Rip Van Winkle by Washington Irving Essays

The colonies were in a state of turmoil. They had to pay extravagant taxes, but they also were not counted as Britain’s “people.” The colonies tried to obtain peace with documents such as the Olive Branch Petition, but were refused many times. So after many attempts

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

Irving next shows the unfamiliarity that the American people were facing with their new surroundings. In Thomas B. Allen’s “One Revolution Two Wars,” Allen gives a detailed explanation of how the American Revolution had divided the Nation. “There were truly and clearly two Americans – one governed by the British military operating from New York and the other a group of colonies in rebellion but not quite governed” (Allen). The nation had become divided between those who would swear allegiance to the crown and those who would swear allegiance to America (Allen). In Irving’s story he shows how Rip suffers the same division in his own town. When he comes back to his town he realizes that a statue of George Washington is now in the town square and the portrait of his majesty King George the Third. People begin to question him and ask “whether he was a federal or a democrat” (Baym 961). When he answered saying that he was a loyal subject to the king, people began shouting, “A Tory! A Tory! A spy! A refugee! Hustle him! Away with him!”

This shows how women were often depicted as the antagonist in literature. It shows she was controlling and intolerable. Rip loves to sit around with his friends and talk about newspaper stories which is his way of avoiding work of any kind. The nagging insults Rip and causes him to declare women as troublesome. Eventually he can’t take any more and leaves. “Poor Rip was at last reduced almost to despair; and his only alternative to escape from the labour of the farm the clamour of his wife, was to take gun in hand, and stroll away into the woods” (459). It represents women in a negative light, because Dame Van Winkle drove her husband to leave. Women are expected to be respectful to their husbands. When they don’t do as they are told, they are seen as stubborn and arrogant like Dame Van

In an English interpretation, one could see Rip Van Winkle as the mother country or England. Rip is “a kind neighbor, and an obedient hen-pecked husband .” (430) To an English citizen reading this story, it could easily represent the English monarchy. For years before the

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.

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

The wars which happened between 1754 and 1763 had a high impact on the colonies that were initially proud to be part and parcel of Great Britain. However, as it was noted later after the war, most colonists got increasingly bothered by various Acts passed by the Britain

The colonial economy, geography, and politics had all been subjected to unfair consequences. The acts that were passed served as a way for England to push the responsibility its debt and issues on the colonists. If the colonists’ grievances were appealed, the colonists may have never rebelled against their mother

"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

During an Indian speech given by Captain Solomon Uhhaunauwaunmut, the Chief gives his insight on the war between who he addresses the Massachusetts Congress as “Brothers” and Old England. In the Chief’s speech, he takes notice in the feud between the two countries and addresses them both as friends, and neither as a threat or biased foe. In The Chief’s speech, Solomon says, “If I find they are against you, I will try to turn their minds. I think they will listen to me.” Captain Solomon Uhhaunauwaunmut speaks of Old england as the average friend to himself, without any tone of threat or disgust to throw off the Congress.

As a result of these acts, the Colonist essentially started to rebel against Great Britain by boycotting goods shipped over from Britain. In order to maintain the peace and keep order in the Colonies, King George III and

Lastly, Paine uses imagery to vividly describe how awful the “mother” (Britain) has treated the colonists as he says that “even brutes do not devour their young”. Inciting emotion to help influence the colonies, Paine states that even the most evil people of this world would not treat their young as bad as Britain have treated the colonies. This statement is intended to make the colonists think of how poorly they have been treated and emphasizes that the only way to gain their liberty is by revolting. By describing Britain as the mother of America, Paine puts just how horribly the colonists have been treated into a larger perspective, openly sympathizing with Americans, understanding that without a nurturing mother, the colonists will have little or no future as an independent nation. Overall, Paine’s ability to compare relatable ideas to opposing threats, contribute the higher nationalistic values and spurring on thoughts of revolution among colonists through the use of figurative language.

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”.

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