“Baker’s Bluejay Yarn”
Define the following:
1) Gratification: the state of being gratified; great satisfaction (Dictionary.com).
2) Rudiments: the elements or first principles of a subject, or, a mere beginning, first slight appearance, or undeveloped or imperfect form of something (Dictionary.com).
3) Absurdity: the quality or state of being ridiculous or wildly unreasonable (Dictionary.com).
Study Questions
1. Who is the narrator of the story? The narrator of the story is Jim Baker. The story is introduced by the author, who claims to know Jim Baker, but Baker is the narrator for the story itself, beyond the frame.
2. What talent did the narrator feel he possessed?
The narrator, Jim Baker, felt he could talk to animals. He claims …show more content…
What other animal does the author compare with a bluejay?
The author compares a bluejay to a possum when he is looking down the hole. “‘He cocked his head to one side, shut one eye and put the other one to the hole, like a ’possum looking down a jug’” (Twain 138).
9. What does the bluejay do at the end of the story that shows his sense of humor?
The bluejay falls over from laughter upon learning that he was trying to fill a house with acorns. Others laugh as well, and the whole event is remembered and chuckled about for years to come. “‘They all came a-swooping down like a blue cloud, and as each fellow lit on the door and took a glance, the whole absurdity of the contract that that first jay had tackled hit him home and he fell over backwards suffocating with laughter, and the next jay took his place and done the same.
‘Well, sir, they roosted around here on the house-top and the trees for an hour, and guffawed over that thing like human beings. It ain’t any use to tell me a blue-jay hasn’t got a sense of humor, because I know better. And memory, too. They brought jays here from all over the United States to look down that hole, every summer for three years’” (Twain 141).
10. What strong personality trait is evident in the
Define the following:
1) Gratification: the state of being gratified; great satisfaction (Dictionary.com).
2) Rudiments: the elements or first principles of a subject, or, a mere beginning, first slight appearance, or undeveloped or imperfect form of something (Dictionary.com).
3) Absurdity: the quality or state of being ridiculous or wildly unreasonable (Dictionary.com).
Study Questions
1. Who is the narrator of the story? The narrator of the story is Jim Baker. The story is introduced by the author, who claims to know Jim Baker, but Baker is the narrator for the story itself, beyond the frame.
2. What talent did the narrator feel he possessed?
The narrator, Jim Baker, felt he could talk to animals. He claims …show more content…
What other animal does the author compare with a bluejay?
The author compares a bluejay to a possum when he is looking down the hole. “‘He cocked his head to one side, shut one eye and put the other one to the hole, like a ’possum looking down a jug’” (Twain 138).
9. What does the bluejay do at the end of the story that shows his sense of humor?
The bluejay falls over from laughter upon learning that he was trying to fill a house with acorns. Others laugh as well, and the whole event is remembered and chuckled about for years to come. “‘They all came a-swooping down like a blue cloud, and as each fellow lit on the door and took a glance, the whole absurdity of the contract that that first jay had tackled hit him home and he fell over backwards suffocating with laughter, and the next jay took his place and done the same.
‘Well, sir, they roosted around here on the house-top and the trees for an hour, and guffawed over that thing like human beings. It ain’t any use to tell me a blue-jay hasn’t got a sense of humor, because I know better. And memory, too. They brought jays here from all over the United States to look down that hole, every summer for three years’” (Twain 141).
10. What strong personality trait is evident in the