In Washington Irving’s short story “Rip Van Winkle” the setting takes place in the beautiful Hudson River Valley overlooking the Catskills Mountains which the author attributes a fairy-like vista, equating it to a mystical view, this can be seen as a foreshadowing of the importance of the mountains and the supernatural event that will take place there. “Every change of season, every change of weather, indeed, every hour of the day, produces some change in the magical hues and shapes of these mountains…” (Irving 471-472). Irving describes the old village as one founded by the early Dutch colonists with quaint homes but amongst these he describes one that stands out for the wrong reasons. “In that same village, and in one of these very houses, …show more content…
(which, to tell the precise truth, was sadly time worn and weather beaten,) there lived many years since, while the country was yet a province of Great Britain, a simple good natured fellow, of the name Rip Van Winkle” (Irving 472).
With his description the reader can deduce that all is not well with the inhabitants of the Van Winkle home. Irving continues to describe Rip as a happy go lucky type he is very helpful to others and is looked upon kindly by the towns people. Rips problem however is that what he does for others he won’t do for himself. “…his wife kept continually dinning in his ears about his idleness, his carelessness, and the ruin he was bringing on his family. Morning, noon, and night, her tongue was incessantly going, and everything he said or did was sure to produce a torrent of household eloquence” (Irving 473). The reader can construe that the domestic life for Rip Van Winkle is unbearable due in part to his nagging wife and his lack of effort when it comes to working on his own property, he apparently has no problem running errands for people or playing and spending time with kids that weren’t …show more content…
his. When Rip Van Winkle decides to go out to the mountains the reader can assume it’s to get away from his nagging wife and his responsibilities at home.
“Poor Rip was at last reduced almost to despair; and his only alternative to escape from the labour of the farm and the clamour of his wife, was to take gun in hand, and stroll away…” (Irving 474). Rip admires his surroundings observing the beauty of the Hudson River Valley and is dreading the thoughts of having to go back home as nightfall approaches, until he hears his name being called. Immediately the reader sees the change in setting. “Rip now felt a vague apprehension stealing over him; he looked anxiously in the same direction, and perceived a strange figure slowly toiling up the rocks, and bending under the weight of something he carried on his back” (Irving 475). Rip proceeds to help the stranger up the mountain with a keg, taking note of distant thunder every now and then; this setting infers to trouble ahead. When Irving describes the entrance into the amphitheater we are given a somewhat detailed description of the men that were playing nine-pins. “The whole group reminded Rip of the figures in an old Flemish painting, in the parlour of Dominie Van Schaick, the village parson, and which had been brought over from Holland at the time of the settlement” (Irving
476). The author uses setting to show the passing of time for Rip Van Winkle; everything from it being sunny and bright, the over growth of vegetation, his rusty gun, and the marked absence of his faithful companion to his long gray beard and his achy joints. Irving describes Rip climbing down to the glen and seeing a mountain stream that took over where there was none before. His observations when he enters the village confuse him. There are more people and the buildings are different, he begins to wonder if he is under some sort of spell. The most dramatic point in Irving’s story is when Rip comes upon the image of George Washington. ““Alas! Gentlemen,” cried Rip, somewhat dismayed, “I am a poor quiet man, a native of the place, and a loyal subject of the King, God bless him!”” (Irving 479). When he asks about his friends he learns that many have passed away. He catches a glimpse of his son who seems to be following in his footsteps, and he is then recognized by his daughter who offers to take him in. Rip’s reward as we find out is in no longer having to deal with his wife who is deceased, as well as being able to enjoy a life of leisure. “Happily, that was at an end; he had got his neck out of the yoke of matrimony, and could go in and out whenever he pleased, without dreading the tyranny of Dame Van Winkle” (Irving 481).
A common idea throughout the United States is that a person is to work their hardest, notably, with some type of aspiration within their mind that they would like to achieve. With that being the case, even a virtually inescapable predicament is not considered to be a justification for the inability of achieving a personal goal or subjective goal that was passed to themselves from another person. Subsequently, within the short story “Rip Van Winkle,” the titular character has an absence of ambition within his life. Rather to hard work, he spends his days casually lazing about in the forest with his dog Wolf. As well as these actions resulting in frequent derision from his wife. Hence that Rip Van Winkle is antithetical to popular
We observe Rip showing acts of affection, when he goes wandering up the mountains and helps the short, stocky, and bearded man. Irving once stated, “He bore on his shoulder a stout keg that seemed full of liquor, and made signs for Rip to approach and assist him with the load.” Most people when stumbled upon a odd man carrying a keg in the woods would run the other way, but not Rip. Rip Van Winkle, makes the mistake of helping the strange man and then falls asleep for twenty years. Although, we are told time after time it is good to help people, in a situation like this most of us would reconsider our options. This example of Rip Van Winkle undoubtedly shows Rip’s good intentions and
In RIP Van Winkle, Dam Van Winkle is abusive, nagging, and sarcastic. In Rip Van Winkle, Washington Irving states that “but what courage can with stand the ever-during and all besetting terrors of a woman’s tongue.” He seems to imply that he did not like women who gave their opinions and spoke their mind. It seems that Rip is going into the woods to escape his wife.
Rip Van Winkle In post-revolutionary America, literature began to show influence of the newly created democracy. 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 this democratic fanaticism. He grew up to be, as befitted his childhood atmosphere, a political satirist. This satirical nature of Irving’s shines brightly 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. The first historical satire occurs attached to the name Peter Stuyvesant, whom is mentioned twice with exaggerated praise. Stuyvesant, a harsh and strongly disliked governor, was in power when the English seized New York. Irving uses a false respect for Stuyvesant to humor the Dutch of New York, who blamed him for the loss of the land to the English. Having set the scene as a Dutch-friendly narrator, Irving introduces Dame Van Winkle, Rip’s stern wife, who maintains contempt for Rip’s laziness and carefree attitude. Dame Van Winkle’s harsh control over her husband represents King George and the English rule of the colonies. Whereas the colonies were mistreated by George, yet felt faithful and attached to the Crown, Rip stood by his demanding wife. The irony lies in Rip’s indifference to Dame Van Winkle. He was chided and bossed, but he was content. Nicholas Vedder, the owner of the inn, who dominated the conversations and opinions of the junto represents the colonial governors appointed by the Crown. While he rarely spoke, his influence was always present. This mirrors the inactive role the governors took in political affairs, and the colonists considerable respect for them. The relationship between the governors and Britain is illustrated perfectly by Irving when Dame Van Winkle comes to the inn to collect her husband. “Nicholas Vedder himself, scared from the daring tongue of this terrible virago, who charged him outright with encouraging her husband in habits of idleness.”(Irving 901) While a characteristically influential man, Nicholas is no match for the intimidation of Dame Van Winkle. The turning point of the story occurs when Rip walks deep into the woods and encounters a mysterious band of oddly dressed strangers with foreign customs.
Alcoholism leads to a reduction of personal hobbies, a lack of motivation to work, child neglect, and marital conflict. The first instance of Rip’s lack of interest in the workings of his farm and family is seen when Irving declares that Rip finds “family duty” and “keeping his farm in order” impossible (42). Rip’s once considerable estate has “dwindled away under his management”(43). Rip refuses to do work around the farm, or to find work in the village, due to his lack of interest. He would rather spend his time at the inn, drinking with his friends and gossiping. Another effect of alcoholism is child neglect, which is illustrated through a brief description of Rip’s children. Rip Van Winkle’s offspring are described as being “ragged and wild as if they belonged to nobody”(43). He doesn’t care enough to ensure his children’s wellbeing, he is indifferent. Also, there are numerous examples of marital conflict. Rip describes his wife as being a tyrant, but this is only because she is constantly nagging him to go out and care for the farm, his children, or to do something with his life. Rip, if left to himself, would have “whistled life away in perfect contentment” (43). But his wife, Dame Van Winkle, keeps “dinning his ears about his idleness, his carelessness, and the ruin he was bringing on his family”(43). What was his response? He would shrug his shoulders, roll his
In the story, Rip Van Winkle wanders off to the mountains and runs across some small men who are rolling bowling balls and drinking. Rip witnesses all this and joins them in their drinking until he passes out. When he wakes up, everything has changed the people, the town, and himself. After he tells his story, he becomes very popular among the townspeople, whereas before he was seen as lazy.
“Rip Van Winkle” written by Washington Irving, took place during a time when America was going through a momentous change known as the American Revolution. In Irving’s short story, Rip Van Winkle goes through drastic changes after leaving his town to go hunting as well as avoiding his wife that had got him on his nerves. Rip drinks a little too much on his trip and ends up in a 20 year nap and once he returns to his village, he was a changed man. The shifts that Van Winkle endured are very similar to the changes of that in America had gone through. Irving uses Van Winkle to parallel the transformations that occurred in America after its revolution.
In Rip Van Winkle, Irving shows his doubts in the American Identity and the American dream. After the Revolutionary war, America was trying to develop its own course. They were free to govern their own course of development; however, some of them had an air of uncertainties on their own identity in this new country. Irving was born among this generation in the newly created United States of America, and also felt uncertainty about the American identity. Irving might be the writer that is the least positive about being an American. The main reason for this uncertainty is the new born American has no history and tradition while the Europe has a great one accumulated for thousands of years. Therefore, in order to solve this problem, Irving borrows an old European tale to make it take place in America. This tale related to the Dutch colonists haunts the kaatskill mountains. In order to highlight the American identity, Irving praises the “majestic” mountains which Europe lacks. He describes the mountains that “their summits…will glow and light up like a crown of glory” Nevertheless, the use of these ancient explorers into Rip Van Winkle only to show that although American has formed its own identity, no one can cut its connection with Europe. No wonder when America was still under tyranny of the British rule, some people still cannot cut the blood relationship with Europe. Therefore, the American identity is blurred by their relationship with Europe since then.
For the adults He helped the children in the village in a variety of ways “He assisted at their sports, made their playthings, taught them to fly kites and shoot marbles…” (31). He was liked by everyone for all the generous things he would do for others. This was not the situation he had in his home though. The first section of the story symbolizes the personal depression of Rip Van Winkle by introducing his daily life in the Hudson river town place. Always seemed like a likable character to other except his wife. His son was exactly the same as him. His daughter wasn’t. In his personal life Van Winkle did not display any motivation to work for himself. his wife Dame Van Winkle would always scold him for practically any decision he made. She could be seen as the greatest instigator for his lack of motivation. Which leads to believe that deep down Rip Van Winkle could have been going through a form of depression and that could be what Irving was trying to describe inadvertently and possibly be a cry for help from himself. Irving wrote the story in a way that it could be narrated by a fictional character Diedrich Knickerbocker, who acts as the narrator for other tales from the same book, which could entail why there are not direct sources for the sadness Van Winkle was probably having thus giving the reader a bigger gap to think with their imagination on what could really be
After Rip Van Winkle returns from his twenty year slumber in the mountains, he obtains knowledge that he has slept through a war and a couple of his loved ones deaths. This news comes as a shock to the man, naturally, but these changes will allow Rip to continue his life without Britain and his termagant wife, and just be a free man. From the very beginning of the story, Rip’s wife has been the type of person to criticize him for every little thing he does wrong, like Irving explains here, “His wife kept continually dining in his ear about his idleness, his carelessness, and the ruin he was bringing on his family. Morning, noon, and night, her tongue was incessantly going, and everything he said or did was sure to produce a torrent of household eloquence.”(Paragraph 12) Undoubtedly, there have been times when Rip has been held back and confined by the relationship. Therefore, when he arrives back at the town and hears word of his wife’s passing,
They reach an amphitheatre in the woods where a group of similarly odd-looking men are bowling. They all end up having a drink from the keg and Rip passes out. He wakes up to realize his gun has rusted, his dog is missing, and his beard has grown. He walks back to his village and realizes that many people and buildings have changed, including his home and the Inn. One big difference that he notices is the Inn is no longer there and where there used to be a picture of George III there is now one of George Washington. This is the first real sign that a major change has occurred. Many people ask him about his political view and Rip responds he is still a loyal subject of the crown. “”A tory! A tory! A spy! A refugee! Hustle him! Away with him!”(40) Because of the american rev no one supports the crown so they think rip is a spy. When Rip comes back from the elapsed time in the mountain more political talk is rising. Before they seemed unsatisfied with their achievements, being lazy and hanging around the pub. This further the opinion that Americans are lazy and unproductive subjects of the
Rip Van Winkle was written by Washington Irving in 1819 and was originally published in a book of shorts called “The Sketch Book of Geoffrey Crayon, Gent. Rip Van Winkle was a popular story from this book then and remains so today. When Irving penned this story, the United States was less than 40 years old and there were still remnants of British sympathizers in the new country. This short story is full of historical content and allegorical references that make it a story for the ages and a lesson in prose that has remained relevant to this day.
In the text Irving says,” He would never refuse to assist a neighbor even the roughest toil, and was a foremost man at all country frolics for husking Indian corn or building stone-fences; the women of the village, too, used to employ him to run their errands, and to do such little old jobs as their less obliging husbands would not do for them” (311). Instead of asking for a job at the inn, he would just sit up there listening to the most prestigious men in their community talk about nothing. It was times his wife had to come get him and she would fuss and nag all the way home. Everyone in town loved Rip, but they also knew he was not very ambitious. When he got tired of hearing his wife’s mouth he would play different games, but hunting squirrels was his favorite. For example in the text Irving wrote,” In a long ramble of the kind on a fine autumnal day, Rip had unconsciously scrambled to one of the highest parts of the Kaatskill mountains. He was after his favorite sport of shooting squirrels, and the still solitudes had echoed and re-echoed with reports of his gun” (313). Sometimes if he got too tired from his activity, he would fall asleep in
As evening comes on, the two sit down to rest before heading for home. After they rise again and start down the mountainside, Rip hears his name called. A short, square little man with a grizzled beard is calling to Rip, asking him to help carry a keg of liquor. The little man is dressed in antique Dutch clothes. Although he accepts Rip’s help in carrying the keg, he carries on no conversation. As they ascend the mountain, Rip hears noises that sound like claps of thunder. When they reach a sort of natural amphitheater near the top, Rip sees a band of little men, dressed and bearded like his companion, playing ninepins. One stout old gentleman, who seems to be the leader, wears a laced doublet and a high-crowned hat with a
In the story, Rip Van Winkle is classified as a great Romantic fiction. Rip wants to be free by this wife that is always irritating him and wants to be able to talk to his neighbors without them feeling sorry for him because of his wife always wanting him to work on their farm. But in the end of the story, his wife dies and he was able to be free at last from her complaining all the time. In the story, an example of personal freedom is,“I left to himself, he would have whistled life away in perfect contentment; but his wife kept continually dinning in his ears about his idleness, his carelessness, and the run he was bring on his family” (524). The story was mostly about a person wanting personal freedom. Also, in the story nature was an important