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5 to 7 paragraph essay on the american revolution
Symbolism used by Washington Irving in RIP Van Winkle
My View on the husband Rip Van Winkle in Washington Irving’s Short Story “Rip Van Winkle
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“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. Irving shows us that this piece is a satire to revolutionary America in the very beginning of
his story when mentioning Van Winkle reputation in the village that he lives in. Van Winkle is known to be, “a great favorite among the good wives of the village,” showing that he is loved around the village. Irving then describes to us Van Winkle’s wife, Dame Van Winkle who often “squabbles” with Rip over family matters. Rip doesn’t have the friendliest of relationships with his wife for he always “lay[s] the blame on Dame Van Winkle”. Irving connects this relationship between Rip and his wife to revolutionary America, due to the fact that during this time the Americans believed that the British ruling is very flawed and tended to blame the governing system of the British for the terrible lives the Americans were living. Irving displays to the reader that Rip represents the Americans who rebelled against British rule, while Dame Winkle denotes the British government that were blamed for their appalling approach of ruling America. Another way Irving approaches satire in his writing is after Rip awakens from his 20 year slumber and comes back to the altered village. Once Van Winkle wakes up, he discovers that his beard, “had grown a foot long”, his gun had turned into a “rusty firelock”, and his dog Wolf was nowhere to be found. Once he returns to the village he is regarded as a completely different man, the women no longer recognized who he once was and the dogs that hadn’t barked at him before, “barked at him as he passed.” As Van Winkle passes through the village, he is astounded to the fact that the town is no longer under George the Third’s rule but to George Washington’s instead. When Rip looks around him he sees that many of the people in the village are dressed in, “was of a different fashion from that to which he was accustomed. “ Irving connects this to early America to the people who had lived there and couldn’t find their own persona. When Van Winkle comes back to the village, he looks as if he still lived under King George the Third’s rule. One of the struggles that many colonists experienced after overthrowing the British was finding their own identity due to the fact that they had been ordered around by the British ever since the colonists had arrived to America. Many tried to stick to the old ways of the British while many tried to find a completely different style to define the new America. In this case, Van Winkle signifies those who found difficulty in distinguishing themselves in the United States of America, while those who wore the “new” clothes in Van Winkle’s perspective show those who found their identity in post-revolutionary America. Washington Irving writes “Rip Van Winkle” as a short account of the time period when the American Revolution occurred. Irving conveys his anecdote as comic relief of how a man goes through severe changes after a 20 year long sleep and how his whole village had changed once he returns. The author includes through this comical relief examples of satire through parallel changes that are found between both revolutionary America and Rip Van Winkle.
Protagonist Rip Van Winkle possesses mystical and entertaining characteristics that captivate the reader. Rip Van Winkle regards all of his neighbors with kindness continuously. He shows the depth of American values such as kindness and the love of the neighbor. Van Winkle’s great kindness is illustrated by his helping of others. On page 62, the narrator states “He inherited, however, but little of the martial character of his ancestors. I have observed that he was a simple, good-natured man; he was moreover a kind neighbor, and an obedient, henpecked husband,” confirming that Van Winkle is a kind person and a loving
Have you ever imagined being asleep in the forest for twenty years, coming back home and not knowing what has gone on all those years of your absence? Rip Van Winkle went through that, and had to come back home and face some real changes. The author Washington Irving has some interesting characters whom he puts in his short stories. Irving puts some characters in his short stories to reflect on some of his life. For example, Irving has similarities between Rip Van Winkle being asleep in the forest 20 years and Irving was in Europe for seventeen writing short stories and being the governor’s aid and military secretary. These two situations are similar, because they both didn’t know what they were going to come back too and were gone for such a long period of time. Irving does put some of his own life into his short stories and with a reason for his self-reflective works.
One particular criterion character effectively supports the central idea in “Rip Van Winkle” by Washington Irving. The character's type develops with the personality development throughout the story. Three types of characters: round, flat, and stock, appear in most stories. The round character displays a fully developed personality and full emotions. Flat characters, also known as supporting characters, do not develop fully or express complex emotions. A stock character, also known as a stereotype, fits an established characterization from real life or literature. With these three types of characters leading the reader through the story, the reader learns the events taking place as well as the changes in the character’s lives. The author keeps the reader informed of the changes affecting the characters throughout the narrative through style. When a character undergoes a fundamental change in nature or personality during the story, the character has dynamic style. However, a character without change defines a static character. Although all characters have a style and type sometimes understanding the differences appears complicated. A chart often helps establish a better understanding of character type and style.
When I was younger the world was such an innocent, delightful place. People were kind, and always willing to help. As I have grown I have found that my views of the world and the people in it have changed; I don 't find it to be as innocent or delightful. I have slowly become to notice the wicked around me. Nathaniel Hawthorne 's "Young Goodman Brown" and Washington Irving 's "Rip Van Winkle" both convey changes in their views of the people and world around them.
America is known for being the land of opportunities and freedom. It wasn’t always like this, as many people had to fight for it to become this way. With one man’s help, America turned out the way it is now, free and independent. This man was Paul Revere, a young boy who soon became well known for his courage and quick thinking. Paul Revere was a man of politics that fought against the British in the revolutionary war, all while soon becoming known for the Midnight Ride.
Washington Irving wrote Rip Van Winkle with the American people in mind. At this time society was changing drastically. America was attempting to go through a struggle with forming their own identity. America was wanting to have an identity that would set them free from English culture and rule. Irving uses his main character, Rip Van Winkle, to symbolize America. Rip goes through the same struggles that America was going through at this time before and after the Revolution. Irving uses such great symbolism in this story to describe the changes that American society went through. This story covers a wide variety of time periods including: America before English rule, early American colonies under English rule, and America after the Revolutionary War.
In “Rip Van Winkle” by Washington Irving he writes about a simple man, Rip Van Winkle, who does just enough to get by in life. He lives in a village by the catskill mountains, and is loved by everyone in the village. He is an easy going man, who spends most of his days at the village inn talking with his neighbors, fishing all day, and wandering the mountains with his dog to refuge from his wife the thorn on his side. On one of his trips to the mountains Rip Van Winkle stumbles upon a group of men who offer him a drink, and that drink changes everything for Van Winkle. He later wakes up, twenty years later, and returns to his village were he notices nothing is the same from when he left. He learns that King George III is no longer in charge,
The American Dream, a long standing ideal embodies the hope that one can achieve financial success, political power, and everlasting love through dedication and hard work. During the Roaring 20s, people in America put up facades to mask who they truly were. In The Great Gatsby, Fitzgerald conveys that the American Dream is simply an illusion, that is idealist and unreal. In the novel, Gatsby, a wealthy socialite pursues his dream, Daisy. In the process of pursuing Daisy, Gatsby betrays his morals and destroys himself. Through the eyes of the narrator, Nick, one sees the extent of the corruption Gatsby is willing to undertake in order to achieve his dream. Although Fitzgerald applauds the American Dream he warns against the dangers of living in a world full of illusions and deceit; a trait common during the Roaring 20s. The language and plot devices Fitzgerald uses convey that lies and facades, which were common during the Guided Age, destroys one’s own character and morals. Through Fitzgerald use of symbolism, expectations, and relationships, he explores the American dream, and how it is an illusion that corrupts and destroys lives.
Irving, Washington. “Rip Van Winkle.” The Norton Anthology of American Literature. Ed. Nina Bayn. New York: Norton & Company, 1999.
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.
Washington Irving's, "Rip Van Winkle" presented a tale of a "dreamer." Rip Van Winkle was a family man
Rip Van Winkle tells the story of a man who, on a trek into the Kaatskill mountains, mysteriously sleeps away twenty years of his life during the Revolutionary War. When he returns home, he finds that things have dramatically changed; King George no longer has control over the colonies, and many of his friends have either died or left town. At this point, the story reaches its climax, where Van Winkle realizes that his life may be forever changed.
... criticism of the deteriorating of American family structure, the shallowness of American materialism, the power of corruption, and the emptiness of pursuing an American Dream during the decade of the “Roaring Twenties.”
1. Given what you already knew about the era of the American Revolution, what specifically did you find surprising or unexpected in this chapter? (In other words, what did you learn the most from the chapter?)
He uses satire a great deal in the novel to emphasise how it does not