Irving's Imagination Research Paper

Imagination is split into two different categories, creative and imaginative, creative being defined as recombining former experiences in the creation of new images directed at a specific goal or aiding in the solution of problems and imaginative being the power of reproducing images stored in the memory under the suggestion of associated images (Imagination). It has made our world what it is today by designing and creating some of the most innovative technologies, defining literature as it is today, and much more. Since the beginning of time, people have used imagination to think “outside of the box” and become more and more creative. The debate has been brought to as if we are losing our imagination in modern day; in fact, science has done

Although throughout time, it is proven that the imagination in our society has declined eminently. Irving --one of the most famous Romanticism writers-- set a precedent and defined imagination in Romanticism. For example, in Rip Van Winkle, one of Irving’s most well-known works, he uses a man as his main character who has been asleep for twenty years who wakes up and society is completely different. Throughout the short story, uses many instances where his originality shows through, such as, when Rip meets the ghost of himself in the forest, the imprecation of the alcohol that allows him to sleep for twenty years without dying, and many additional examples. This was one of the first famous accounts of insane creativity being put into words and published for the world to read. Irving here set the exemplar for inventive stories and ideas throughout history. Although, modernly our creativity has declined due to kids not reading as much as they should (Wolpert.) Studies show that the diminishing of the students reading as much as they should clearly coordinates with loss of imaginative thoughts. Back then, reading was a first nature idea and most everyone enjoyed it and that is one reason Irving was so popular because he was a writer and introduced a new way of thinking. His story

The daily use of it has put us into a high-risk for an even more impairing loss of imagination. “Greenfield believes much of this change is related to our increased use of technology, as well as other factors, including increased levels of formal education, improved nutrition, smaller families and increased societal complexity,” the increase use of technology has caused dramatic effects in not only imagination, but our critical thinking skills, vocabulary, and reading level (Wolpert). The fortuitous incline of technology seemed to be vital in the world without society knowing the unintentional effects it would eventually have like reduced imagination. Many tests have been done and studies do show that kids without access to the Internet compared to students with access to the Internet have done better on assignments. Overall, the contingent reliance and growing use of technology is causing a traumatic lessening of ingenuity in our culture.

Finally, the use of imagination around the world has contributed to the reduction in creativity. Our country has set a standard of all students to go to high school, go to college, graduate college, and then of course become successful. Although, along that path they have set a proposal that one answer is always right or thinking another way will get you the wrong