Rip’s Dependence on Society for Self-Identity
Rip Van Winkle After falling asleep in the forest, a man returns to find his house abandoned, his town transformed his friends
dead or missing and his own identity in serious doubt. Suddenly he recognizes his exact likeness walking
down the street and for a moment he loses his identity. This is not a science fiction piece but rather the well
known tale of Rip Van Winkle by Washington Irving. In the moment when Van Winkle sees his exact likeness
walking up the mountain, he let's out an anguished cry, ". . .I can't tell what's my name, or who I am I am!"
(Page 410) With that one statement we understand Van Winkle's predicament. Without his community to
define him Van Winkle is lost, for he only exists through the eyes of others.
To understand better Van Winkle's predicament we must first understand his character and how he was viewed
by his community. Examining the text we find ample examples of both. Irving describes his main character as
an amiable fool. As stated in the text Van Winkle is ". . . one of those happy mortals, of foolish,
well-oiled dispositions, who take the world easy, eat white bread or brown, which ever can be got with least
thought or trouble, and would rather starve on a penny than work for a pound." (Page 404) He is also said to
be a man who, "If left to himself would whistle his life away . . . " (Page 404) Clearly Van Winkle has little
concern for the matters of getting ahead. Yet one has to look at how he fits into his rustic community to get a
clearer impression of him.
Although much satire is made of Van Winkle being a "henpecked husband", the story al...
... middle of paper ...
...n to an "old woman" who finally comes forward and
proclaims, "Sure enough! it is Rip Van Winkle -- it is himself." (Page 411) After her identification is
corroborated by the elderly Peter Vanderdonk, Van Winkle is Van Winkle once more.
Once he is identified, Van Winkle's place in the community is reinstated. In fact his status even improves to the
point where he is considered, "one of the patriarchs of the village", for in their eyes he is now a
town historian. The story of 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 himself.
Works Cited:
Irving, Washington. "Rip Van Winkle." The Heath Anthology of American Literature. Ed. Paul Lauter. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1998.
Winkle was left to gather his thoughts and rectify them on his own. Despite the fact that he had the blood of others on his hands and once enjoyed it. Winkle realized “If anything the war made him appreciate life more, helped him see what was important” (Wrinkle111).
Mansfield, Katherine. "Miss Brill." Compact Literature: Reading, Reacting, Writing. Ed. Laurie G. Kirszner and Stephen R. Mandell. Compact 8th ed. Boston: Wadsworth, 2013. 241-244. Print.
people have to worked to get where he got to. He was just a simple man who from the
Irving uses many other images and scenes within this story that could be delved into further. However, I believe these three main points, along with the knowledge of the political climate of the times, shows Irving’s genius in representing both sides of the political gamut. Irving was able to cater to both the British and the Colonist without offending either side. Irving’s genius was that even though this was an allegory of its time, its elements could represent either or both sides of the conflict during the Revolution. This dual representation in an allegorical story ensured his success, in both countries as a writer. It allowed Irving to make a political statement without taking sides.
In the story, Rip Van Winkle wanders off to the mountains and runs across some small men who are rolling bowling balls and drinking. Rip witnesses all this and joins them in their drinking until he passes out. When he wakes up, everything has changed the people, the town, and himself. After he tells his story, he becomes very popular among the townspeople, whereas before he was seen as lazy.
Irving shows us that this piece is a satire to revolutionary America in the very beginning of
One major theme present in both stories is liberty/freedom. In “Rip Van Winkle,” Irving depicts the main character as a person who only wish...
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,
The only reason Jane Goodall is famous; is her work. She worked with chimpanzees in Gombe and her efforts to raise awareness about the wild and captive chimpanzees.
Protagonist Rip Van Winkle possesses mystical and entertaining characteristics that captivate the reader. Rip Van Winkle regards all of his neighbors with kindness continuously. He shows the depth of American values such as kindness and the love of the neighbor. Van Winkle’s great kindness is illustrated by his helping of others. On page 62, the narrator states “He inherited, however, but little of the martial character of his ancestors. I have observed that he was a simple, good-natured man; he was moreover a kind neighbor, and an obedient, henpecked husband,” confirming that Van Winkle is a kind person and a loving
The story of Rip van Winkle is a popular folktale of the United States. Its general motif is the magical passing of many years in what seems only a few days. Japan’s popular version of this story is Urashima Taro. In addition to the common motif, the personality of the main characters, Rip van Winkle and Urashima Taro, and plot structures are similar as well.
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.
Washington Irving’s Rip Van Winkle, is the story of Rip Van Winkle, a seemingly lazy man, prone to habitual drunkenness who wanders into the mountains to escape the tyranny of his nagging wife Dame Van Winkle. During his alleged hunting trip, he meets with a mystical band of creatures “dressed in a quaint, outlandish fashion” ( (Irving p 476). Upon the encounter, he is offered a flagon of beverage of mysterious nature, which he consumes most eagerly and then falls into an alcoholic induced slumber. Rip awakens to find himself in a strange and confusing new world, which is both familiar and unfamiliar to him. He returns to his tiny village to find that new faces have replaced the old familiar ones. The house he once lived in has fallen into disrepair and his loved ones are nowhere to be found. Even the inn where he spent many an evening is no longer the same. Where there was once a portrait of King George, a new portrait of another George, this one named Washington, hangs in its place. The old familiar British flag has been replaced by a strange new flag with an “assemblage of stars and stripes” (Irving p 478). In what seems like at first like a fable, Rip Van Winkle, is actually an allegory of the American Revolution. Irving uses creative symbolism throughout the story to portray America before and after the Revolutionary War. Rip is representative of the American people, Dame Van Winkle shows qualities of King George and British rule and the townspeople represent the change in the American people.
Van Winkle" depicts a story of a man longing to be free, and of the transformation that occurs to him and the
That Van Winkle is confused seems obvious and is quite understandable, but this confusion extends beyond the bizarre sequence of events encountered. When Rip notices the person that the township refers to as Rip Van Winkle, it is as though he is looking into a mirror, for this person portrays a "precise counterpoint of himself." Although Rip visually sees this other person, his examination becomes a personal reflect...