Rip Van Winkle
In the late 1700's and early 1800's, literature began to show it was changing thanks to the newly formed democracy in America. 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 these democratic ideals. He grew up to be, as many would grow up in this atmosphere, a political satirist. This satirical nature of Irving's shows up well 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 reader assumes the appearance of Rip from the preceding paragraphs in which the author sets the general timeframe in the colonial era before and after the American Revolutionary war. To describe Rip one would have to look mostly at little hints in the story. The best way to describe Rip would be that he is very muscular because of all of the physical labor done in chores. We also learn Rip had light hair with blue eyes. Rip's clothing was that of the time period: black suits with fluffy white collars, tri-cornered hats, and brass buckles on the black shoes. Good-natured and helpful best describes Rip's attitude, this good faith towards all that eventually lands Rip in trouble. This story is full of historical instances.
The first historical satire occurs attached to the name Peter Stuyvesant, who 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 make fun of the Dutch in 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 angry wife, who maintains contempt for Rip's laziness and carefree attitude. Dame Van Winkle' harsh control over her husband represents King George and the English rule of the colonies. Whereas George, yet felt faithful and attached to the Crown, mistreated the colonies Rip stood by his demanding wife. The irony is in Rip's non-caring attitude towards Dame Van Winkle. He was harassed and bossed, but he was content. Nicholas Vedder, the owner of the inn, who controlled the conversations and opi...
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...ourse Rip, having been gone for twenty years, doesn't know what he is talking about and it goes on from there. Rip becomes very popular after telling his story to the villagers over and over again which proves that, in most cases, a fairy tale will beat out the truth in the order to please the public - and this story is no exception
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The story “Rip Van Winkle” is about a character named Rip Van Winkle, a man who wanted nothing more out of life then to be able to do as he pleased and drink without responsibilities. One day he takes a trip into the Katskill mountains, which causes him to miss twenty years of his life. Rip wakes up after his sleep in the mountains and realizes that everything is different. He is faced with the life changing realization that he can no longer live he carefree life and must take some form of responsibility because the new villagers are hostile towards him due to his nature. In the end, Rip’s son stops the villagers from doing anything to Rip and this allows him to continue to live his carefree and chosen lifestyle.
Austen’s recurrent use of satire conveys the flawed system regarding marriage and social class on which the society in the Regency Era runs, which is juxtaposed by characters who do not follow these set standards.
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.
During a short conversation between the Duchess of Berwick, Lady Windermere, and Lord Darlington, author Oscar Wilde exposes such entertaining arrogance that the members of upper class society contain. All the blunt, cynical insults toward the lower class and sarcastic language between the character enlightens the arrogances of the characters and the cruel structure of their society considering the gaps between lower class and high class, along with men and women.
First off in the story of Rip Van Winkle, a man sick of his wife wanders off into the woods only to disappear for twenty years.
Washington Irving and Edgar Allan Poe were both writers who exemplified the writing style of the Romantic era. Both writers used their great talents to take the reader into the story. For example, Irving, in “Rip Van Winkle”, starts the story by saying, “Whoever has made a courage up the Hudson must remember the Kaatskill Mountains.” He also involves the reader in the story by taking us into the everyday lives of the Van Winkles and goes into some detail describing Rip’s “business”. Poe also demonstrates his ability to pull the reader into the story. In “The Fall of the House Usher” he uses extensive descriptions of the settings to give the reader the feeling of being there while the story is developing around them. The writers are also similar in the use of tone in their works. Irving’s use of tone in his stories is typically lighthearted, yet dramatic. This is demonstrated in “Rip Van Winkle” when Rip comes back from the “Kaatskills” and is talking to all the people in the town. There, he finds his son and daughter and asks, “Where’s your mother?” By asking this question, Irving implies both curiosity and even fear if Dame Van Winkle is still around. This humorous approach to the subject of Rip’s wife, makes light of ...
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 “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,
Rip is viewed in the town as a person who helped everyone with anything, except his own family- “…he was a simple ...
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.
Voltaire and Swift are some of the greatest authors of satire in literature. Both wrote during the Enlightenment Period, or the Age or Reason. The time of the Enlightenment was a celebration of ideas. The Enlightenment brought about a time of question and philosophical thought – what could the human mind be capable or, scientific methodology, and political thought. Intellectuals began to question the democratic and fundamental rights of people (Gay). Writing during the Enlightenment period, both had exploitations of governments and knew concepts of human reason. Satire was a tool used to portray ideals within both texts. Within Candide and Gulliver’s Travels, Swift and Voltaire portray aspects of satire, philosophical view points, human pride
Irving, Washington. “Rip Van Winkle.” The Norton Anthology of American Literature. Ed. Nina Bayn. New York: Norton & Company, 1999. 429-439.
Writers use satire in literature in order to allow readers to ridicule or criticize characters or society by enjoying the criticism through the writer’s use of humour, exaggeration, and irony. In this essay, I will examine the use of satire in the novel Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen and in the poem “anyone lived in a pretty how town” by E.E Cummings, and I will compare the satirical techniques used in both texts, as well as determine how the usage of satire adds to the enjoyment of the reader. In first chapter of Pride and Prejudice, Austen uses dialogue and tone to develop a satire, which continues out throughout the novel, The satirical tone is retained all throughout E.E Cummings’ poem through the elements of imagery and diction. Pride
The eighteenth century is known as history’s greatest age of satire. Social reformers used satire as a weapon to draw attention to the vast contradictions between morals and manners, intentions and actions, and between the Enlightenment aspirations and contemporary degradation. In France, Francois-Marie Arouet, who used the pen name Voltaire, was inspired by Swift’s satires. Voltaire described human folly as a universal condition. In his writing, he described bigotry as a man-made evil, and injustice as institutional evil. He advocated for freedom of thought and expression. In 1717, his satires led to his imprisonment in the Bastille, a French prison. In his satirical masterpiece, Candide, Voltaire mocked optimism where Candide, the main character, kept saying this is “the best of all possible worlds” as he encountered repeated horrors. Candide remains the classic statement of comic skepticism in Western literature.
In conclusion, with a prominent use of inversion, satire and epigrams; Oscar Wilde is able to create an eloquent blend of effective yet sometimes implicit social criticisms of late nineteenth century society and derive humour for both modern and Victorian audiences in doing so. Combined with carefully sculptured characters such as Lady Bracknell and with the use of puns and intelligent wordplay, the playwright elegantly comments on aspects of society such as marriage and traditional gender roles thus confirming Sir John Hankin’s interpretation that the play is ‘…only a joke, yet an amazingly brilliant one’[ ] and mope importantly establishing The Importance of Being Earnest as a sardonic masterpiece.