Washington Irving, American Story Teller I believe it is true that “Washington Irving found in legend and folklore a view of the natural world colored by emotion, by superstition, and by the ancient belief that supernatural beings inhabit the wild places of the earth. He wrote stories that illustrated old truths about human nature and the dramatic possibilities of the American landscape.” Although Irving wrote over twenty volumes, including essays, poems, histories, biographies, and more, in class, we have focused on his fiction. Irving dispersed many beliefs and legends of his time, and the past, into his stories. He also made great use of American themes in these literary pursuits. Such details along with existent people and events
(1819), in New York, Philadelphia, and London, enabled him to become an international figure. The book contained a variety of witty sketches and fictitious accounts, narrated by an illusory, Geoffrey Crayon. This collection included two of the most recognized (and earliest) American short stories, “Rip Van Winkle” and “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow,” which I will be addressing here. Both fictions up for review kindly mock the irrational beliefs of common people, but I will focus on “Rip Van Winkle,” first. For this tale, Irving utilizes the backdrop of the Catskill Mountains. Near the start of this story, he sews the seeds of rural beliefs and opens a door to the supernatural by mentioning that the good wives regard their “magical hues and shapes” (Irving 492), as barometers and goes on to call them “these fairy mountains” (492). The story begins before The Revolution, in an antiquated village that was founded by some Dutch colonists. Irving explained that America was still a province of Great Britain at this time. The protagonist of this yarn is the affable, title character Rip Van Winkle. He is a simple and decent, yet meek man by virtue of his neighborly kindness and unyielding submission to his markedly nagging wife. Both Rip and Dame Van Winkle, convey characteristics that lend to the idea of Washington Irving illustrating “old truths about human
Always friendly and willing to help others, he spends quality time with the village children and is an avid outdoorsman. Having given up the idea of being a worthy farmer or monetary provider, Rip often fled his wife’s harassing by joining idle friends in the village to discuss current gossip and stories. When his badgering wife would break up, these get-togethers, Rip’s only escape was hunting in the woods. On one such occasion, Irving’s tale of this normal everyman turns
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 ...
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.
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.
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 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.
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,
Rip is viewed in the town as a person who helped everyone with anything, except his own family- “…he was a simple ...
“Rip Van Winkle”, a short story written by Washington Irving, is known for being a tale that illustrates multiple aspects of life before and after the American Revolution. After spending twenty years in the forest asleep, Rip Van Wrinkle returns to his quaint village to find his home transformed into a bustling town. By the end of the story, he has become a local historian; telling the townspeople what the village was like in days before the revolution. The events of “Rip Van Winkle” occurred due to the actions of Rip Van Winkle’s wife: Dame Van Winkle. Dame Van Winkle can be viewed as the main antagonist in “Rip Van Winkle”, as well as a symbol of Great Britain before and after the American Revolution.
Washington Irving's, "Rip Van Winkle" presented a tale of a "dreamer." Rip Van Winkle was a family man
In RIP Van Winkle, Dam Van Winkle is abusive, nagging, and sarcastic. In Rip Van Winkle, Washington Irving states that “but what courage can with stand the ever-during and all besetting terrors of a woman’s tongue.” He seems to imply that he did not like women who gave their opinions and spoke their mind. It seems that Rip is going into the woods to escape his wife.
Washington Irving’s Rip Van Winkle, is the story of Rip Van Winkle, a seemingly lazy man, prone to habitual drunkenness who wanders into the mountains to escape the tyranny of his nagging wife Dame Van Winkle. During his alleged hunting trip, he meets with a mystical band of creatures “dressed in a quaint, outlandish fashion” ( (Irving p 476). Upon the encounter, he is offered a flagon of beverage of mysterious nature, which he consumes most eagerly and then falls into an alcoholic induced slumber. Rip awakens to find himself in a strange and confusing new world, which is both familiar and unfamiliar to him. He returns to his tiny village to find that new faces have replaced the old familiar ones. The house he once lived in has fallen into disrepair and his loved ones are nowhere to be found. Even the inn where he spent many an evening is no longer the same. Where there was once a portrait of King George, a new portrait of another George, this one named Washington, hangs in its place. The old familiar British flag has been replaced by a strange new flag with an “assemblage of stars and stripes” (Irving p 478). In what seems like at first like a fable, Rip Van Winkle, is actually an allegory of the American Revolution. Irving uses creative symbolism throughout the story to portray America before and after the Revolutionary War. Rip is representative of the American people, Dame Van Winkle shows qualities of King George and British rule and the townspeople represent the change in the American people.
He looks for a sense of comfort in his own life and the lives of those around him. Ms. Bily Cynthia explains that in Rips case “The hero does not necessarily want to become a hero, or to venture out on a quest that will separate him from the world he knows and change his life forever”. An example of Rip being such a hero would be his love of nature. His love for nature allows him to escape stress, and a big amount of the story takes place in the wilderness. Rip mainly uses his time in the wilderness to escape his wife Dame, “She scolds him to such an extent that he is at last reduced almost to despair, 'and finally his only alternative is to take up his gun and stroll away into the woods. ' (Bily)”. As a husband Rip is in a much damaged relationship with his wife Dame. In a marriage “A termagant wife may, therefore, in some respects, be considered a tolerable blessing; and if so, Rip Van Winkle was thrice blessed” (Irving
Rip looked, and beheld a precise counterpart of himself, --[It appears Rip has seen an exact mirror-image of himself--the way others have always perceived him]-- as he went up the mountain--[This was the way he was before his "sleep," or journey up the mountain]--: apparently as lazy, and certainly as ragged--[Before he encountered the party on the mountain, he was a casual, rough and lazy person]--. The poor fellow was now completely confounded--[It appears to everyone that Rip Jr. was confused in his thoughts, however, just as Rip Sr. was, he knew exactly what was going through his head--it appeared he had a plan for everything]--. He doubted his own identity, and whether he was himself or another man--[I believe Rip underwent some type of self realization and was beginning to realize this change--wondering whether he was the same old Rip, or the newer, more aware Rip]--. In the midst of his bewilderment, --[I'm trying to figure out here whether Rip was just very confused with what was going on in seeing his son, or whether he's still drunk and in a "daze."]-- the man in the cocked hat demanded who he was, and what was his name?
...d such an old man, but instead Rip was viewed as a Patriarch and a chronicle of the 'old times' before the war. Just like the forever unwavering nature that envelops the village, the story leaves with the implication of Rip's character immortalized in the minds of the citizens for many years to come.
That Van Winkle is confused seems obvious and is quite understandable, but this confusion extends beyond the bizarre sequence of events encountered. When Rip notices the person that the township refers to as Rip Van Winkle, it is as though he is looking into a mirror, for this person portrays a "precise counterpoint of himself." Although Rip visually sees this other person, his examination becomes a personal reflect...