicity upon his tranquil countenance. He roused up and gave me good-day. I told him a friend of mine had commissioned me to make some inquiries about a cherished companion of his boyhood named Leonidas W. Smiley, Rev. Leonidas W. Smiley, a young minister of the Gospel, who he had heard was at one time a resident of Angel’s Camp. I added that, if Mr. Wheeler could tell me anything about this Rev. Leonidas W. Smiley, I would feel under many obligations to him.
1

What is Simon Wheeler doing when first introduced?

1

Which place is described in the passage?

1

What is the expression on Wheeler's face described as?

1

Who is being inquired about by the narrator?

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. He never smiled, he never frowned, he never changed his voice from the gentle-flowing key to which he tuned the initial sentence, he never betrayed the slightest suspicion of enthusiasm; but all through the interminable narrative there ran a vein of impressive earnestness and sincerity, which showed me plainly that, so far from his imagining that there was anything ridiculous or funny about his story, he regarded it as a really important matter, and admired its two heroes as men of transcendent genius in finesse. To me, the spectacle of a man drifting serenely along through such a queer yarn5 without ever smiling, was exquisitely absurd. As I said before, I asked him to tell me what he knew of Rev. Leonidas W. Smiley, and he replied as follows. I let him go on in his own way, and never interrupted him once:Q2
1

What best describes Simon Wheeler's storytelling style?

1

How did Simon Wheeler react to his own story?

1

What impression did Wheeler’s demeanor convey during his storytelling?

1

What was the narrator's reaction to Wheeler's storytelling?

1

Have you ever felt like someone was wasting your time on purpose—or trying to get a reaction out of you just for fun? How did you handle it?
In this story, the narrator suspects his friend set him up just to hear Simon Wheeler ramble. Do you think it’s funny to mess with people like that, or is it just annoying? Explain your opinion in 3–5 sentences, using your own experience or what you see around you.