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In Samuel L. Clemens' short story entitled, "The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County", he reveals to us that he believes that everyone is susceptible to gullibility. Using not only humor and characters in the story, Clemens actually makes his point by drawing the reader into the story as unwitting victims as well. The story illuminates gullibility on three separate levels. First, the main character of the story within the story, Jim Smiley, is a victim to his own misguided ways. Then, the narrator of the story is shown to be gullible as well. Finally, the reader of the story realizes that they have also been somewhat duped by the whole experience. This theme of Clemens' story is an interesting one in that it is unique, but it also is successful on multiple levels.
The first person whose gullibility is revealed in the story is Jim Smiley. The narrator is told by a friend in a letter to go to Simon Wheeler, the narrator of Smiley's story, and ask about a friend if his......

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Approximate Word Count: 1182
Approximate Pages: 5 (250 words per double-spaced page)

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