Rip Van Winkle and American Dream Essay

Night focus’ on the journey of a young, 15 year old boy named Elizer, and his movement from concentration camp to camp. In Night, an autobiography by Elie Wisel, the purpose is to inform the readers of the hardships of the heinous holocaust. Through negatively connotated figurative language and religious perspective, he emphasizes the emotional pain the prisoners endured.

In Rip Van Winkle, Irving shows his doubts in the American Identity and the American dream. After the Revolutionary war, America was trying to develop its own course. They were free to govern their own course of development; however, some of them had an air of uncertainties on their own identity in this new country. Irving was born among this generation in the newly created United States of America, and also felt uncertainty about the American identity. Irving might be the writer that is the least positive about being an American. The main reason for this uncertainty is the new born American has no history and tradition while the Europe has a great one accumulated for thousands of years. Therefore, in order to solve this problem, Irving

Thrust into new identities and settings, people’s lives were fundamentally changed, all of whom can be represented in some way by Rip. Irving himself experienced these changes and struggles and may have represented his own feelings through Rip. Irving writes, “He doubted his own identity” (Irving 38). Rip, like many new immigrants, has woken up to a completely new world around him after complete normalcy, not even a day prior. It was a shock for him to see things that he recognized and at the same time be completely unfamiliar with what he was seeing.

Washington Irving was one of his country's first professional writers, and one of the first American writers to gain an international reputation. A major part of Washington Irving's legacy was his ability to draw on European folk tales he heard throughout his trips to Europe to create a fabricated history of his home state in some of his most famous literary pieces such as “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow.” Author’s Background and Historical Context Washington Irving, named in honor of George Washington, was born on April 3, 1783 in Manhattan, New York. Irving grew up in a Scottish and English household next to a large Dutch population that had inhabited the area of New York City where he grew up. Young Irving would listen to the Dutch neighbors tell of their overseas adventures which

Washington Irving’s short story “Rip Van Winkle” is a way to understand how society had evolved at the time of the American Revolution. At this time the American people, were struggling with finding their own identity. Irving uses his main character, Rip Van Winkle, to symbolize the struggle of early America. Irving uses many symbols in the story “Rip Van Winkle” to display the changes the society in America went through before and after, Rip fell asleep.

I strongly agree the statement “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 interlaced in his fanciful tales are some of the reasons I find his work so distinctive and enjoyable.

The first qulity Irving associated with a Romantic hero was being an individual. Rip clearly did not follow the social norm of men in the village. While all other men went to work, Rip, “would sit on a wet rock( Irving” or “assist a neighbor”. He was willing to help anyone but his family. If Rip had followed the crowd, he would not have had the the calling and would never have been able to go into the

Washington Irving’s short story “Rip Van Winkle” is a way to understand how society had changed at the time of the American Revolution. At this time the American people, were struggling with finding their own identity. Irving uses his main character, Rip Van Winkle, to symbolize the struggle of early America. Irving uses metaphors in the story “Rip Van Winkle” to display the changes the American society went through during this time period.

“Rip Van Winkle” was based right around the time of revolutionary America, one exciting place within the story was a quaint little village full of life, color, and culture. “…There were some of the houses of the original settlers standing within a few years, with lattice windows, gable fronts surmounted with weathercocks, and built of small yellow bricks brought from Holland” (Irving 62). When Irving described this village he was sure to include the heritage found within this small mountain town, the brightly colored yellow bricks from Holland and lattice windows, each detail shows just how important culture was in early American lives. Irving was not only able to show the importance of culture, he was also able to illustrate life in the village. When Irving said, “There were some of the houses of the original settlers” he showed the importance of past in this village and how an interesting land can also have an interesting history. Irving also showed histories yet to be discovered. When he said, “… Every hour of the day produces some change in the magical hues and shapes of these mountains…” (Irving 61). Another very exciting place in “Rip Van Winkle” is the Kaatskill Mountains Irving describes these mountains with such beauty. When Irving describes this mountain he shows them as changing, as if each time you looked at them there was a new

Before the American Revolution, people used to have determined beliefs, traditions and government, but after the war, society was confused. For example, the website saylor.org stated, “Politically, the American Revolution carried significant and historic consequences … established a republican form of government out of what had been a monarchical and colonial political system. It altered the position of American people from being subjects of the British crown to citizens and political participants of a republic” (How Revolutionary Was The American Revolution?). Now, people had more freedom and the ability to express their thoughts on what they wanted for their country. As a result, people was struggling to leave old habits. The symbolism in this quote emphasizes how America had to adapt: “Rip now resumed his old walks and habits; he soon found many of his former cronies, though all rather the worse for the wear and tear of time; and preferred making friends among the rising generation, with whom he soon grew into great favor” (Irving, 1014). This quote is of great importance because it shows the reader that Rip Van Winkle himself represents the old country. Since all the news about the revolution and his family happened so fast to him, he does not know how to deal with them. For this reason, he kept his “old habits”, while at the same time, he adapted to his environment. Given these points, “Rip Van Winkle” can be analyzed as a story about the struggle for identity because of the

It was a nice warm day me and my brothers were walking in the woods to collect some wood for a fire but then I hear a laugh it sounded like a witch I stated ‘what was that’ my brothers thought I was crazy and they laughed at me then I said to david (my stupid annoying brother) ‘ why can't you believe anything I say then my other older brother Richie said ‘quit fighting like a bunch of babies and grow up because i heard a witch to or at least i think i did’ after that we ran out of the woods and a witch appeared out of nowhere and turned one of my brothers into a sloth and a tiger and the tiger was a bengal tiger and the sloth was a two toed sloth, which i ran away from the tiger ( not the sloth there to slow ) but after that i ran as fast

Rip Van Winkle is a short story by American author Washington Irving published in 1819, as well as the name of the story’s fictonal protagonist. The story is set in the years before and after the American Revolution War. It mainly tells that the man named Rip Van Winkle who attempted to escape from his wife’s ceaseless tongue drank some wine and then fell asleep for almost 20 years. After that, he went back to the town only to find that everything has changed. There are many kinds of sayings about the deep meaning of the story. In my opinion, this story is an allegory of the American Revolution.

I strongly agree with the statement “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 interlaced in his imaginary tales are some of the reasons I find his work so distinctive and enjoyable.

In the article “ The fuel subsidy crisis has woken Nigerians up”, by Tolun Orgunlesi was profoundly characterised by the alarming issue that the citizens from Nigeria are confronting with the withdraw of fuel price subsidy which subsequently has led fuel price to increase more than double, consequently, provoking the price of goods and commodities to rise dramatically. In addition, the author focused immensely in the sentiment of corruption and mismanagement that Nigerians are feeling with this awaken call which proclaims for every Nigerian to pay particular attention to the government entities and their fictitious promises. Furthermore, several rationale points were addressed by the author in respect to the negative impact of such

National mythology can give people illusions that they are greater than what could have been and often cause conflicts between nations, so why are they pushed so much into society? Americans often believe they live in the greatest country in the world, because of our history, our wars. In paintings from hundreds of years ago you’ll see a white man heroically allying himself with a group of “savages” that he somehow befriended, or a white man perched on his white stallion riding off to save the world. National mythologies were important during this era, because they represented what your nation was and how it was viewed. How people should or shouldn’t live. In Rip Van Winkle some of the national myths were freedom, progress/change as a country. In the American Revolution we fought for freedom in the same way Rip fought for freedom from his wife. After the American Revolution we progressed by trying to make the states work together by creating a new government just like the change Rip had to go through after he woke up from his 20 year slumber. Irving needs readers to understand the importance of the setting, the characters and events because they are what brings national mythology to life.