An Extended Satire, Metaphor and Fable by Mark Twain
Elements of the plot
Setting: A lonely corner among the woods and mountains of California; More
specifically it happened in front of Jim Baker’s cabinet in a log house. The
log was no more than a room without ceiling.
Characters: Jim Baker (Narrator, middle-aged simple-hearted miner), a blue jay
(Main character, personification) & other five thousand blue jays (appeared
at the end, personification).
Plot:
Exposition: Animals talk between each other but very few people can understand
them. One of these people was a miner called Jim baker. Jim Baker said that
animals were educated and had the ability to talk, and among them, the one with
the best grammar and the most moods and feelings was the blue jay. In front of
his cabinet a blue jay arrived to the log’s roof with an acorn in his mouth,
saying that he had struck something.
Rising action: The acorn fell, but he only cared about the knothole it had found in the
roof. He looked inside the hole and was amazed by it. The blue jay decides to
go for another acorn, that he dropped in the hole, but was surprised since he
didn’t hear it fall, so he tries again and even more confused studies this
“hole”, it was a long, deep, and mighty whole. He started to get mad and
said he had no time, but he continued.
Climax: “I’ve started to fill you, if it takes a hundred years” the blue jay
said; And for two hours and a half he hove acorns into the hole, regardless
that he was tired and “sweaty”. After that, it was enough for him and decided
to lay and started swearing.
Falling action: Another blue jay appeared and asked him what happened. He told him what
had happened and that there were about two tons of acorns inside and still it
wasn’t full. The blue jay (that had just arrived) called other blue jays, to
look in, have their opinion and discuss it. Until there were more than five
thousand of them.
Resolution: One old jay arrived and solved the mystery. Of course, that it was a
deep hole since the blue jay was trying to fill in a house. Jim Baker affirmed
that blue jays really had a good sense of humor, because for three years they
brought jays from all over the US and all of them understood the point, except
for a Nova Scotia owl.
Conflict: The blue jays, including the main blue jay didn’t understand why this
hole was so deep and there were no visible acorns. Regardless, that the blue
jay spent more than an hour filling it.
- Man vs self: Regardless that the bird does not have any
self-doubt and is not fighting against doubt. Still his anger and
impulsivity take over him. Not letting him think and solve the problem,
but simply acting.
- Man vs nature: The situation is unusual, taking into account
that the bird is part of nature. However, this type of conflict happens
because the bird has problems to understand the nature of the hole, and
why it seems never-ending. So, he continues to fill it without knowing
that it wasn’t a hole.
- Man vs society: According to how the story is interpreted,
this type of conflict can be added. The blue jay is not fighting against
different beliefs, but must bear his surroundings, relatives, and the
discussion caused by his actions. Due to the fact that now, many other
blue jays are talking about the mysterious “hole”.
Perhaps, man vs superpower, because Jim Baker can
understand what the birds say, which apparently is rare. (Clearly, it’s a
fictional story)
Moral: This story can be interpreted literally or figuratively, literally is a
bird filling a house. But figuratively it has a lesson. In a certain way, these
blue jays are similar to humans and used as a metaphor to express that: When we
face a problem some people get stumped, others angry, others quit, others
discuss it, and lastly others try to solve it; showing how different
people face difficulties in life. Another moral that I personally found is how
ignorance may affect people, because while most of the blue jays were
discussing acorns in a never ending hole, and the old jay who was more
experienced noticed what happened immediately.
Extended fable: “What Stumped the Blue Jays” is a fable, mainly because of the
personification (The attribution of human characteristics to non-human beings, objects,
or abstract qualities) used in the overall story. This can be identified in the
Blue Jays that talk and express like a human being, using words and grammar, as
well: being humorous, and how they have moods and feelings. This fable is an
extended fable since it conveys a moral, characters are animals. Also is
written in prose.
Humor:Satire (Humor to criticize people’s stupidity). This can be recognized in the overall plot, since the story surrounds a simple lack of reasoning; The birds are discussing something that may seem meaningless, because they confused a long hole with a hole in a house’s roof . The story itself is a light comedy, since again, the bird was trying to fill a house with acorns, and no one realized it. In addition to that, we can see similarities between the blue jay and humans. For example: ignorance, the constant spread of gossip, the different perspectives, etc. All these characteristics make from this story a humorous sample.
- Theme:
Regardless of how hard a problem may be, never just stand there. Instead, solve it.
- Narrator: third person limited. He can
understand what the bird says but can’t describe feelings or thoughts of
the character.
- Voice:
The narrator's voice is a lighthearted regular descriptive voice.
- Mood:
Humorous, calm, joyful, and surprised.
- Tone:
Simple light comedy, with a deep meaning.
Ending changed
- The blue jay
impulsively continued filling the hole diligently every day for more than
a month, he didn’t give up, and didn’t notice that it was a house and not
a hole. When he finally finished, he noticed that it was a house and that
there wasn’t any purpose in filling the whole house, and that he had lost
his time in doing something aimless.
