“Rip Van Winkle,” the tale of a man who just wanted to get away from his overbearing wife, is a spectacular example of writing in the American mythology genre. This short story was written by Washington Irving and published in 1819. Some of the characteristics of great American mythology include an interesting setting, over exaggerated characters, and situations that have their own unique consequences. These can all be found in “Rip Van Winkle." Rip Van Winkle lived in a small village surrounded by an obscure mountain range. This village was founded by Dutch colonists and had a feeling of “great antiquity.” Not only does the village have it’s own unique characteristics, but so the did the fairy-like mountains. The atmosphere of the Kaatskill …show more content…
He was idle and lazy and “would rather starve on a penny then work for a pound.” His way of escaping his wife’s demands and harsh attitude towards his actions was to take his dog and gun to the mountain and go shooting. While doing so one night, he was summoned by a strange old man carrying a keg of alcohol and decided to stop and help him. This man lead Rip to a streambed where many other strange men gathered and indulged in games and alcohol. Rip’s foolish decision to stay there and sneaking drinks from the keg caused to him lose consequences and sleep for 20 years. “Rip Van Winkle” clearly includes the key characteristics of American mythology; those being interesting settings, over exaggerated characters, and situations that have their own unique consequences. Rip lived in a small Dutch village surrounded by fairy-like Mountains. The characters, including Rip himself, had their own very unique personalities and identifiable traits. His response to his and his wife’s actions caused the situation oh him sleeping for over 20 years. If “Rip Van Winkle” was this interesting and detailed of a story, how interesting might other stories from American mythology
Urban legends can be found all throughout our society. One of the reasons why they are so predominant in our society is because they are focused on topics that play key roles in our lives. There are urban legends that are filled with horror, anxiety, sadness, but most of all they prove to teach valuable lessons. These lessons are known to come across so clearly, simply due to the way in which they are shown. Legends are always supposed to be told in a convincing means no matter how suspicious their actual story seems to be.
“Rip Van Winkle” and the Emergence of an American Mythology. By Danise Bachman Rip van winkle in indeed a classic piece of American mythology. Washington Irving set this story in the past and filled it with exaggerated and sometimes, strange characters. It also features a mysterious and magical occurrence that put the main character to sleep for twenty years!
When he realizes what has happened to him through accounts from people that used to know him, Rip has CONCLUSION The legacy of Rip Van Winkle will not be described in history as a man who fought for his country but a man who did not fight in the independence of his country because he wanted to escape his wife
At the age of 24, he dies on the Stampede Trail in Alaska while trying to live in the wilderness and survive on his own. His journey was inspired by many authors, such as Jack London,
Imagery is defined as the use of “figurative language to represent objects, actions, and ideas” in a way to “appeal to our physical senses” (LiteraryDevices Editors). Washington Irving is an American author during the early ages of an independent America. Taking place before and after the American Revolution, Irving offers offers a unique perspective on small American towns. Throughout his short story Rip Van Winkle, Irving incorporates the element of imagery to connect the audience to the setting, relate the character to the audience, and enhance the reader's experience. Irving writes as the main character, Rip Van Winkle.
In the eyes of Aristotle, there are three modes of persuasion in order to successfully persuade the reader. These three modes are ethos, which deals with the character of the author, pathos, which deals with the emotional influence of the author on the speaker, and logos, which deals with the the author’s appeal to logical reasoning. Paul Bogard utilizes ethos, pathos, and logos in order to effectively build an argument persuading the audience against the world’s growing reliance on artificial light in his article “Let There be Dark.” Bogard is able to establish his credibility and put himself in the audience's good graces through a short personal anecdote. Next, he puts the audience in a good emotional state with his appealing word connotation.
Rip Van Winkle pursues a very seldom lifestyle with no pursuit and no ambition. He displays almost no willingness to change from his traditional ways after realizing the American colonies were independent from British Tyranny. He even still accepts the rule of King George III when he enters the town greeting the towns people with saying he is a loyal subject of the king. The reader can see his total disembodiment from the situation when the narrator says “instead of being a subject of his Majesty George the Third, he was now a free citizen of the United States. Rip, in fact, was no politician;
When we think of the American West, we always envision a land of rugged mountains and vast prairie, on which cowboys ride on horseback and chase after the Indians. This is the definition of the American West as presented on big screens in cinema, where most Americans’ perception of the myth of the American West comes from. Myth is a story that represents a culture's values and helps to define the individuals that comprise it. All cultures are based on myths.
The Romantic period was a time period in which people changed their views of the fine arts, which in turn affected their work. Some people Including Washington Irving did not agree with the view of the Romantic period and made fun of it in their work with some humorous stories. Irving was a well know writer in the late 18th century and early 19th century who grew up in New York. From the beginning of his life till the end, he was a funny man who loved the fine arts. Irving was originally a lawyer, but later he left his judicial career and followed his childhood dream of being a full-time writer, writing some poems which upon closer observation, it can be seen that he makes fun of the Romantic period.
The Great American Dream is an ideal that states through hard work and dedication, every American citizen has the opportunity to accomplish personal goals and achieve success. The amount of effort put forth to obtain these goals, and achieve individualized success is decided upon by that citizen. Some of the more common goals and successes are ownership of property, obtaining wealth, enjoying liberties, experiencing patriotism, and raising a family. In “Rip Van Winkle” by Washington Irving, the main character Rip is able to obtain the Great American Dream through laziness. Washington Irving satirizes the Great American Dream in his short story, and in this paper I will analyze how “Rip Van Winkle” can be read as a parody.
Irving’s Character Alikeness Biographical and short story writer, Washington Irving is known for his works “Rip Van Winkle” and “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow.” However, he does have additional short stories. Between 1819 and 1820, Washington Irving published The Sketch Book, which was made up of approximately 30 short stories. Within those works were characters such as John Bull, Rip Van Winkle, Ichabod Crane, the Headless Horseman of Sleepy Hollow, and several other unnamed characters. Now, the nameless characters in Washington Irving’s tales had just as deep impacts in their stories as named characters; from those deep impacts came about noticeable character resemblances between those characters.
Misogyny is the dislike of, contempt for, or prejudice of women; Washington Irving has been accused of misogyny because of the treatment of women in his stories and their content. Washington Irving was a writer during the 1800’s, and some of his most popular works include “Rip Van Winkle” and “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow.” Within these tales and other works of Irving’s, aspects of misogyny is discernible, though there is debate about whether the author himself was a misogynist. I believe that the misogyny that is shown throughout a select few of Irving’s works is due in part to the time period, not entirely Irving, himself.
Instead of asking the men who they are and what they are doing, Rip joins them and drinks their moonshine. Why does he do this? III. At the end of Rip Van Winkle, when Rip returns to his village, he resumes the same idleness he exhibited before. What could have been Irving’s reason for withholding growth from his character?
While Washington Irving was writing “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow” (1820), it was the time when Great Britain reached independence and all over the world were going many changes. In this story, he described the small village with its rural life where everything remained the same far from the immigration and improvement of the
Gothic Literature is a genre that was popular between 18th to 19th centuries in North Germany. It is always being associated with Dark Romanticism which the emphasize was more on nature, terror and death, horror and many more. It involves dark and gloomy setting and also unexplainable things that are beyond human senses and reason such as ghosts and monsters. The main characters, on the other hand, are always ineffectual which they do not give much effect on the story plot. This can be seen through Washington Irving’s “Rip van Winkle” and “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow” which can be considered as American gothic work in terms of its description of setting, the involvement of supernatural element in the story and also the characteristics of the main character.