Symbolism In Rip Van Winkle

A long sleep can do most of us good, but for Rip Van Winkle, a deep slumber of 20 years left him waking up dazed and confused in a new country called America. “Rip Van Winkle” by Washington Irving was written as a satirical piece in order to parallel the happenings of the American Revolution and how not only Van Winkle had changed, but also the country around him as well. “Rip Van Winkle” not only tells the story of a character’s drastic change, but also tells of the shift that a young nation had to undergo through the symbolic representation of Van Winkle’s wife, implications of drinking, and political inclination.

Initially, the whole ordeal that Van Winkle went through was partially influenced by the want of getting away from his incommodious wife, Dame Van Winkle who is blessed with a “sharp tongue” and “tart temper”. Van Winkle’s wife is a symbol of Great Britain while

Van Winkle himself symbolizes pre revolution America. It was a well-known fact that the two had a strained relationship through plenty of injustices done upon the colonies by the mother country, and this is paralleled by Dame Van Winkle constantly berating and nagging her husband every chance she got in the day for events that spanned from idle fishing to leisurely pipe smoking. When his wife kept “dinning in his ears about his idleness, his carelessness…” Van Winkle who is tired of all the torment decides to steal away from home to seek pleasure, choosing instead to be idle and carefree in the face of never ending chastising. This is much like America who was tired of Britain’s inequities, and thus chose to break away from their mother country in an act of desperation.
Also in “Rip Van Winkle” is the immediate cause of Rip’s problems in the form of “a company of odd-looking personages” tucked away in a niche of the forest seemingly hidden away from human eyes.

These peculiarly dressed people somberly play a type of bowling while liquor is served nearby, to which Rip drinks and drinks till he falls into a deep sleep. The drink which lulls him to sleep can be seen as the injustices Britain had done upon America, while the sleep itself is the revolution. Things like taxation without representation, the Quartering Act, and the Proclamation of 1763 were all seen as terribly ridiculous notions forced upon the colonists by Britain, and when they had had enough of the “drink” that was being fed to them, they chose to rebel. It is also to be duly noted that the Kaatskill Mountains that Van Winkle ventured upon were a part of the Appalachian Mountains, which King George prohibited settlers from moving past in the Proclamation of 1763. Irving possibly used these mountain ranges as a symbol to show the truths that really laid behind these landscapes and of

rebellion.
Although Van Winkle changed primarily in physical terms, his character was of the past, leading many to gape at him when he returns to his old village with “uncouth dress” and a “long grizzled beard.” Similarly to the changes of Van Winkle, the colonies that were previously under the rule of George the Third were now under a new name, The United States of America. In some aspects his environment had kept its humdrum appearance but in others, political strife began to pop up seemingly out of nowhere to our main character’s great dismay. This outwardly change of political awareness and involvement shows how different the townspeople will act now that they are under no monarchical rule, and instead are free to pursue representation in their own governments. When Van Winkle is bombarded with multitudes of questions asking if he was “…Federal or Democrat?” Van Winkle says flustered that he is “a loyal subject of the king” which sends onlookers into peals of anger with accusations of him being a “tory” or spy. With so many people being involved in the national affairs of others, we can see that this is the beginning of a new nation, one that is caught up in the whirlwind of eddying opinions instead of the mulling around that they were so used to.
Irving’s short story utilizes a slumbering main character to depict the American Revolution and the changes it had on both Van Winkle’s and the colonists’ lives. Rip, who is initially portrayed as a lethargic idler turns out to be a satirical parallel to early America. The stagnant life that they once led is transposed by a sudden interest in politics following the end of Britain’s rule, signifying the birth of a new country and its people.