Rip Van Winkle Symbolism And Irony

An author that writes short stories is often regarded as an author that just wants to entertain their reader. The truth to the matter is that all short story writers have a true intention of enlightening their reader on a certain aspect. The short story writer Washington Irving alludes to facets such as supernatural, one with nature, and use of color in his short story Rip Van Winkle.

First, In Washington Irving’s short story, a man named Rip Van Winkle go’s hunting in the Kaatskill mountains one afternoon to escape his garrulous wife and ends up falling asleep against a tree for about 20 years. In the story Rip Winkle is a middle aged man that is well known and enjoyed by the town for his peculiar work. “He would never refuse to assist a neighbor even in the roughest toil, and was a foremost man at all country frolics for husking Indian corn, or building stone-fences: the women of the village, too, used to employ him to run their errands, and to do such little odd jobs as their less obliging husbands

The specific elements that make the story Rip Van Winkle an American Gothic styled piece of literature is Washington Irving’s use of imagery, symbolism and irony. In the short Irving uses imagery to describe the Kaatskill Mountains and the weather around the mountain range. “Washington Irving uses imagery so his readers can see what Irving is visualizing with his words (Cgorman 247)”. Irving alludes to aspects such as symbolism that proves this short story is American gothic. “Upon awaking the first thing that Rip saw was an eagle (American gothic)” Irving use of irony is evident throughout the story. “I have observed that he was a simple good-natured man; he was, moreover, a kind neighbor, and an obedient hen-pecked husband (Rip Van Winkle.” “Irving uses their relationship to satirize loveless marriages. Rips wife hates his laziness, and he hates her nagging