Literary Movements and Western Expansion Quiz

Mark Twain's "The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County"

• The narrator is an Easterner, and the story uses overblown language to make him appear arrogant.
• The story is written as a frame story to satirize educated, but often prejudiced, men from the East.

O.Henry's "A Call Loan"

• The excerpt features strong characters dealing with trouble on their own, a characteristic of the Western genre.
• Longley independently enforces law and order on his misguided friend, showcasing his strong character.

Naturalism

• The literary movement of naturalism was most informed by Charles Darwin's theory of evolution.
• Darwin's book changed the way many American authors thought about the meaning and cause of events in human lives.

The "Closing" of the Western Frontier

• The "closing" of the Western frontier refers to the settlement of most of the land between the East and West Coasts.
• This idea was based on the belief that European American culture was superior to Native cultures.

Regionalism

• Regionalism focuses on rural or small-town Americans and their everyday lives.
• "The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County" is a good example of Regionalism because its story is told mostly in dialect and focuses on local people and topics.