The short story, “Rip Van Winkle”, is a tale of a man who went up into the mountains and after a long string of odd events went to sleep. He woke up twenty years later. He went from being use to what the world was like before the Revolutionary War of the United States to how things changed after the war. When he came back from the mountain he found that his wife and friends were gone. His children were grown up and living in this new world that he had stumbled into. He found that changes had been made to clothing and how people acted; buildings that used to be in the town were now gone or changed, and a government that he had no idea about. In this short story the author used the differences between pre-Revolutionary War and post-revolutionary war to show the changes of life and maintenance of some traditions. This is a reoccurring theme in this tale.
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 ...
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... the cycle and changes of life as time progressed forward.
Works Cited Page
Catalano, Susan M. "Henpecked to Heroism: Placing Rip Van Winkle and Francis Macomber in the American Renegade Tradition." Hemingway Review. Hemingway Society, 1998. Web. 18 Dec. 2013. < http://web.ebscohost.com/lrc/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?sid=8ed02e85- 26cb-494e-a2b0-a1d63bc8f010%40sessionmgr110&vid=4&hid=125>.
Ferguson, Robert A. "Rip Van Winkle and the Generational Divide in American Culture."JSTOR. Early American Literature, 2005. Web. 18 Dec. 2013. .
Wyman, Sarah. "Washington Irving’s Rip Van Winkle: A Dangerous Critique of a New Nation." ANQ. Taylor & Francis Ltd, 2010. Web. 18 Dec. 2013. .
• General Washington and his men seek shelter at Valley Forge after Battle of White Marsh
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In Washington Irving’s “Rip Van Winkle,” an allegorical reading can be seen. The genius of Irving shines through, in not only his representation in the story, but also in his ability to represent both sides of the hot political issues of the day. Because it was written during the revolutionary times, Irving had to cater to a mixed audience of Colonists and Tories. The reader’s political interest, whether British or Colonial, is mutually represented allegorically in “Rip Van Winkle,” depending on who is reading it. Irving uses Rip, Dame, and his setting to relate these allegorical images on both sides. Irving would achieve success in both England and America, in large part because his political satires had individual allegorical meanings.
“Is there a single trait of resemblance between those few towns and a great and growing people spread over a vast quarter of the globe, separated by a mighty ocean?” This question posed by Edmund Burke was in the hearts of nearly every colonist before the colonies gained their independence from Britain. The colonists’ heritage was largely British, as was their outlook on a great array of subjects; however, the position and prejudices they held concerning their independence were comprised entirely from American ingenuity. This identity crisis of these “British Americans” played an enormous role in the colonists’ battle for independence, and paved the road to revolution.
As an American observes the life around him, noting the many advancements made in merely the last century, he must wonder how America climbed to such a level. The 21st century technology, the military and political power, education and ethics, all came from such meager beginnings, solidified by the Revolutionary War. The Revolutionary War proved to be a significant turning point in the history of our country, but what caused America to win? What were some of the most significant factors in the victory of these American patriots? By examining these three particular factors, America’s military assets, it’s aid from other countries, and its own spirit of independence, one’s understanding of the Revolutionary War, an essential root of this nation, is truly increased.
In May 1775 the second Continental Congress is meeting and the American Revolutionary War has already begun. The congress needed to get organized and fast. The militia’s that were fighting the war were very unorganized even though they were holding their own so early on in the war. John Adams proposed that the army that was outside of Boston be named the Continental Army and just five days later they had their general to lead that army. There was really only one choice as who to choose for the position and he was already there at the congressional meeting and his name was George Washington. Washington had experience in military leadership, he was among the top social elite in the colonies and he was a patriot. Those were the main things that made him a great fit for General. Another very important reason that he was chosen was because he was from the South and the delegates from the North knew they need the South to win the war. Making George Washington Commander in Chief was not only the best option to lead the Continental Army, but he was their only hope.
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,
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.
War is known to have a substantial effect on the lives of every person in that country. In the United States the American dream, in any interpretation, is either improved or lessened depending on if what we are fighting for is worth the sacrifice. For example, the Afghanistan War is commonly known to be hindering the American dream; there is no proof of direct improvement or intentions to improve the way Americans live. Inversely, in the Revolutionary War we were fighting for the freedom of our country from England. Without this need for freedom the American dream wouldn’t exist. The events leading up to Battle of Lexington and Concord, specifically the Sugar and Stamp Acts, showed that Americans realized the dream they sought and the basis of it: freedom and independence.
Protagonist Rip Van Winkle possesses mystical and entertaining characteristics that captivate the reader. Rip Van Winkle regards all of his neighbors with kindness continuously. He shows the depth of American values such as kindness and the love of the neighbor. Van Winkle’s great kindness is illustrated by his helping of others. On page 62, the narrator states “He inherited, however, but little of the martial character of his ancestors. I have observed that he was a simple, good-natured man; he was moreover a kind neighbor, and an obedient, henpecked husband,” confirming that Van Winkle is a kind person and a loving
In Rip Van Winkle, Irving shows his doubts in the American Identity and the American dream. After the Revolutionary war, America was trying to develop its own course. They were free to govern their own course of development; however, some of them had an air of uncertainties on their own identity in this new country. Irving was born among this generation in the newly created United States of America, and also felt uncertainty about the American identity. Irving might be the writer that is the least positive about being an American. The main reason for this uncertainty is the new born American has no history and tradition while the Europe has a great one accumulated for thousands of years. Therefore, in order to solve this problem, Irving borrows an old European tale to make it take place in America. This tale related to the Dutch colonists haunts the kaatskill mountains. In order to highlight the American identity, Irving praises the “majestic” mountains which Europe lacks. He describes the mountains that “their summits…will glow and light up like a crown of glory” Nevertheless, the use of these ancient explorers into Rip Van Winkle only to show that although American has formed its own identity, no one can cut its connection with Europe. No wonder when America was still under tyranny of the British rule, some people still cannot cut the blood relationship with Europe. Therefore, the American identity is blurred by their relationship with Europe since then.
Rip Van Winkle In post-revolutionary America, literature began to show influence of the newly created democracy. As is the case with any young government, many different interest groups arose to attempt to mold the government according to their vision of democracy. Washington Irving, a native New Yorker born in 1783, grew up in a world engulfed in this democratic fanaticism. He grew up to be, as befitted his childhood atmosphere, a political satirist. This satirical nature of Irving’s shines brightly in Rip Van Winkle, as he uses historical allusions and symbolic characters to mockingly compare colonial life under British rule to the democracy of the young United States. The first historical satire occurs attached to the name Peter Stuyvesant, whom is mentioned twice with exaggerated praise. Stuyvesant, a harsh and strongly disliked governor, was in power when the English seized New York. Irving uses a false respect for Stuyvesant to humor the Dutch of New York, who blamed him for the loss of the land to the English. Having set the scene as a Dutch-friendly narrator, Irving introduces Dame Van Winkle, Rip’s stern wife, who maintains contempt for Rip’s laziness and carefree attitude. Dame Van Winkle’s harsh control over her husband represents King George and the English rule of the colonies. Whereas the colonies were mistreated by George, yet felt faithful and attached to the Crown, Rip stood by his demanding wife. The irony lies in Rip’s indifference to Dame Van Winkle. He was chided and bossed, but he was content. Nicholas Vedder, the owner of the inn, who dominated the conversations and opinions of the junto represents the colonial governors appointed by the Crown. While he rarely spoke, his influence was always present. This mirrors the inactive role the governors took in political affairs, and the colonists considerable respect for them. The relationship between the governors and Britain is illustrated perfectly by Irving when Dame Van Winkle comes to the inn to collect her husband. “Nicholas Vedder himself, scared from the daring tongue of this terrible virago, who charged him outright with encouraging her husband in habits of idleness.”(Irving 901) While a characteristically influential man, Nicholas is no match for the intimidation of Dame Van Winkle. The turning point of the story occurs when Rip walks deep into the woods and encounters a mysterious band of oddly dressed strangers with foreign customs.
Although the novel appropriates conventions of an espionage story, Bowen deliberately gives salience to the domestic realm and its concerns rather than the historical events. This gives Bowen a platform through which she can explore the way that war displaces everyday life. Throughout the novel, Bowen uses a motif of anonymity to underscore the suffering that people underwent collectively in their daily life. As the protagonist Stella walks through the streets of London, she feels that “she had so dissolved herself […] into the thousands of beings of oppressed people.” This image of subsumption abstracts away from Stella’s perspective and encourages the reader to consider her experiences as transcendental of her personal experience as they are shared by millions of others. During Roderick’s visit to Stella, the motif reappears. In the context of a war-torn London, Stella and Roderick feel a “sense of instinctive loss” , a “trouble, had it been theirs only […] But it was more than that; it was a sign, in them, of the impoverishment of the world.” Bowen alludes to the widespread suffering in London to highlight Stella and Roderick’s situation as simply another iteration of civilian life, suggesting that their story was told not because it is unique, but rather because it is devastatingly common. Bowen
Van Winkle" depicts a story of a man longing to be free, and of the transformation that occurs to him and the
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.