Comparing Rip Van Winkle And The Legend Of Sleepy Hollow

The two stories were alike in the fact that both authors lost their parents at a very young age. Since they lost their parents at a young age, they were both raised by their grandparents. Both stories also begin with a safe arrival to a new country. Both also said the journey to the new country was a two month long trip. And lastly, the the refugees and the pilgrims traveled to a completely different continents and had to adapt to new cultures. These are all the similarities between the two stories.

In the story, Rip Van Winkle, Rip is seen by many of his peers as a person they can always go to for help, he is incredibly dependable. The story states, “the women of the village ,too used to employ him to run their errands, and to do such little odd jobs as their less obliging husbands would not do for them.”(10). Meaning Rip is always there to give a helping hand, even when others do not want to. Robin too is persistent, he spends hours upon hours looking for Major Molineux, until he is successful. In the story, Robin states, “I pray you tell me the whereabouts of is the dwelling of my kinsman, Major Molineux.”(2). Which shows that even from the beginning, Robin will do anything to find him. Another similaritiy the two share are the many setbacks they go through to acheive their goals. For example, Rips goal was to simply enjoy some time away from Dame Van Winkle, his horrendous wife, but falls asleep in the mountains, and wakes up in distress and shock due to his changed town. However Rip does gain a sense of peace by telling his story to whoever will listen, and the almost comforting death of Dame. Robin’s goal in My Kinsman, Major Molineux, is simply to find the location of his relative Major Molineux. Robin goes through a great deal of trouble, because he is seen as an outsider in this foreign town. Robin too reaches his goal, and finally finds Major Molineux, that is, after he is sleep

Through the course of “Rip Van Winkle” you stumble upon many remarkable and strange characters. Washington Irving reveals these complex characters through humor and exaggeration. Irving not only gives readers the characters

Rip Van Winkle is described as a man who “was one of those happy mortals, of foolish, well-oiled dispositions, who take the world easy, eat white bread or brown, whichever can be got with least thought or trouble, and would rather starve on a penny than work for a pound” (46). He was a stubborn man

?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.

He ‘s a lazy and obedient hen-pecked husband. “In a word, Rip was ready to attend to anybody’s business but his own; but as to doing family duty, keeping his farm in order, he found it impossible.” His idleness to his responsibility can be seen as American’s unwillingness to be a servant of England. “There is phlegm and drowsy tranquility” around the town before the revolution war. However, after Rip awakes from his sleep for twenty years, everything in the town has changed. “There was a busy, bustling, disputatious tone about it, instead of the accustomed phlegm and drowsy tranquility.” Also, the sign outside the tavern where he spent much of his time has changed from King George to General Washington. After seeing all of these changes, at first Rip doubts his own identity, especially when he sees his son who is” a precise counterpart of himself.” However, before long, “he resumes his old walks and habits,” because he doesn’t compelled to change himself into a post Revolutionary American. Since it never happens as an event in his life, it makes no drastic change in Rip’s life. Because he has no indent to fit in the new society to be who he has to be at the new age, he tries to retreat or stay in the past which is what the Americans need to lead their cultural life.

A very important similarity between the stories, is that they both are in the view point of a Union soldier in the nineteenth century, during the civil war. The similarities between these two books combine the ideals of battle and war, also the resemblances show how alike the two protagonists of the stories are.

Almost as soon as the grand setting is told, the designation of the story itself, the character Rip Van Winkle, is introduced. He is depicted ideally as well, said to be simple and widely liked, and most importantly good natured. Without hesitation, it is stated that he is a descendant of a family who played a more than respectable role in the history that helped to capture and establish the land that is now his mountainous village. He is recognized as more than the average citizen already, perhaps one of great influence, not unlike the nature itself. "He was, moreover, a kind neighbor and an obedient henpecked husband. Indeed, to the latter circumstance might be owing that meekness of spirit which gained him such universal popularity," (Irving 702). Despite this constant distressing of his spouse, made eminent in the opening pages, Rip was able to ignore the chronic squabbling and seek elsewhere for loyal friendships, which in turn, boosted his regard. After some time, however, the nagging became overbearing, and he was forced to flee to the highest peak of the mountains where he would be surrounded by nature, and thus was at ease with himself. However, Irving introduces a twist; the nature of the mountains cast a magical command upon Rip and forced him into a sound sleep for twenty years. When he awoke Rip found himself an old man in a place that was, at first,

Similarly, in these books, Irving balanced the demands of commerce and art, of appeals to greed and to cultural values (Anderson par 6). In"The Legend of Sleepy Hollow" Washington Irving uses the themes artificiality vs. naturalness; hypocrisy, greed, and industrialism as threats to an American dream of rustic plethora and simple fulfillment; the uses of imagination. The tone of “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow is gently mocking. Irving uses symbols, allusions and irony to develop his themes. Ichabod Crane, the schoolmaster in “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow,” has no special practical abilities but, greedy for materialistic comfort, he falls for the robust, average, down to earth daughter of a farmer, not someone who would suit him. Crane is supposed to be the scholarly light of the village, instructing others, but he is incapable of handling his own life successfully. He is so vain that he spends hours dressing himself for the party at the Van Tassels, when he doesn't stand a chance against the "burly, roaring, roystering blade" of Brom

Irving, a Romantic author, wrote many stories besides “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow.” These tales include “Rip Van Winkle” and “The Devil and Tom Walker.” Like these stories, “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow” takes place in early post-colonial America. This aspect greatly influences the historical and cultural backgrounds for the story. The historical backgrounds of this tale comes from post-Revolutionary war America. Because of this, “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow” reflects this new American society described in the physical setting of the story. The cultural background of the story is explained through the background actions of the characters. For example, Ichabod Crane stays with the parents of his students, and Ichabod Crane and Brom Bones fight for the hand of Katrina Van Tassel. These are just two examples of American culture shown in the story.

Rip Van Winkle, a story written by Washington Irving in the early 1800s, demonstrates the emergence and development of American Mythology. Packed full of mythological elements, Irving’s tale depicts a man who encounters mysterious and fantastical characters in equally intriguing settings. Rip Van Winkle displays three major factors that contribute to mythology: mysterious, historical setting, remarkable and strange characters, and heroic, magical events and their consequences.

Ichabod’s personality does not quite relate precisely from the book to the movie. He is a self-assured smart man in the story that always knows what he is doing. Unlike his written character, Burton’s Ichabod faints frequently and never seems to know what he is doing. Ichabod Crane is two different people in The Legend of Sleepy Hollow and Sleepy Hollow.

Ichabod Crane is portrayed as an interesting, complex character in the story “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow.” Crane is an excellent example of how not everyone is exactly how they seem. His slippery, dark personality can not easily be identified on paper in the story, but Irving made sure the message was deeper than it is on paper. Many readers understand the big plot and the exciting timeline of this story, but what is communicated underneath is what is often looked over. Irving, by writing a comical phenomenon, solidified himself as being one of the best writers of his era, but what really stood out was what he used the character of Ichabod Crane to communicate about society.

The character of Rip Van Winkle was one who was considered lazy and unproductive. He was "one of the happy mortals...who take the world easy, eat white bread or brown, which ever he can be got with least thought or trouble..." (Irving 983). Winkle was the kind of

            If there's one passage in this story that would summarize the entire story it would be this one. Every theme throughout Rip Van Winkle is touched on somewhere in here and the constant theme of "who Rip is" is the underlying question of both this story and this passage. In the beginning of the story I think we all took a liking to such a friendly character who cares so much about pleasing everyone. However, towards the end of the story Rip seems to examine his life and realizes that he doesn't like everything about himself, and that quite possibly some changes are in order.