Literary Analysis Of Rip Van Winkle

The Dutchman that Rip meets on the mountain. “He was a short square built old fellow, with thick bushy hair, and a grizzled beard.” Nicholas Vedder. “A patriarch of the village, and landlord of the inn, at the door of which he took his seat from morning till night, just moving sufficiently to avoid the sun, and keeping the shade of a large tree, so that the neighbors could tell the hour by his movement as accurately as by a sun dial. His dog wolf. “True it is, in all points of spirits befitting an honorable dog, he was as courageous an animal as ever scoured the woods-but what courage can withstand the ever-during and all-besetting terrors of a women’s tongue?” George the third. “Here they used to sit in the shade, of a long lazy summer’s day, talk listlessly over village gossip, or tell endless sleepy stories about nothing. Derrick van Bummel. “The schoolmaster, a dapper learned little man, who was not to be daunted by the most gigantic word in the dictionary, and how sagely they would deliberate upon public events some months after they had taken

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.

Mythology serves to create an explanation for why the world is the way it is. All religions have mythology in them and myths help people understand history. Myth can mean so many different things to different people. Some myths are total fiction, while others may have a hint of truth in them. But most myths are more of a symbolic and metaphoric truth, rather than a literal truth, because most of the time myths cannot be proven and people are not trying to prove that they are true. Myths become true to the people who believe in them and they use them as a sort of lens through which they see the world. They use myths to create explanations for themselves as to why the world is the way it is and they use them to help cope with the difficulties of life. Myths are a natural outgrowth of our imagination and our passions.

Myth is a body of story that matters—the patterns present in mythology run deeply in the human psyche

"Rip Van Winkle" has been a well-known story told throughout time. There is not a doubt that as a child, many of you heard the words of Washington Irving's famous tale of the man who slept for twenty years. Nor can one forget the "elves" that Rip Van Winkle spent the night with in the amphitheater. Like many stories, Irving's "Rip Van Winkle" has been told so many times throughout American history that it has lost its original purpose. The story is now remembered for its fairy tale like quality and its appeal to the children and the young at heart. However, when given the chance to delve into the depths of what Irving was trying to portray, one may see the

In Washington Irving's "Rip Van Winkle," Rip's character is closely correlated with the theme of nature and its prominence over the ever-changing world. The story is set in the Kaatskill Mountains, an important setting with a luminance that does not falter throughout. Similarly, Rip is immediately described as a respectable and well liked man in his mountainous setting. Right off the bat, the two can be easily associated. The magical elements in the story cause Rip to fall asleep for twenty years, and upon waking, he is in a world completely changed by the progression of time. However, despite the extreme alterations, only Rip and the nature that he is so familiar with are able to prevail, remaining ultimately unaffected by the

According to the Merriam Webster Dictionary similarity is defined as a quality that makes one person or thing like another. ("Merriam-Webster") Many people tend to believe that diversification is what makes life interesting, this is true; however, humans are genetically inclined to remain with what they are familiar with. Humans are generally creatures of habit, they will continue going to the same coffee shop, order the exact same coffee, every single time they visit: the similar elements bring them comfort. Authors are no different than the average person: they will only write about what they are familiar with. In the Devil and Tom Walker and Rip Van Winkle, we see that the author Washington Irving uses similarities in setting, male protagonists, female antagonists, and mystic characters.

The story “Rip Van Winkle” is set in the back of beyond during the old day. It shall be immobile in a small town latent the Kaatskill. At the bottom of the mountains, there was smolder coming up from the village, and reflecting roofs along with the tall trees. The lustrous smoke stays sited by some of the Dutch migrants. They established during the time of George the Third. It was during the yoke of old England, where some legends invented. The background characteristics primarily collided with the story. The story put's readers mind into a concealed place and time.

Both William Bryant’s “Thanatopsis” and Washington Irving’s “Rip Van Winkle” have a strong desire to connect humans with nature. However, they use different approaches to do so. Irving uses a whimsical story and great detail to portray nature as a sentiment of beauty, “When the weather is fair and settled they are clothed in blue and purple, print their bold outlines on the clear evening sky; but sometimes, when the rest of the landscape is cloudless, they will gather a hood of gray vapors about their summits, which, in the last rays of the setting sun, will glow and light up like a crown of glory” (Irving 30). This description expresses the purity of that natural landscape. When something is depicted as that majestic and beautiful, why

One myth that I found enthralling was the Egyptian myth, Religion has always played a key role in Ancient Egypt. Ancient Egyptians praised many gods, some of these were Horus, Atum, Nun, Anubis and Isis, they were believed to be in control of nature and forces on earth. The gods were worshiped daily by their people and would create events for them, these events had spiritual meanings and often celebrated with offerings, feast and ruling of Pharaoh. Pharaoh was a central figure who was believed to be a successor of the gods, who was in charge of every temple, Egyptians believed that the temple was home of the gods and goddesses, the temples were made of stone that would last forever, what were carved on it was mostly scenarios that showed the

In Nathaniel Hawthorn’s Young Goodman Brown and Washington Irving’s Rip Van Winkle share a common ground of witchcraft and a man vs man inner conflict of the unknown. We witness our two protagonist Goodman Brown and Rip endure life or death situations and what they conquer throughout their self-entitlement.

In the late 1700's and early 1800's, literature began to show it was changing thanks to the newly formed democracy in America. 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 these democratic ideals. He grew up to be, as many would grow up in this atmosphere, a political satirist. This satirical nature of Irving's shows up well 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.

In many of tradition, a myth carries within it a sense of sacred tradition and primordial relation. These myths are also serving as model for chosen tradition. Myths are extremely complex cultural reality that can be approached and interpreted from various viewpoints. These viewpoints are often related to the whole of

The characters in Rip Van Winkle and Young Goodman Brown written respectively by Washington Irving and Nathaniel Hawthorne leave their individual communities and return with radically different perspectives (of their current lives) that change their attitudes and way of life in the remaining of their lives. Both stories are set in early American villages, Young Goodman Brown takes place in the 1700’s New England puritan settlement while Rip Van Winkle takes place over 100 years later in an English colony in eastern New York. Both authors were very clever to use different historical context to illustrate cultural aspects of early American societies in order to make the reader aware of how big of a role gender, politics and religion where to

“Rip Van Winkle” is the first modern short story. It is about a complaisant, good natured man who has troubles with his nagging wife. She constantly gets on him for having no motivation to keep up the farm or do any labor that profits his family. However, he is capable of labor because he will help anyone in need of it. He escapes his hounding wife by retreating to local inn and when he finds him there and yet again harasses him for being lazy. Now Rip Van Winkle needs a new retreat, so he takes to hunting with his dog. One hunt led him up a mountain, where he stops to rest and wakes too ghostly characters. He takes a sip from the strangers keg and is hooked and falls asleep drunk. When he awakens, everything has changed. He returns to the