Being intelligent to succeed in school is important, but not significant enough to success if someone chooses not to work. The intelligence in school is for theoretical thinking and analytical skills, so the smarter students are more possible to succeed. However, some people do not use their intelligence such as to overcome dilemmas, instead they become more evil by taking unfair advantages in the competition. In "The Notorious Jumping Frog of Calaveras County," Mark Twain writes about Jim Smiley, who likes to bet on everything, to satirize pugnacious people who use tricks and cunningness to win over unfair acquisition.  Although people plagiarize and cheat to obtain good grades or honor, they are always in the risk of being caught that will have serious consequences.

Gambling is mostly depends on fortune and a little bit of skills, and winning and losing always happen. Nevertheless, Jim Smiley makes his frog undefeated. Jim Smiley uses gambling to make fun of others and show disrespect. Simon Wheeler, the narrator of the story, describes Jim Smiley as someone who always likes to bet on anything and whenever "he got a bet, he was satisfied" (2). The satisfying feelings Smiley has are not pride he permanently receives, but some unreal honor that exists within his mind. He carries such artificial pride because he receives the honor by taking unfair advantages, which drives him see phenomenon without judgments. When he sees fighting between dogs or cats, "he'd bet on it" (2). The reason he wants to bet is that he is ambitious and likes to show off. The eagerness of him to find other's weak point makes him more successful and competitive. After he faces many competitions when he gambles, he becomes a little rebellious against others, because he hates to lose. He starts to belittle other's disability. His disrespectful personality becomes clear when "[he'll] resk two-and-a-half [Parson Walker's wife] don't anyway" (2). Parson Walker's wife gets sick and is getting better, and everybody thinks she will be well, but Smiley bets money that she will not get better. In the case of betting, it is ordinary for people to bet on anything but not other's personal issues. Affiliation of personal issues could lead to unwanted conflicts and hatred. Smiley is not inconsiderate because people are worried about Parson Walker's wife, and he does not take serious about it, instead, he is scoffing at the people who care about her. Wheeler expresses the personality of Smiley through betting, telling that he is rebellious and disrespectful. This part of the whole story is an implication of later failure. In the other way, Mark Twain writes Smiley's personality in order to give a foundation of the personality of people in the 1860s.

Wheeler later tells that Smiley uses his smartness to let an ordinary dog win every contest he participates in order to show that there is no absolute equality in competitions. Wheeler describes that the dog that Smiley has is just an ordinary dog that looks like there is no chance of winning, but actually wins every contest by "[grabbing] that other dog jest by the j'int of his hind leg and freeze to it" (3). The dog, names Andrew Jackson, represents people who use their intelligence to overcome different circumstances but in a special way that people do not admit their talents. His smartness is nothing like evilness because he does not hurt others but find their weak side in order to secure the win. Twain satirizes people who use tricks instead of their own ability to win unfair contests, so they are celebrated by the extraordinary talent but being criticized. Nevertheless, the dog later meets "a dog once that didn't have hind legs" (3). Therefore, Jackson loses the fight with the dog without a hind leg. It is not usual to find a dog without a hind leg, so Twain designs this story in a way to satirize Smiley. The story shows that finding other people's weakness in a combat is imperative, but using their weakness to dominate the fight does not work all the time because we never know that their weakness could be our vulnerability. Twain designs the story to tell people to pay more attention to other's weakness because it could reflex our defects as well. When Jackson loses the fight, he chooses to "[lay] down and [die]" (3). When Jackson uses the techniques to win over other dogs, he has more ambitions, but when he loses this fight, he chooses to die instead of giving up. Mark Twain personalizes Jackson as someone who does not use his own ability, but rather finds tricks in order to accomplish achievement. The reason he can defeat most dogs is that he is smart enough to find their weakness, but there are dogs that do not have hind legs, then his advantage becomes imperfection.

Intelligence in the competition is important but an overwhelmingly intelligence will become cunningness, which might create tension between competitors; the using of cunningness represents of taking advantages of others such as vandalizing to achieve the goal. The main focal point of the story is about the frog that Smiley uses to deceive other people but is deluded by an ordinary stranger. The frog, names Dan'l Webster, can jump the highest in Calaveras County. Webster is "so modest and straightfor'ard as he was, for all he was so gifted" (4). Twain uses personification saying Webster is modest to represent the pride of Smiley. Webster's talent is unbeaten by other frogs. The description of Webster displays that he is talented and capable of beating any frog. When a stranger comes to Calaveras County, he disagrees with Smiley that Webster is the highest jumper. The stranger uses tricks such as "taking a teaspoon and [filling Webster] full of quail-shot" (5). The stranger is so cunning that he takes advantage of Smiley, and wins forty dollars. Even though Smiley is smart at first and uses his intelligence to win over many competitions, the stranger seems to be insidious and takes inequitable advantages of Smiley. There is a line between intelligence and cunningness: intelligence does not interfere other's business, while cunningness is to destroy other's plan to secure the victory. This story is indispensable in the entire story of Jim Smiley that Simon Wheeler tells about, because it shows that smartness can be overthrown by insidiousness. Mark Twain correlates the two people: Smiley and the stranger, to satirize the people who use their cunningness by intervening other's business.

Smiley is someone who is pugnacious and likes to gamble and uses his intelligence to achieve his personal goals, but the stranger is charlatan, deceives people by using unjustifiable convenience and trickery. The two analogous sides of the story: intelligence and cunningness are the main theme in the stories Wheeler tells about Smiley. When cunningness is dominating one person's ambition, he or she will be corrupted. All they think of is to destroy others for their win. In nowadays, people are judged by taking advantages in a contest, and they will be caught eventually or will be defeated by someone who does the same to them. Intelligence is marvelous in success, but cunning is definitely not acceptable in the society. Mark Twain's irony and lively humor are the mainstreams in his story, both criticizing Jim Smiley in the story and general people in the 1860s.
