Introduction to Regionalism and Local Color Fiction

1
Introduction to Regionalism and Local Color
Fiction

• Twains The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras
  County

2
To Start

• Deduction/Inference What might the literary term
  regionalism mean?

3
Objective

• Students will read and identify the regionalistic
  elements in Twains The Celebrated Jumping Frog
  of Calaveras County.

4
Elements of Regionalism

• In the years following the Civil War, writers
  culturally reunited the country by presenting
  stories about various regions of the country --
  what the places and people were like the
  geography of the place, how the people there
  lived, how those people spoke, and their concerns
  and values.

5
Famous Regionalists

• Bret Harte a writer whose stories of life in
  the West, especially in the California Gold Rush,
  began the rise of regionalistic fiction.
• Mark Twain his stories about life on the
  Mississippi River and California are incredibly
  important in American literature.
• Jack London wrote about Alaska and California.
• Kate Chopin her works showed life in Louisiana
  and furthered American feminism.

6
Elements of Regionalism

• Setting
• The most important distinguishing feature of the
  genre
• Authors depicted in great detail the time,
  features of the place, and the historical and/or
  cultural background of their chosen place.
• Settings were usually smaller communities, but
  spanned the continent from New England villages
  to Midwestern farms to Western ranches to
  Californian mining camps.

7
Elements of Regionalism

• Character
• Characters were small-town residents and were
  shown in their everyday lives.
• Authors also documented the regional dialects and
  accents of Americans by recording local
  idiomatic expressions and terms. Authors also
  attempted to capture in writing the accents and
  pronunciation of the area.

8
Elements of Regionalism

• The Lives of Women
• Many regional or local color writers were women
  and their fiction often presents and criticizes
  the societal roles of women in the late 1800s.
• Women writers often associated with this type of
  writing were Willa Cather, Mary E. Wilkins
  Freeman, Sarah Orne Jewett, and Kate Chopin.

9
The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County

• Twains short story can be found on page 484 of
  the anthology.
• As you read, identify the details Twain uses to
  capture life in a California mining camp in the
  mid 1800s speech, activities, values,
  landscape, etc.

10
The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County
-- Analysis

• After reading, pair with a partner and compile a
  list containing at least seven examples of
  Twains use of detail to show the life of the
  area.
• Quote a sentence or two, and then explain what
  that reveals about the place and people.

11
Wrap Up

• We will compile a list of the details or traits
  that Twain used in his story. What did we learn
  about both regionalism and life in a Californian
  mining camp?