Symbolism In Rip Van Winkle

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A long sleep can do most of us good, but for Rip Van Winkle, a deep slumber of 20 years left him waking up dazed and confused in a new country called America. “Rip Van Winkle” by Washington Irving was written as a satirical piece in order to parallel the happenings of the American Revolution and how not only Van Winkle had changed, but also the country around him as well. “Rip Van Winkle” not only tells the story of a character’s drastic change, but also tells of the shift that a young nation had to undergo through the symbolic representation of Van Winkle’s wife, implications of drinking, and political inclination. Initially, the whole ordeal that Van Winkle went through was partially influenced by the want of getting away from his incommodious wife, Dame Van Winkle who is blessed with a “sharp tongue” and “tart temper”. Van Winkle’s wife is a symbol of Great Britain while …show more content…

These peculiarly dressed people somberly play a type of bowling while liquor is served nearby, to which Rip drinks and drinks till he falls into a deep sleep. The drink which lulls him to sleep can be seen as the injustices Britain had done upon America, while the sleep itself is the revolution. Things like taxation without representation, the Quartering Act, and the Proclamation of 1763 were all seen as terribly ridiculous notions forced upon the colonists by Britain, and when they had had enough of the “drink” that was being fed to them, they chose to rebel. It is also to be duly noted that the Kaatskill Mountains that Van Winkle ventured upon were a part of the Appalachian Mountains, which King George prohibited settlers from moving past in the Proclamation of 1763. Irving possibly used these mountain ranges as a symbol to show the truths that really laid behind these landscapes and of

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