Tradition and Revolution in 'Rip Van Winkle': An Analysis

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

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 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.

The short story, “Rip Van Winkle”, is a tale of a man who went up into the mountains and after a long string of odd events went to sleep. He woke up twenty years later. He went from being use to what the world was like before the Revolutionary War of the United States to how things changed after the war. When he came back from the mountain he found that his wife and friends were gone. His children were grown up and living in this new world that he had stumbled into. He found that changes had been made to clothing and how people acted; buildings that used to be in the town were now gone or changed, and a government that he had no idea about. In this short story the author used the differences between pre-Revolutionary War and

“Rip Van Winkle” is a classic American Mythological story that tells the tale of a man who sleeps for twenty years after drinking a mysterious drink. Rip Van Winkle is a very lazy, American man who one day, ventures off into the woods with his dog named Wolf. While in the woods, he finds a group of men playing Skittles and drinking liquor in the middle of an amphitheater. He joins them, and drinks some of their alcohol, but he soon passes out. When he awakens, twenty years have passed, and he missed the Revolutionary War, his children growing up, and even his wife passing away. What characteristics make this folklore such a classic fable in American literature? The story is set in the past, features exaggerated and strange characters, and

In Washington Irving’s short story “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow,” the conflict between Enlightenment and Romantic ideals is narrativized. Irving’s story is an exploration of the conflict between these two schools of thought. Irving uses his setting, his characters, and his “moral” (or lack thereof) to critique the Enlightenment. At first reading, “Sleepy Hollow” may seem no more than a dreamy folk tale. But when read in the context of the emerging resistance to Enlightenment thinking, it reveals itself to be a striking denunciation of the ideals of the Enlightenment.

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.

"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

The historical context urges the Irving’s great tale into the world of American mythology. Another example of the impact of mythological setting lies near the beginning of the plot arch. Rip goes up into the Kaatskill Mountains to hunt; a place that Irving depicts as remote in the following excerpt from the story: “Rip had unconsciously scrambled to one of the highest parts of the Kaatskill Mountains…and the still solitude had echoed.” The isolation that Rip had while in the mountains, where he would later sleep for twenty years, impacts the reader. It shows the reader the reason why nobody ever found him, as well as evoking a deeper emotion and concern for Rip as he slept out there all alone. Emotions find themselves imbedded in this mythology once again.

When looking at his life, we can see that the themes and issues that he brought up in his works are always backed up by the situation in America that day, cultural and political problems that are actual for that era are found in his stories. Irving had always wanted to have a career in writing and he pursued his dream from a young age. Later however he tried himself in trade (not too successful), then – in politics (he became a Minister of Spain (an ambassador), which was also important for his writing career as he became well-known as an American writer in Spain and the whole of Europe at that time. He was a very well educated man and generally speaking had achieved a lot in all the spheres he occupied himself with. As a writer he began his career writing short stories and satirical essays, later on he proceeded with creating biographical novels and stories. Some of the most famous stories by Irving are, without a doubt, “Rip Van Winkle” and “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow” (both appeared in “The Sketch Book of Geoffrey Crayon, Gent.”) and “Tales of Alhambra”, but there’s much more to him and his talent, of

Many of the readings for this course so far explore the theme of opposing political and religious factions. For instance, in Rip Van Winkle by Washington Irving, the main character wakes up after a sleep of twenty years to find himself in a post-American-revolution society. Rip, a loyal supporter of the British crown, declares this loyalty in the middle of the town and is quickly confronted by the revolutionaries that are gathered there. The interactions between these people and Rip clearly demonstrate the strong loyalties of each individual to the power figure they believe should be in control. Eventually, Rip adjusts to the new sentiments and becomes one who supports General George Washington along with the others. This reconciliation is

• This essay discusses Washington Irving’s “Rip Van Winkle” and its role in American Mythology. The characteristics of the story’s main characters will be analyzed briefly, as will their effects on the plot. • • In “Rip Van Winkle” the main character, Rip, seems to have an aversion to responsibility. As the story progresses, we that he persistently neglects his responsibilities. He seems to not even care about his own son, who is said to be a ditto of himself.

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.