I chose the assignment number one, which was to write an analysis of Washington Irving’s “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow.” A Town that is between the Hudson and Tappan Zee rivers called Greensburgh is a small market town. This village was in New York, which was known as a Dutch settlement. Near this town is a very quiet sleepy hollow. In this small village all the people seem to have a certain quality of drowsiness. But the town seems to be described as haunted with many stories and legends. Washington Irving the writer of the story made “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow” in 1819. Irving put the elements of myth, legend, folklore and even drama into a narrative that became widely popular with Americans. He also introduced imagery that helped to improve the natural literature in the narrative. Washington’s “The legend of …show more content…
Crane’s schoolhouse is designed so that if any crook or mischievous thief would try and get in they would find it hard to get back out. He believes in discipline the unruly students with a rod or staff while he treats the fragile students more gently. Crane relies on the kindness of the students’ families to provide him with room and board, so it is good that Ichabod is friends with them. To soften the load of the families with helping Crane out, he makes himself useful around the farm and stays on their good side. He also, has a useful talent or gift that provides him with extra money. He is popular with the women’s gossip circles in Sleepy Hollow. Since he chose the lifestyle of moving around it gives him access to the gossip all around. He enjoys the housewives telling their ghost stories, but he becomes most interested in The Legend of Sleepy Hollow with the Headless Horseman. Ichabod had a special fascination in Witchcraft, even though it went against his religion, and often told those stories in return of the
Throughout Irving’s story, he used characterization, irony, the dreams, and other literacy devices to bring The Legend of Sleepy Hollow to life for Irving’s audience.
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.
Have you ever Experienced foreshadowing in your everyday life such as hearing a strange sound and investigating. Even if you have not experienced this it is a very important literary device. Well Washington Irving and Ambrose bierce give great examples of foreshadowing. In their writings of an occurrence on owl creek bridge (bierce) and in the devil and tom walker(irving). Washington Irving And Ambrose bierce both use foreshadowing but irving has a more obvious use of it as to bierce whose is much more subtle.
Many evenings during the winter, Ichabod spent with the old Dutch wives. They would tell ghost stories as well as other super natural beings and demons while sitting by the fire. There was a certain story that was never left out, the legendary Headless Horseman, or sometimes known as the Hessian of the Hollow. The story went on that there was a soldier who with a cannon ball had gotten his head shot off and since roamed through Sleepy Hollow looking for his lost head while on his horse. The Headless Horseman has a jack-o-lantern that sits in replacement of his head. In addition, a love story is part of “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow” however many find it to be more of a pure lust or greed story. There was girl named Katrina Van Tassel who was
Fifteen years separate Washington Irving’s short story “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow” with Nathaniel Hawthorne’s short story, “Young Goodman Brown.” The two share an eerie connection because of the trepidation the two protagonists endure throughout the story. The style of writing between the two is not similar because of the different literary elements they choose to exploit. Irving’s “Sleepy Hollow” chronicles Ichabod Crane’s failed courtship of Katrina Van Tassel as well as his obsession over the legend of the Headless Horseman. Hawthorne’s story follows the spiritual journey of the protagonist, Young Goodman Brown, through the woods of Puritan New England where he looses his religious faith. However, Hawthorne’s work with “Young Goodman Brown” is of higher quality than Irving’s “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow” because Hawthorne succeeds in exploiting symbols, developing characters, and incorporating worthwhile themes.
The original story by Washington Irving starts out in a small town of Sleepy Hollow. Irving paints an image of bountiful crops, beautiful scenery, and prosperous landowners. Ichabod Crane was a local pedagogue, who taught at the local schoolhouse. He was known for his strict ways and yet he was very popular amongst the families of his students- especially the ones who had ?pretty sisters.? Ichabod enjoyed spending fall evenings with the old widows as they sat by a fire and told stories of ghosts and demons and other supernatural beings. One story that was always told was one of the legendary Headless Horsemen. The tale tells of a soldier who had his head shot off with a cannon ball. His ghost now roamed Sleepy Hollow on his horse, looking for his lost head. In place of his head, sits a jack-o-lantern, which had a fiery glow.
Over time the language of the original text of "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow" by Irving has been reworked to accommodate the change in audience. The Heath Anthology of American Literature has an unabridged version of the original wording (1354-1373). A complete copy of the original text of "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow" can be found in the young adolescent classic section of a bookstore or the juvenile section in the library. A juvenile edition of the text adapted by Arthur Rackham from 1928 was a replicate of the original it is filled with seven colored illustrations and numerous sketching. A young adolescent version adapted by Bryan Brown from 2001 has been abridged to accommodate the current young reader. The format is changed in Brownâs edition. The yo...
As it turns out life is not as easy as everyone makes it out to be, and for the most part human beings are particularly pessimistic people living in a constant state of fear. In the novels, “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn” by Mark Twain, and “The Awakening” by Kate Chopin, the main characters,Huckleberry Finn and Edna Pontellier, of either novel are absorbed in their own respective fears, which coincidentally are manifested into feelings of isolation, confusion, and rebellion to the point that they go through a series of dramatically, life-altering psychological change. They have experienced unfortunate tragedies at crucial moments in their lives rendering in them an insatiable devotion to searching for identity, or meaning in life. They
Benoit, Raymond. Irving's The Legend of Sleepy Hollow." The Explicator. Washington: Heldref Publications, 1996. "
Huck Finn learns from the actions of people around him, what kind of a person he is going to be. He is both part of the society and an outlier of society, and as such he is given the opportunity to make his own decisions about what is right and what is wrong. There are two main groups of characters that help Huck on his journey to moral maturation. The first group consists of Widow Douglas, Miss Watson, and the judge. They portray society and strict adherence to rules laid out by authority. The second group consists of Pap, the King, and the Duke. They represent outliers of society who have chosen to alienate themselves from civilized life and follow no rules. While these characters all extremely important in Huck’s moral development, perhaps the most significant character is Jim, who is both a fatherly figure to Huck as well as his parallel as far as limited power and desire to escape. Even though by the end of the novel, Huck still does not want to be a part of society, he has made a many choices for himself concerning morality. Because Huck is allowed to live a civilized life with the Widow Douglas, he is not alienated like his father, who effectively hates civilization because he cannot be a part of it. He is not treated like a total outsider and does not feel ignorant or left behind. On the other hand, because he does not start out being a true member of the society, he is able to think for himself and dismiss the rules authority figures say are correct. By the end of the novel, Huck is no longer a slave to the rules of authority, nor is he an ignorant outsider who looks out only for himself. This shows Huck’s moral and psychological development, rendering the description of “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn” as a picaresq...
Washington Irving’s short story, “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow,” was adapted into a movie titled “Sleepy Hollow” directed by Tim Burton nearly two centuries after the original publication. When the story was adapted as a film, several extensive changes were made. A short story easily read in one sitting was turned into a nearly two-hour thriller, mystery, and horror movie by incorporating new details and modifying the original version of the story. The short story relates the failed courtship of Katrina Van Tassel by Ichabod Crane. His courtship is cut short by the classic romance antagonist-the bigger, stronger, and better looking Broom Bones. Ichabod wishes to marry Katrina because of her beauty but also because of the wealthy inheritance she will receive when her father, Baltus Van Tassel and stepmother, Lady Van Tassel die. However, the film tells the story of Ichabod Crane as an investigator who is sent to Sleepy Hollow to investigate the recent decapitations that are occurring. These modifications alter the original story entirely, thus failing to capture the Irving’s true interpretation of “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow.” The film and the original story have similarities and differences in the plot, characters, and setting.
Although at times it is easy to get carried away with the adventure of a story, noticing the elements a writer has put into his work is very important. In reading “Young Goodman Brown” and “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow” you can see both similarities as well as differences of how both Nathaniel Hawthorne and Washington Irving chose to illuminate their romantic writing styles. The writers both use a mystical woodsy setting with supernatural twists to draw in readers. Underlying you will find the differing romantic themes each writer used, as well as how each writer chose to end their work.
"Ms. McMulkin, this is Alex. That essay--- how long can it be?" "Why, uh, not less than 600 words." He sounded a little surprised. I'd forgotten it was late at night. "Can it be longer?" "Certainly, Alex, as long as you want it." "Thanks," I said and hung up. I sat down and picked up my pen and thought for a minute. Remembering. Remembering a handsome, dark boy with a reckless grin and a hot temper. A tough, towheaded boy with a cigarette in his mouth and a bitter grin on his hard face. Remembering- -- and this time it didn't hurt--- a quiet, defeated-looking sixteen-year-old whose hair needed cutting badly and who had black eyes with a frightened expression to them. One week had taken all three of them. And I decided I could tell people, beginning with my English teacher. I wondered for a long time how to start that theme, how to start writing about something that was important to me. And I finally began like this: When I stepped out into the bright sunlight from the darkness of the movie house, I had only two things on my mind: Paul Newman and a ride
In Washington Irving’s work “Rip Van Winkle,” Irving demonstrates all characteristics of an American Mythology rather humorously. These characteristics affect the story attracting the attention of readers and impacting the reader’s experience of the story by relishing America’s unique attributes and values. In “Rip Van Winkle,” Irving incorporates attributes of American Mythology by setting the story in exciting pastimes, filling the story with strange and exaggerated characters, and featuring magical mysterious events.
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. This also ties in with the theme of supernatural. Irving also describes, “ There was a contagion in the very air that blew from that haunted region; it breathed forth an atmosphere of dreams and fancies infecting all the land” (Irving 1). This helps us readers imagine the atmosphere and the theme of supernatural within the town. The mentioning of the hauntings brings up the past once