Rip Van Winkle: Washington Irving's National Mythology

Robert Penn Warren’s All the King’s Men contains a plethora of ubiquitous themes and tropes; it espouses disparate motifs such as corruption, fragmentation, and nihilism. However, the most conspicuous subject that is touched upon is that of the Judeo-Christian tradition. The paramount thematic concepts of Christian theology throughout the novel are explicated by use of literary devices such as diction, imagery, and tone; moreover, these convictions are hypostatized through Willie Stark, Jack Burden, and Tiny Duffy.

For once Buck learns to adjust, “his development was rapid.” Experience is his teacher, like, Sister Carrie’s or Stephen Crane’s Maggie. But his morality was not questioned by the reader because Buck is a dog. London chooses to ignore the moral implications of Buck’s thievery. For Buck’s “new” way of life was new to him only momentarily, London closes out Buck’s discourse on the law of club and fang. He comments on Buck’s strange awareness of memories of a previous life his ancestors had lived precisely as he has to live in his struggle for survival. The culture of generations of civilizations fell from Scruff Mackenzie, the same process occurs through Buck’s atavism.

In Rip Van Winkle, Irving uses the countryside and supernatural elements as an escape for Rip Van Winkle from the constant nagging of his wife and demand of labor, where he is finally happy and at peace. Does this reveal an insight into Irving’s character?

The book Fahrenheit 541 is by Ray Bradbury. This book is set in the 24th century, it introduces the new world in which control of masses of media and censorship. This is a dystopian novel. The world today has more benefits than they did in this book. I don’t think that it is accurate to our world because the people, the way we treat books, and the technology are completely different between our 2 worlds.

Hugh S. Dawson also added some thoughts to the ideas of Young, Fetterley and Fiedler about Rip Van Winkle that Rip Van Winkle being Gothic story once more shows the advantage of marriage to avoid from wasting life in impenetrable forest [6, 14/08/2015].

An American folklore that established Washington Irving as one of the first American authors, “Rip Van Winkle” is a short story about a local Dutch-American villager and the mysterious event that kept him away from home for twenty years. Narrated in the third person omniscient, the narrator depicts a panoramic view of the natural landscape as well as provides an objective view of the main character’s thoughts. To provide a closer view of his personal thoughts, Robert Coover reintroduces Rip Van Winkle with his own monologue in Rip Awake to give him a voice to describe the aftermath of his experience when he returns home. Irving and Coover demonstrates

Washington Irving makes fun of Romanticism with one of his stories called “The Legend Of Sleepy Hollow” through the ideas of the supernatural and emotion.“The Legend Of Sleepy Hollow” is one of

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.

As one of the most controversial American literary figures, Edgar Allan Poe has always attracted considerable attention from both critics and readers alike. Due to his allegedly eccentric personality and the dubious circumstances surrounding his death, the public perception of the writer has often been somewhat mythologized. When it comes to his works, Poe has been both critically acclaimed and disparaged, both acknowledged and disputed, but rarely ignored. As he left behind a significantly influential literary legacy, his place among the most important writers in American literature is today undeniable.

It will be looked into the characteristics that make Rip Van Winkle a Romantic piece of literature and how Washington Irving's intentions are reflected in his writing. 
Hereby Washington Irving’s life itself will be taken into consideration together with the Romantic period to demonstrate how these two domains are combined in Rip Van Winkle.

The romanticism was the response to the Industrial Age. That movement began in America from 1820 ’s to 1870’s. Washington Irving was part of that movement which began in America after Revolutionary War. They tried to separate them from the rest of the world and create a country as a nation. They used their chance of individuality and creativity, and they addressed economic social and many other concerns by their writings. 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

To perpend a certain book as an award deserving book with high qualify, the book would have to leave many critics in shock and awe. These certain award worthy books would have to connect to society and give a whole new viewpoint to the readers to gain recognition. In the story of In Cold Blood, Capote replaces the simplistic views of criminals lowered to an inhuman status with a new perspective considering these criminals as equal human beings. Although the book didn’t get the Pulitzer Prize, an award given to high quality journalistic writings, Truman Capote’s In Cold Blood deserves the Pulitzer Prize because the author gave an unique shock by giving a voice to vilifying figures in society. In addition, Capote grabs the attention of the readers by effectively using diction and details to help engage more readers to the text.

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.

In “Rip Van Winkle” among the features which could be able to attract the attention of the reader we can point out the tone of the story. Indicating

“Why ask useless questions? How deep is the ocean? How high is the sky? Who is John