The Legend Of Sleepy Hollow And Rip Van Winkkle Analysis

1650 Words4 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: washington irving legend of sleepy hollow analysis

Washington Irving presents two of the chosen short stories, “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow” and “Rip Van Winkle”, by saying they are works of a Diedrich Knickerbocker. The reason he published the stories under that name came from the fact that his brothers were all in the study of law. Irving tried that career out for a while, but the he quickly grew bored. He told his brothers that he wanted to find a different career. When he started writing, he grew embarrassed and decided to change his name in printing.
In both “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow” and “Pelayo and the Merchant’s Daughter” a major character travels frequently. Irving bounced around where he lived, due to money and jobs. In “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow” the main character, Ichabod Crane, comes into the small town for the job of school master, just as Irving chased the jobs. In “Pelayo and the Merchant’s Daughter” the main characters, as mentioned in the title, both travel for jobs as well.
In each story, the historical setting happens during a time in Irving’s life. In “Rip Van Winkle”, the time before Rip Van Winkle sleeps is 1763. When he wakes up, the time is 1783, the year of Irving’s birth. In “Pelayo and the Merchant’s Daughter”, the historical setting is 1819. Irving died in 1859, so that is also in his life. Lastly, “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow” is in 1790, also in his lifetime. At times it is easier to write in the years we know and Irving did that in these three short stories.
Another similarity is that the in all the stories chosen, none of the main characters are in business. Irving hated business in his own life, which is the reason he preformed law with his brothers for a period of time. In these stories, the characters are lazy and do...

... middle of paper ...

...of this short story is to give the reader a feeling of love and mystery. Irving accomplished this by throwing in the perfect combination of silly crushes at the beginning and headless horseman that might or might not be a joke in the end. I enjoyed this story and it was one of my favorite stories out of the three that I read.
These three short stories have many similarities to each other and to the author, Irving’s, life. As I explored deeper into these short stories, I found out that many doors are opened in these few pages of text. Many revelations and understanding has come from exploring deeper into each and every one of these three short stories by Irving. “Rip Van Winkle”, “Pelayo and the Merchant’s Daughter”, and “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow” have all helped me laugh and I have enjoyed diving into them and discovering a whole world of short stories.

Show More
Related

  • The Changing of The Legend of Sleepy Hollow

    2577 Words  | 6 Pages

    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...

    Read More

  • Comparing Washington Irving's Sleepy Hollow the Movie to the Book

    1408 Words  | 3 Pages

    ?The Legend of Sleepy Hollow? is a short story by Washington Irving. Based on a well-known legend, this story tells the tale of the disappearance of the main character, Ichabod Crane. An effective ghost story, Irving leaves you guessing what the truth is behind the ending. The movie Sleepy Hollow is Hollywood?s portrayal of Irving?s original story. Although the movie is similar to the story in the beginning, the movie takes a twist that leads in another direction that strays far from the original plot.

    Read More

  • Washington Irving vs Edgar Allan Poe

    732 Words  | 2 Pages

    Washington Irving and Edgar Allan Poe were both writers who exemplified the writing style of the Romantic era. Both writers used their great talents to take the reader into the story. For example, Irving, in “Rip Van Winkle”, starts the story by saying, “Whoever has made a courage up the Hudson must remember the Kaatskill Mountains.” He also involves the reader in the story by taking us into the everyday lives of the Van Winkles and goes into some detail describing Rip’s “business”. Poe also demonstrates his ability to pull the reader into the story. In “The Fall of the House Usher” he uses extensive descriptions of the settings to give the reader the feeling of being there while the story is developing around them. The writers are also similar in the use of tone in their works. Irving’s use of tone in his stories is typically lighthearted, yet dramatic. This is demonstrated in “Rip Van Winkle” when Rip comes back from the “Kaatskills” and is talking to all the people in the town. There, he finds his son and daughter and asks, “Where’s your mother?” By asking this question, Irving implies both curiosity and even fear if Dame Van Winkle is still around. This humorous approach to the subject of Rip’s wife, makes light of ...

    Read More

  • Washington Irving Stereotypes

    1047 Words  | 3 Pages

    First, within The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, Irving creates the character Ichabod Crane for being known as to having “feminine characteristics.” He negates the fact that he is a schoolmaster and that the career is looked down upon, or not as “manly” of a job; being a teacher back in the days

    Read More

  • Gender Issues in Washington Irving's The Legend of Sleepy Hollow

    2339 Words  | 5 Pages

    At first glance, "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow" by Washington Irving seems to be an innocent tale about a superstitious New England town threatened by a strange new comer, Icabod Crane. However, this descriptive narrative is more than just a simple tale because it addresses several gender issues that deserve attention. The pervasiveness of female influence in Sleepy Hollow and the conflict between male and female storytelling in this Dutch community are two pertinent gender issues that complicate Irving's work and ultimately enable the women of Sleepy Hollow to control the men and maintain order.

    Read More

  • A Comparison Of Rip Van Winkle And The Sleepy Hollow

    987 Words  | 2 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • Strange And Exaggerated Characters In Rip Van Winkle

    530 Words  | 2 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • Diedrich Knickerbocker

    1580 Words  | 4 Pages

    ...cenery of the town and the often odd spiritual occurrences that take place in the town. "Certain it is, the place still continues under the sway of some witching power, that holds a spell over the minds of the good people, causing them to walk in a continual reverie. They are given to all kinds of marvellous beliefs; are subject to trances and visions; and frequently see strange sights, and hear music and voices in the air. The whole neighborhood abounds with local tales, haunted spots, and twilight superstitions." (Irving 1). Using words and descriptions like he did, Irving makes Knickerbocker's stories more believeable because he makes the reader feel like they are actually in the town of Sleepy Hollow. With just a little imagination he turned a ghost story into a credible account of actions that actually took place just by using his fake historian Knickerbocker.

    Read More

  • An Examination of Rip's Character in Irving's Rip Van Winkle

    934 Words  | 2 Pages

    In the first paragraph I chose to look at, it leads right into when Rip goes off for a walk to go squirrel shooting. Although the main reason for his walk was to get away for his nagging wife. The story could be interpreted in two different ways. One being that Rip was a lazy bum who did not take responsibility for his wife, children, and farm. He rather go out and drink and hang with his buddies at the tavern. I believe Irving specifically wrote this story for men. The story makes the wife sound like the wretched, nagging, old ugly woman and all she cares about is bothering her husband. This to me sounds all to familiar to what goes on still to this day. I believe the story makes Dame Van Winkle out to be the one in change of the power, but in reality I believe it was Rip.

    Read More

  • An Allegorical Reading of Rip Van Winkle

    1509 Words  | 4 Pages

    Irving, Washington. “Rip Van Winkle.” The Norton Anthology of American Literature. Ed. Nina Bayn. New York: Norton & Company, 1999.

    Read More

  • Character Analysis of Dame Van Winkle

    1338 Words  | 3 Pages

    Irving, Washington. "Rip Van Winkle." Baym, Nina. The Norton Anthology of American Literature. . 8th ed. New York: Norton, 2012. 470-482. Print.

    Read More

  • Transformation and Freedom in Rip Van Winkle

    719 Words  | 2 Pages

    Washington Irving's, "Rip Van Winkle" presented a tale of a "dreamer." Rip Van Winkle was a family man

    Read More

  • Character Analysis Of Rip Van Winkle

    1890 Words  | 4 Pages

    Washington Irving’s story Rip Van Winkle is about a man named Rip Van Winkle, who lived in a small town near the Hudson Valley. All of the towns’ people really like Rip Van Winkle because he would assist anyone or anything in need of help. Others see Van Winkle as a kind neighbor, and an obedient henpecked husband. Everyone who knows him is happy with Rip Van Winkle except for his awful wife, Dame, their marriage is a symbol for the American Revolution. Dame Van Winkle, his wife, is the main source of their marital conflict. She would nag Rip to death over his duties so much that he would seek freedom from these tirades and run away. Irving uses the character of Dame Van Winkle as a symbol to represent

    Read More

  • Compare And Contrast Young Goodman Brown And The Legend Of Sleepy Hollow

    1171 Words  | 3 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • Sleepy Hollow: The Film and The Story

    1469 Words  | 3 Pages

    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.

    Read More

More about The Legend Of Sleepy Hollow And Rip Van Winkkle Analysis

Open Document