Textual Analysis of "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow"
1.) Romantic Description:
a. pg. 715 - "there is a little valley, or rather lap of land, among high hills, which is one of the quietest places in the whole world. A small brook glides through it, with just a murmur enough to lull one to repose; and the occasional whistle of a quail, or tapping of a woodpecker, is almost the only sound that ever breaks in upon the uniform tranquility."
Irving describes nature as an untouchable force. He ignores the realism of nature and reveals only the beauty it holds. It is the stereotypical description of Mother Nature. Irving makes it sound so tranquil as if this place doesn’t exist in this world.
c. pg 731 - "Its limbs were gnarled, and fantastic, large enough to form trunks of ordinary trees, twisting down almost to the earth, and rising again into the air.
The tree is almost created into somewhat of a creature. With the limbs twisting out and rising into the air. Irving takes ordinary earthlike objects and changes the perspective of them into imaginary matter.
2.) Avoidance of Controversy/Digressions:
a. pg 717 - "...some little, tough, wrong-headed, broad-skirted Dutch urchin, who sulked and swelled and grew dogged and sullen beneath the birch. All this he called "doing his duty by their parents;" and he never inflicted a chastisement without following it by the assurance, so consolatory to the smarting urchin, which "he would remember it, and thank him for it the longest day he had to live." When school hours were over..."
Irving constantly made fun of the Dutch, and this is one of those examples. He calls them wrong-headed and mocks their appearance by criticizing their broad-skirted dress. Then to avoid the controversy he changes the subject and goes straight into the next thing.
b. pg 728 - "The musician was an old gray headed Negro, who had been the itinerant orchestra of the neighborhood for more than half a century. His instrument was as old and battered as himself."
Here, Irving tries to avoid the subject of slavery and human rights. He tries to stay neutral on the issue. He described the black man as battered and old showing the inequality of the two races, in a sense avoiding the whole slavery situation during that time period.
3.) American Character Types:
a. pg 722...
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...cts women as a bit lazy because in the passage they jut sit around talking, eating, and having a good time and have no work to do. Therefore, implying that men do all the work and the women just lounge around.
8.) Use of American History:
a. pg 719 - "He was, moreover, esteemed by the women as a man of great erudition, for he had read several books quite through, and was a perfect master of Cotton Mather's history of New England Witchcraft, in which, by the way, he most firmly and potently believed.
Irving refers to an actual historical event by mentioning that Ichabod was a firm believer in Cotton Mathers writing about the Salem witch trials. Irving is pretty accurate because it is actually a real book and was commonly read. He references to the literary works of the time and the thoughts that people had about the world during the time.
b. pg 728 - "The British and American line had run near it during the war; it had, therfore, been the scene of marauding, and infested with refugees, cow-boys, and all kinds of border chivalry."
Irving does use an historical American setting, America and the British were engaged in war at the time and had battles around that.
The readings “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow” by Washington Irving and The Monster by Stephen Crane are to amazing readings. However, these two texts represent violence and conflicts in different ways, which shows that although they have the same concept their tactic for this same concept is used in a different approach.
Irving uses many other images and scenes within this story that could be delved into further. However, I believe these three main points, along with the knowledge of the political climate of the times, shows Irving’s genius in representing both sides of the political gamut. Irving was able to cater to both the British and the Colonist without offending either side. Irving’s genius was that even though this was an allegory of its time, its elements could represent either or both sides of the conflict during the Revolution. This dual representation in an allegorical story ensured his success, in both countries as a writer. It allowed Irving to make a political statement without taking sides.
?The Legend of Sleepy Hollow? is a short story by Washington Irving. Based on a well-known legend, this story tells the tale of the disappearance of the main character, Ichabod Crane. An effective ghost story, Irving leaves you guessing what the truth is behind the ending. The movie Sleepy Hollow is Hollywood?s portrayal of Irving?s original story. Although the movie is similar to the story in the beginning, the movie takes a twist that leads in another direction that strays far from the original plot.
In the "Masque of the Red Death," the first sentence, "The Red Death had long devastated the country," sets the tone for the whole story. Poe describes the horrors of the disease, stressing the redness of the blood and the scarlet stains. The disease kills so quickly that one can die within thirty minutes of being infected with the disease. To create a frightening effect of the revulsion of this disease, Poe uses words such as "devastated," "fatal," "horror of blood," and "sharp pains and profuse bleeding." In summary, the story relates the prince, trying to be safe and away from the horrible death, invites a thousand friends to be in seclusion in his abbey away from the disease. During a celebration , a masked ball at the abbey - with incredible described rooms and moods - a surprise masked intruder causes death to all.
With the end of the American Revolution, came an explosion of politicians hoping to influence the young democracy. At the time various political groups were attempting to fashion America politics into their vision of democracy. It was only natural that literature in the country at the time began showing the influence of this newly created democracy. Born in New York in 1783 and named for the American Revolution hero and first president, Washington Irving grew up a nation engulfed in the democratic passions. An atmosphere of this kind of politics could lend the idea that Irving would satire politics of this time. This satirical writing can be seen in the nature of the historical references and symbolic characters Irving uses in “Rip Van Winkle” where he mockingly compares colonial life under British rule to the young democracy that is the United States of his time.
Over the course of the next couple of scenes the clouds become less grey and morose and more sun appears to come through. This culminates with his final act of inviting everyone to either be in or attend his play. While we cannot know if the sun ever reappears because the play is during the evening indoors. Max makes amends towards all the characters in the film and everyone seems to be relatively fulfilled at the ending. We never really do know though if the sun would come out again though for the film does not show it. So maybe all the characters are left a little empty, or perhaps one can believe that the characters truly found themselves. The ending is left open and ambiguous by Wes Anderson on purpose. The reason being he wants the viewer to think about if the characters are fulfilled, and no longer have a void that cannot be
At first glance, "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow" by Washington Irving seems to be an innocent tale about a superstitious New England town threatened by a strange new comer, Icabod Crane. However, this descriptive narrative is more than just a simple tale because it addresses several gender issues that deserve attention. The pervasiveness of female influence in Sleepy Hollow and the conflict between male and female storytelling in this Dutch community are two pertinent gender issues that complicate Irving's work and ultimately enable the women of Sleepy Hollow to control the men and maintain order.
...as a film is far different from Irving’s original interpretation from 1820. By vastly changing the plot, Burton’s film fails to capture several of the elements that Irving incorporates. Both works have differences in plot, character, theme, point of view, but their setting allows the two to remain connected in their grim similarities.
Tree itself is already a very commonly used symbol in many places, it symbolize sheltering, evocative of enternity, rooted in earth and reaching up to the sky and many more. In this book however, it focoused on the growing of the tree, we all know that it takes a lot of time for a tree to grow, likewise, it took a long time for melinda to speak up and face the truth. Moreover, this drawing of the tree is representing the mind growth ofMelinda, for inctense, the drawing was poorly done at the beggining, Melinda’s presure and her life is weighting her down, as the drawing gets better throghout the school year, Melinda’s strength and mind set is getting better too. If the tree ment sheltering, then Melinda sure developed a very nice shelter for herself in the
...rtain culture or religion believes. These beliefs may be such that removing pleasure from a female’s body is to prevent temptation, or that circumcising a male’s penis is to follow a religious belief as is the case in Judaism. In both of these practices a human part of the body is removed. The person undergoing the circumcision, unfortunately, usually has no voice on this process; it is totally up to their parents to make a decision for them and in the end it is the child who is really affected because he or she may not be “normal” according to where he or she lives. This issue has been an ethical and political target over the years due to the fact of the consequences of a female genital mutilation could bring at giving birth. Some people will argue that both a male’s and female’s circumcision are moral, while others will argue that both are wrong, even mutilating.
Unlike male circumcisions which were practice for religious purposes, female circumcision is done for social convention and is practiced as a way to prepare girls for marriage, as well as conform to societal norms of femininity. Female circumcisions are often motivated by what would be considered proper female behavior and as a way to promote virginity as well as cause pain during intercourse to uphold these beliefs. Much like male circumcision these societal beliefs about sex and purity, have affected these cultures in their convictions that circumcision must be performed to be pure and free of
It had called her to come and gaze at a mystery. From barren brown stems to glistening leaf-buds to snowy virginity of bloom. It stirred her tremendously" (10). Gazing across the garden, Janie "was seeking confirmation of the voice and vision, and everywhere she found and acknowledged answers. [she longed] to be a pear tree - any tree in bloom!...
Irving uses imagery to help readers imagine the past and also impact the theme of supernatural. Irving writes, “The whole neighborhood abounds with local tales, haunted spots, and twilight superstitions; star shoot and meteors glare oftener across the valley than in any other part of the country, and the nightmare, with her whole ninefold, seems to make it the favorite scene of her gambols. The dominant spirit, however, that haunts this enchanted region, and seems to be commander-in-chief of all the powers of the air, is the apparition of a figure on horseback, without a head” (Irving 3-4). Once again, Irving makes a reference to the hessian soldier, the Headless Horseman, which brings back the past of the revolutionary war, he does this by using imagery in explaining what he looks like.
Irving composed the story in light of the American individuals at time when society has changed drastically due to American Revolution. The analogies of Irving's Rip Van Winkle cover an array of Revolutionary encounters: America before English enforcement, early American provinces under English principle, and after the American Revolution. He suggests that there is an immense contrast which leads Rip astonished, to know he is in some other time. This could symbolize the American's perspective on their new home.
Only locking ones self-up without helping others proved Prospero had become a narcissi’s. The prince might have helped people, but these people were only saved because they proved to be important to Prospero. Saving only those important to him instead of the ones really in need, proved Prospero had no remorse for the people in the kingdom. Without offering protection to the fellow people, Prosepro only cared for personal lives. The prince looked at himself highly as the only one who would not be killed. The bubonic plague, such as the Red Death, killed many innocence. According to “History of black death.” The bubonic plague killed countless lives. To be more specific, more than one-third of the population. Instead of trying to help others during this plague, Prospero as only worried of personal health. In the name of the Red death Prospero would soon be a victim of the killing machine as