How Does Washington Irving Use Direct Characterization Of The Legend Of Sleepy Hollow

The Legend of Sleepy Hollow
The story, The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, was written by Washington Irving, and the story is about a man name Ichabod Crane who was trying to win Katherina Van Tassel’s hand in marriage, but he is failing. The small town named Sleepy Hollow has a folklore about the Headless Horseman, who rides through the town at night to find his head. Irving explains that Sleepy Hollow has many ghost stories, but the Headless Horseman is the most popular in the town. Ichabod Crane was a school master, and he was killed by the town’s ghost. The townspeople believed Crane was taken by the Galloping Hessian, so the story of the Headless Horseman would not be associated with Crane’s disappearance. As the news about Ichabod’s disappearance rummage through the town, the Brom Bones’ reaction to the news made people question the Galloping Hessian’s part

of Crane’s disappearance.

Throughout Irving’s story, he used characterization, irony, the dreams, and other literacy devices to bring The Legend of Sleepy Hollow to life for Irving’s audience.
In the story, Irving used characterization to create the backstory, characters, and character’s personalities. Irving used direct characterization, so he could describe each character in the beginning of the story. The main character is Ichabod Crane was pictured as a school teacher, love interest of Katherina Van Tassel, and newcomer of Sleepy Hollow. Few people did not like the fact Crane wanted Van Tassel’s hand in marriage because of his position in society. In the story, The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, Crane was described as a simple person with no beautiful features and not the type of man that a woman like Katherina

should be associated with, and Irving stated, “He was tall, but exceedingly lank with narrow shoulders…” (43). Irving portrayed Crane as a simple greedy person like the character who supposed to save the beautiful girl from her horror story. Another main character is the Headless Horseman because Irving used him a legendary superstition, who comes alive to kills Crane during the night. The Headless Horseman is added some horror in the Sleepy Hollow’s perfect world. By using characterization, Irving could analyze each character’s strength and weakness. Also, Irving used different literary devices to introduce his characters. For example, he used simile to illustrate how big Crane’s nose by comparing it to weathercock on his face. The element of nostalgia is used in the story to talk about each character’s backstory. Irving used the nostalgia to tell the audience how the Headless Horseman lost his head by a cannon during the revolutionary war. The element of nostalgia could have been used to make the audience understand each characters’ outlook of life.