Comparing Irving's Rip Van Winkle and The Devil and Tom Walker

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An Analysis of Irving's Rip Van Winkle and The Devil and Tom Walker

Washington Irving was one of the first American writers to write

any kind of fantasy story or writing. At first he tried to pass his

stories as real life accounts found in a dead mans dresser. The start of

one states that it is real and has been deemed so by collages and some

museums. After he saw how much people liked his stories he published all

of them in " The Sketch Book of Godfred Crayon, Gent.". This Collection

became famous overnight. His stories were also successful in England and

Europe. Most of his stories have many similarities and differences. "Rip

VanWinkle" and " The Devil and Tom Walker" are two good examples.

To start of with there all around feeling and theme. Now one can

tell "Rip VanWinkle" is set in a fantasy world right of the bat by the way

Irving sort of zooms in on the scene, first he tells of the mountains and

then the town and down till he's in the room with Tom and his wife. In "The

Devil and Tom Walker" the author gives some info on the situation and the

charters and then just jumps into the story. In both of the stories you get

the feeling of something supernatural is going to happen. Also in both they

take place in remote areas.

Next we have the husband wife relationship in both cases. Now Rip

was sort of a say nothing do nothing when it came to his house and wife.

His wife would bad mouth him and yell at him, but Rip wouldn't do much

anyway. He would just go off and sleep. Now Tom and his wife on the other

hand would battle to the death. Tom would yell and scream and so would his

wife. Tom would hide money and so would his wife. In both of the stories

they wife husband relationship would be a turning point in both cases.

And last the way they both got what they wanted. In Rips case he

wanted to get rid of his wife and his jobs. He goes to the forest to escape

from his wives verbal abuse. He gets his wish by getting a new life

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