Foreshadowing In The Legend Of Sleepy Hollow

In the novel entitled The Legend of Sleepy Hollow by Washington Irving, the main character, Ichabod Crane, lives in the superstitious town known as Sleepy Hollow. The fictional book focuses on many different tales of ghosts and goblins haunting Sleepy Hollow, but the most famous story is the tale of the Headless Horseman. This is a tale of a Hessian who fought in the revolutionary war and was decapitated on the battlefield. It is said that the Hessian searches for his head every night, on horseback, in a church yard, and kills anything that gets in his way. The three topics addressed captivating in this novel are direct characterization, foreshadowing, and tone.

First, Washington Irving uses direct characterization to describe Ichabod Crane

For example, Washington Irving says, “...his horse was no longer seen tied at the palings on Sunday nights, and a deadly feud gradually arose between him and the preceptor of Sleepy Hollow” (31). Here, author says that Ichabod’s mood and behavior drastically changed after he was rejected by Katrina Van Tassel which will lead to an unfortunate event. When the author says this it foreshadows a deadly incident for Ichabod. Another way foreshadowing is used in the novel is “Ichabod did not make his appearance at breakfast--dinner hour came, but no Ichabod. The boys assembled at the schoolhouse, and strolled idly about the banks of the brook; but no schoolmaster” (63). Ichabod has recently been attacked by the Headless Horseman, but the reader does not yet know for sure what has happened to Ichabod--whether he is dead or alive. When the author skips to the next day and says this it foreshadows that Ichabod got captured and taken away by the galloping Hessian. To sum up, Washington Irving uses foreshadowing in The Legend of Sleepy Hollow to help the reader anticipate the events of Ichabod’s future, and to help create suspense throughout the