Rip’s Dependence on Society for Self-Identity
Rip Van Winkle After falling asleep in the forest, a man returns to find his house abandoned, his town transformed his friends
dead or missing and his own identity in serious doubt. Suddenly he recognizes his exact likeness walking
down the street and for a moment he loses his identity. This is not a science fiction piece but rather the well
known tale of Rip Van Winkle by Washington Irving. In the moment when Van Winkle sees his exact likeness
walking up the mountain, he let's out an anguished cry, ". . .I can't tell what's my name, or who I am I am!"
(Page 410) With that one statement we understand Van Winkle's predicament. Without his community to
define him Van Winkle is lost, for he only exists through the eyes of others.
To understand better Van Winkle's predicament we must first understand his character and how he was viewed
by his community. Examining the text we find ample examples of both. Irving describes his main character as
an amiable fool. As stated in the text Van Winkle is ". . . one of those happy mortals, of foolish,
well-oiled dispositions, who take the world easy, eat white bread or brown, which ever can be got with least
thought or trouble, and would rather starve on a penny than work for a pound." (Page 404) He is also said to
be a man who, "If left to himself would whistle his life away . . . " (Page 404) Clearly Van Winkle has little
concern for the matters of getting ahead. Yet one has to look at how he fits into his rustic community to get a
clearer impression of him.
Although much satire is made of Van Winkle being a "henpecked husband", the story al...
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...n to an "old woman" who finally comes forward and
proclaims, "Sure enough! it is Rip Van Winkle -- it is himself." (Page 411) After her identification is
corroborated by the elderly Peter Vanderdonk, Van Winkle is Van Winkle once more.
Once he is identified, Van Winkle's place in the community is reinstated. In fact his status even improves to the
point where he is considered, "one of the patriarchs of the village", for in their eyes he is now a
town historian. The story of Van Winkle shows us how dependent he was on the community, without which
he could not exist. His place within the society and the acknowledgment of others were crucial to how he
defined himself.
Works Cited:
Irving, Washington. "Rip Van Winkle." The Heath Anthology of American Literature. Ed. Paul Lauter. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1998.
The story “Rip Van Winkle” is about a character named Rip Van Winkle, a man who wanted nothing more out of life then to be able to do as he pleased and drink without responsibilities. One day he takes a trip into the Katskill mountains, which causes him to miss twenty years of his life. Rip wakes up after his sleep in the mountains and realizes that everything is different. He is faced with the life changing realization that he can no longer live he carefree life and must take some form of responsibility because the new villagers are hostile towards him due to his nature. In the end, Rip’s son stops the villagers from doing anything to Rip and this allows him to continue to live his carefree and chosen lifestyle.
In Irving’s story, Dame Van Winkle was depicted negatively by Rip. Her concerned were primarily in the wellbeing of the family and in the absence of Rip, she was forced to take on more responsibilities at home raising and providing for her family which in turn led her to become bitter towards Rip, who seemed to busy helping everyone else. Her constant nagging resulted in Rip voyaging off to the mountains
“Rip Van Winkle” written by Washington Irving, took place during a time when America was going through a momentous change known as the American Revolution. In Irving’s short story, Rip Van Winkle goes through drastic changes after leaving his town to go hunting as well as avoiding his wife that had got him on his nerves. Rip drinks a little too much on his trip and ends up in a 20 year nap and once he returns to his village, he was a changed man. The shifts that Van Winkle endured are very similar to the changes of that in America had gone through. Irving uses Van Winkle to parallel the transformations that occurred in America after its revolution.
The generalised or stereotyped characters are from the American people before and after Revolutionary War. Dame Van Winkle and Rip are stock characters that have been found in literature the irksome wife and the henpecked husband as Rip Van Winkle’s character represents the American society as perceived by England whereas his wife, Dame Van Winkle portrays England. This element between the free will loving Rip and his overbearing wife executes a key idea of the American Dream
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.
One major theme present in both stories is liberty/freedom. In “Rip Van Winkle,” Irving depicts the main character as a person who only wish...
Rip Van Winkle was a man who traveled to the mountain to escape his nagging wife. Along his journey he encounters a few travelers and ends up drinking with them. He falls asleep on the mountain and wakes up twenty years later without realizing how much time has passed. When he wakes
Young, Philip, Fallen From Time: Rip Van Winkle. Kenyon Review, Vol. XXII (1960): 547-73. 457-479.
In “Rip Van Winkle” by Washington Irving he writes about a simple man, Rip Van Winkle, who does just enough to get by in life. He lives in a village by the catskill mountains, and is loved by everyone in the village. He is an easy going man, who spends most of his days at the village inn talking with his neighbors, fishing all day, and wandering the mountains with his dog to refuge from his wife the thorn on his side. On one of his trips to the mountains Rip Van Winkle stumbles upon a group of men who offer him a drink, and that drink changes everything for Van Winkle. He later wakes up, twenty years later, and returns to his village were he notices nothing is the same from when he left. He learns that King George III is no longer in charge,
Juliette Gordon Low is the founder of girl scouts and she led a long and
During the Revolutionary War, the people that once lived in the small town were now gone and new adults were living there. For instance, his wife and also his dear friend, Nicholas Vedder, had passed away during the time period he was asleep in the woods. Rip Van Winkle was pleased when he found out that his wife had died because he did not have to confront his fear of his wife (Catalano). Yet he was upset when he found out that his companion had died and other friends had left the town. Rip Van Winkle did not know with whom he would gossip with at the local inn. He thought of himself as alone in the world because at this moment there was no one he knew in the town. The Revolutionary War controlled his friend’s lives because Brom Dutcher went and fought for the army and another was drowned during a clash of people. Some people dying helped complete the cycle of life and changed ...
In RIP Van Winkle, Dam Van Winkle is abusive, nagging, and sarcastic. In Rip Van Winkle, Washington Irving states that “but what courage can with stand the ever-during and all besetting terrors of a woman’s tongue.” He seems to imply that he did not like women who gave their opinions and spoke their mind. It seems that Rip is going into the woods to escape his wife.
---. “Rip Van Winkle.” The American Tradition in Literature. Vol 1. Eds. George Perkins, et al. 7th ed. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1990: 533-544. 2 vols.
Next the story introduces Dame Van Winkle, Rip’s stern wife. She maintains contempt for her husband’s “insuperable aversion to all kinds of profitable labor” (Irving). This tyrannic...
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