Washington Irving's The Legend Of Sleepy Hollow

Nathaniel Hawthorne was one of the first American writers to pioneer the unprecedented and unforeseen gothic genre which resulted in the American literature failed to accumulate international appreciation from the Revolutionary War period until the rise of revolutionary writer Washington Irving. Irving was perfectly positioned to live an observational, carefree life as a well-off child in New York city. Those conditions enabled Irving’s multiple trips to Europe, where he could experience the culture and eventually launch his writing career. In his collection, The Sketch Book of Geoffrey Crayon, Gent, Irving wrote “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow,” the tale of a materialistic foreigner who competed for the heart of a wealthy woman before falling

From 1804 to 1806 Irving traveled throughout Europe and spent most of his time away in England, allowing him to experience European culture as well as how it feels to be a foreigner (May). Irving parallels his alien status in his characterization of Ichabod Crane, a character that one analyzer identified as “an outsider, a Yankee schoolmaster among the canny Dutch farmers” (Yarbrough). It is clear that Irving felt out of place in Europe, but he embraced his differences proudly and enjoyed absorbing the foreign culture just as Ichabod did. This willingness to absorb the surrounding culture is clearly paralleled by Ichabod’s views on witchcraft, in which he “most firmly and potently believed,” just as Irving was eager to adopt and adapt the traditional folktales he learned in Europe (“Legend of Sleepy Hollow”). Irving characterizes Crane as superstitious primarily to develop him as an intelligent and harsh schoolmaster and as a foil to the simpler countryfolk natives while also displaying his own love for exploring literature. Washington Irving’s development of Ichabod Crane as a superstitious outsider reflects his early experiences as a stranger and his embrace of foreign