Compare and contrast the narrator of ''The Legend of Sleepy Hollow'' and the framework narrator of ''The Notorious Jumping Frog of Calaveras...

When it comes to point of view, "The Legend
of Sleepy Hollow" and "The Notorious Jumping Frog of Calveras County" are similar in that they
are not told by one narrator alone.  Both could be considered "frame" stories (that is, a story
within a story). "Sleepy Hollow" in fact, could almost be considered a story within a story
within a story...etc.  To understand this more fully, let's look at the narrators in each
story:

"Sleepy
Hollow":

• Narrator 1: Washington Irving, the author of
  The Sketch Book of Geoffrey Crayon,
  Gent.


• Narrator 2: Geoffrey Crayon, a fictional "author"
  established by Irving to give many of his stories a sense of folklore and
  credibility.


• Narrator 3: Diedrich Knickerbocker, the fictional
  character who first wrote these stories down (also given credit for Rip Van
  Winkle) before they were found by G. Crayon.


• Narrator
  4: characters within the story who contribute to the "legend" by repeating "headless horseman"
  tales they've either heard or read.

"Jumping
Frog"

• Narrator 1: Mark Twain, speaking (in 1st person) of
  the meeting between himself and Simon Wheeler.


• Narrator 2: Simon
  Wheeler, speaking (in 3rd person) about Jim Smiley.

As
with many frame stories and almost all stories told in the first person point of view, there
exists the question, "How reliable is the narrator?"  Consider that frame stories are very
similar to gossip.  The more people a story gets passed through, the more embellished and less
factual it often becomes.  In both of these stories, this framing is completely intentional.  The
tone therefore, is in itself ironic.  You, the reader,
are not to trust that these stories are true, despite the ever present emphasis (by all story
tellers involved) that they are.  It is almost like saying, "If this many people know of and can
tell this story, it must be true."

More than
likely the main purpose of the original authors for doing this is for humor and entertainment. 
Also, much like satire today picks on current events and news stories, and the
way in which these stories are often portrayed, both Irving and Twain are
likely making a social commentary on the kind of story telling that was accepted as "truth" in
their own generations.