“Rip Van Winkle” and “The Legend of the Sleepy Hollow”
Have you ever imagined being asleep in the forest for twenty years, coming back home and not knowing what has gone on all those years of your absence? Rip Van Winkle went through that, and had to come back home and face some real changes. The author Washington Irving has some interesting characters whom he puts in his short stories. Irving puts some characters in his short stories to reflect on some of his life. For example, Irving has similarities between Rip Van Winkle being asleep in the forest 20 years and Irving was in Europe for seventeen writing short stories and being the governor’s aid and military secretary. These two situations are similar, because they both didn’t know what they were going to come back too and were gone for such a long period of time. Irving does put some of his own life into his short stories and with a reason for his self-reflective works.
Washing Irving was born April 3, 1783, in New York. He was the youngest out of eleven children raised by Scottish-English immigrant parents William Irving Sr. and Sarah Irving. Washington had a good private education, he studied law, and he began to write regularly. Irving although did not get his college education, which his father expected from all of his sons. Irving and two others his brothers James Kirke Paulding William Irving wrote the Salamagundi papers, which were amusing essays (The life of Washington Irving). Salmagundi was an accomplishment widening Irving’s name and reputation beyond New York. In the mid 1815 he left for England to attempt to resume the family trading company. Within three years the company was bankrupt, and without any support Irving decided to earn a living by writing. After mo...
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...than usual and Katerina seems to disappoint him and leaves him crestfallen. On his way home he finds a dark and creepy path he takes and sees a dark figure nearby that passes. He finally notices that the man on the horse has no head. He tries to get his horse to go faster but fails, because he is not a skilled rider. He ends up by the church where the Headless Horseman is known to be seen. The Headless Horseman follows and with his detached head throws it at Ichabod forcing him to fall off his horse. The next day, there is no sign of Ichabod, but the horse returns back to the owner’s farm. Later a group of people go looking for Ichabod and all they find is his hat next to a smashed pumpkin. Some people believe that Brom pulled a great prank, but the local folklore and old women know he was taken by the Headless Horseman. Ichabod is never seen again in Sleepy Hallow.
Instead, he made Ichabod Crane a detective who had his own vision on how to solve crimes. In the movie Ichabod is sent to the small village of Sleepy Hollow where a murder of three town’s people has occurred and they want him to solve it. Soon enough, he meets Katrina, whom Ichabod falls in love with, similar to Irving’s original story. Brom once again becomes jealous of this situation. The beginning of the story is very much similar to Washington Irving’s original. However, the main difference is that Ichabod is a detective; he is attempting to resolve a murder mystery. The murder consists of three people who had their heads cut off yet the heads are not being found anywhere. Even though Tim Burton did incorporate Washington Irving’s original story, he chose to include his own version of what happened. Only in the beginning does he chose to show Brom pretending to the cloaked horseman. Burton does include a sudden alteration; he decided to introduce magic and witchcraft. A witch controls an actual demon who was behind the killing who is the horseman. Katrina’s stepmother, who is the true witch, now possesses greed and
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.
in creating his vision of the town of Sleepy Hollow and the headless horseman, Katrina,
The narration in The Legend of Sleepy Hollow functions as a way to give authority to the women of Tarry Town. This power of feminine is elicit by Washington Irving who gives respect and superiority to women indirectly, but yet evidently through third person narration. Furthermore through Katrina he parallels the power of Tarry Town’s women by illustrating their agency to beget the downfall of Ichabod.
Irving, Washington. "Rip Van Winkle." The Heath Anthology of American Literature. Ed. Paul Lauter. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1998.
When I was younger the world was such an innocent, delightful place. People were kind, and always willing to help. As I have grown I have found that my views of the world and the people in it have changed; I don 't find it to be as innocent or delightful. I have slowly become to notice the wicked around me. Nathaniel Hawthorne 's "Young Goodman Brown" and Washington Irving 's "Rip Van Winkle" both convey changes in their views of the people and world around them.
Washington Irving was born in New York City in 1783, he always had an appreciation of the land and people from there. Irving was quite opposed to the fact that New York was becoming and would become one of the biggest and most prominent cities in the entire world. Irving seemed to be fonder of the lush foliage and the rolling hills of the city, rather than a crowded city and huge port. Irving conveys his beliefs through Knickerbocker in "A History of New York," in the essay Irving says "Happy would it have been for New Amsterdam could it always have existed in this state of blissful ignorance and lowly simplicity, but alas! the days of childhood are too sweet to last! Cities, like men, grow out of them in time, and are doomed alike to grow into the bustle, the cares, and miseries of the world." (Irving 570). Irving believed that his New York would not be the same if it was given all of the exporting and importing power in the east, which it was and is not the way he wished it was.
Washington Irving wrote Rip Van Winkle with the American people in mind. At this time society was changing drastically. America was attempting to go through a struggle with forming their own identity. America was wanting to have an identity that would set them free from English culture and rule. Irving uses his main character, Rip Van Winkle, to symbolize America. Rip goes through the same struggles that America was going through at this time before and after the Revolution. Irving uses such great symbolism in this story to describe the changes that American society went through. This story covers a wide variety of time periods including: America before English rule, early American colonies under English rule, and America after the Revolutionary War.
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.
Washington Irving's, "Rip Van Winkle" presented a tale of a "dreamer." Rip Van Winkle was a family man
Rip Van Winkle Analysis Washington Irving is very creative in the way he expresses and crafts the themes in his stories. Taking a common subject, he adds mystery and a moral lesson to make it interesting to the reader. The advancement of time and its connection to change are depicted in Washington Irving’s Rip Van Winkle through the main character’s transition to future years, the preserved mysterious forest, and the development of the township from past to present. Rip Van Winkle starts out a lazy, good-natured man with no personal motivation in life, but his experiences change him into a man with a new found freedom and happiness. Because of his nagging wife, and large family to support, Rip was unable to carelessly do the things he enjoys.
One particular criterion character effectively supports the central idea in “Rip Van Winkle” by Washington Irving. The character's type develops with the personality development throughout the story. Three types of characters: round, flat, and stock, appear in most stories. The round character displays a fully developed personality and full emotions. Flat characters, also known as supporting characters, do not develop fully or express complex emotions. A stock character, also known as a stereotype, fits an established characterization from real life or literature. With these three types of characters leading the reader through the story, the reader learns the events taking place as well as the changes in the character’s lives. The author keeps the reader informed of the changes affecting the characters throughout the narrative through style. When a character undergoes a fundamental change in nature or personality during the story, the character has dynamic style. However, a character without change defines a static character. Although all characters have a style and type sometimes understanding the differences appears complicated. A chart often helps establish a better understanding of character type and style.
We can see these peculiarities of Washington Irving in salutatory speeches in his honour addressed by the persons whom he met and made friendships. Mr. James Wood, President of the Westchester County Historical Society, during encaenia of one hundredth birthday of Irving organized by Washington Irving Association at Tarrytown-on-Hudson, Tuesday, April 03, 1883 in salutatory address while emphasizing Irving’s talent as an author mentioned his other peculiarities as a person, citizen, neighbor, and gentleman. Also he added that we all realize that the renown of Washington Irving belongs to humanity [5, p.
In Washington Irving's "Rip Van Winkle," Rip's character is closely correlated with the theme of nature and its prominence over the ever-changing world. The story is set in the Kaatskill Mountains, an important setting with a luminance that does not falter throughout. Similarly, Rip is immediately described as a respectable and well liked man in his mountainous setting. Right off the bat, the two can be easily associated. The magical elements in the story cause Rip to fall asleep for twenty years, and upon waking, he is in a world completely changed by the progression of time. However, despite the extreme alterations, only Rip and the nature that he is so familiar with are able to prevail, remaining ultimately unaffected by the new world.
Rip Van Winkle tells the story of a man who, on a trek into the Kaatskill mountains, mysteriously sleeps away twenty years of his life during the Revolutionary War. When he returns home, he finds that things have dramatically changed; King George no longer has control over the colonies, and many of his friends have either died or left town. At this point, the story reaches its climax, where Van Winkle realizes that his life may be forever changed.