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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, …show more content…
Additionally, while Rip Van Winkle was hibernating, simultaneously the Revolutionary War was occurring, where like his wife passing, allowed him to gain freedom. Rip missed two of his friends going off to the war to fight, Brom Dutcher and Van Brummel. Washington Irving illustrates Brom Dutcher’s story, “‘Where’s Brom Dutcher?’ “‘Oh, he went off to the army in the beginning of the war; some say he was killed at the storming of Stony Point; others say he was drowned in a squall at the foot of Anthony’s Nose. I don’t know; he never came back again.’”(Paragraph
In Soft Spots: A Marine’s Memoir of Combat and Post-traumatic stress disorder, Sargent Clint Van Winkle participated in one of the bloodiest wars in Iraq. Sargent Winkle signed up to protect his country, without truly understanding the reason for the war. He did not know what to expect, what was going to happen, exactly who it was going to happen to, but courageously he was out there waiting on an answer that in fact was never revealed. However, Winkle was a part of that war, which made him agree with the terms that led. He was trained to follow orders, forced to survive, and made a pact to protect the guy to right and to the left of him. Despite being diagnosed with PTSD and the uncertainties of whether the war was worthy or not, he favored
Robert S. McNamara's book, In Retrospect, tells the story of one man's journey throughout the trials and tribulations of what seems to be the United States utmost fatality; the Vietnam War. McNamara's personal encounters gives an inside perspective never before heard of, and exposes the truth behind the administration.
In an English interpretation, one could see Rip Van Winkle as the mother country or England. Rip is “a kind neighbor, and an obedient hen-pecked husband .” (430) To an English citizen reading this story, it could easily represent the English monarchy. For years before the revolution, America had defied the King by refusing to pay taxes; support the militia that was protecting it from the French, Spanish, and Indians; and in many ways hindering progress in the colonies. England could easily have been seen as “hen-pecked” in the ways in which it handled the colonies. Many of the tax acts, such as the Stamp act, were ignored and monarchy was viewed as inept in dealing with the colonies. The Crown levied no penalties against the colonist when these acts were defied. The Crown just accepted not getting the money.
...ture of King George in “Rip Van Winkle.” Rip returns to his village twenty years after he left and realizes that someone has transformed the King into George Washington (541). Irving, realizing that much of life is merely a refashioning of the same ideas and structures into something that looks new, has taken an old German folk tale and turned it into a story of American life. We may live in a time with vastly different resources, technologies, and opportunities, but the urges that drive us are still the same.
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,
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.
Rip Van Winkle, descendant of an army family, lives in the Catskill Mountains in New York with his wife, Dame Van Winkle, and his children. The story is set in pre and post Revolutionary War. He looks out for h...
The story of Rip Van Winkle is well known throughout American culture. As one of America's most popular short stories, few school children have not heard of Rip Van Winkle's twenty-year slumber or imagined his long, gray beard. In the telling and re-telling of this mysterious tale, the original context of the story itself has, for the most part, been forgotten. Few Americans are aware of how the story originated, and in what context it was first presented to the public. "Rip Van Winkle" first appeared as a part of Washington Irving's The Sketch Book. This was a collection of various short works, ideas, thoughts, and pictures. "Rip van Winkle" was only a part of this collection, but eventually gained a great deal of popularity in its own right. When considering this story, it is important to keep in mind the original context and its relation to other works within The Sketch Book. However, as "Rip Van Winkle" has stood on its own in American culture, there is also a place for examining the story apart from The Sketch Book. When doing this, certain symbolism becomes apparent. Washington Irving uses symbolism in "Rip Van Winkle" to relate Rip's life and experiences to the situation of the American colonies in relation to Great Britain and the War of Independence.
Events, no matter how small can change a society, a culture, and an outlook in the blink of an eye. Whether it is in a war, a speech, a gesture, or even a novel. Washington Irving made an incredible impact from his short story "Rip Van Winkle", drawing the events surrounding him to form a simple story with deep meaning. To bring to a pinpoint, the story shaped the American culture as the American culture shaped the story.
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.
At the beginning of the story, “the country was yet a province of Great Britain”; whereas at the end, the “American Revolution has come and gone” (228). Steven Blakemore comments in "Rip Van Winkle." American History Through Literature 1820 - 1870:
Each of these accomplishments were not only Irving's or the film industry's, but to the benefit of American journalism with the use of European influence. As a young man of a fresh nineteenth century, Irving traveled most of the time in Europe. He served as secretary of the United States legation in London, England in 1829, minister to Spain from 1843 to 1846, and lived to serve a number of years experiencing European life and expressing it through his work. (Oldstyle 2) In "Rip Van Winkle", Irving skillfully manipulates the reader. It seems that the character Rip is a poor provider, but Irving carefully turns the dislike to the wife. Tho...
So while Rip was discovering a newfound freedom from his wife, the colonies were discovering a newfound freedom from their longtime ruler, Great Britain. The colonies were then free to be the United States of America and remain that way without threat of British intervention in the future. In conclusion, while Rip Van Winkle is just a character in a short story, he is also a representative for the American colonies in both pre- and post-Revolutionary War times; whereas his spouse, Dame Van Winkle, is not just a mean old wife, but also a representative of Great Britain in both pre- and post-war times. Through their relationship, Washington Irving paints a symbolic picture of the transition from dependent colonies into an independent nation for America, and the downfall of British rule on North American ground.
Dame Van Winkle is Rip's wife, the protagonist in one of the important Irwing's short story. In this short story named „ Rip Van Wikle“ it is easy to notice the large role she plays in Rip Van Wikle's character development.
Although much satire is made of Van Winkle being a henpecked husband, the story also gives evidence of his many good works. Unafraid of hard labor, Van Winkle is seen by those of his community as one who, would never even refuse to assist a neighbor in the roughest of toil, and was a foremost man at all country frolics for husking Indian corn, or building stone fences. He is also seen as one well liked by the gentler sex, as the text continues, The women of he village too, used to employ him to run their errands and to do such little jobs as their obliging husbands would not do for them. He also has his place amongst the idle philosophers who gather in front of the inn, to discuss the events of the day. In this instance Van Winkle finds himself in good company: Nicholas Vedder is the owner of the Inn and Van Bummel is the towns school teacher. Even the children of the village adore him. The reason for his popularity gives further evidence to Van Winkles character. He assisted at their sports, made their playthings, taught them to fly kites and shoot marbles and told them long stories of ghosts, witches and Indians. In view of all this Van Winkle appears to epitomize Christian Charity and kindness. His only real flaw is that he would rather, ...attend to anybodys business but his own. But constant attention to others means disaster at home, and Van Winkle is a failure with both his farm and his wife. But even with these faults taken into account, he is still accepted by society. Whether he is considered a saint or a fool does not really matter, for he has a place. The story of Rip Van Winkle shows us how dependent he was on the community, without which he could not exist. His place within the society and the acknowledgment of others were crucial to how he defined