Washington Irving's The Legend Of Sleepy Hollow

Nathaniel Hawthorne was one of the first American writers to pioneer the unprecedented and unforeseen gothic genre which resulted in the American literature failed to accumulate international appreciation from the Revolutionary War period until the rise of revolutionary writer Washington Irving. Irving was perfectly positioned to live an observational, carefree life as a well-off child in New York city. Those conditions enabled Irving’s multiple trips to Europe, where he could experience the culture and eventually launch his writing career. In his collection, The Sketch Book of Geoffrey Crayon, Gent, Irving wrote “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow,” the tale of a materialistic foreigner who competed for the heart of a wealthy woman before falling

to the headless horseman. Another famous story from that collection, “Rip Van Winkle,” describes a lazy man’s twenty year departure from society fleeing from his nagging wife. Together, these stories launched Irving’s career and helped him accomplish his goal of bringing glory to America. Washington Irving’s life experiences as the youngest sibling who grew to fame despite personal tragedy are reflected in his characterization, symbolism, and imagery in “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow” and “Rip Van Winkle.”
A tale of one outsider’s struggles to find love or his place in society, “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow” reflects Washington Irving’s absorption of foreign culture and alien status through his characterization of the story’s main character.

From 1804 to 1806 Irving traveled throughout Europe and spent most of his time away in England, allowing him to experience European culture as well as how it feels to be a foreigner (May). Irving parallels his alien status in his characterization of Ichabod Crane, a character that one analyzer identified as “an outsider, a Yankee schoolmaster among the canny Dutch farmers” (Yarbrough). It is clear that Irving felt out of place in Europe, but he embraced his differences proudly and enjoyed absorbing the foreign culture just as Ichabod did. This willingness to absorb the surrounding culture is clearly paralleled by Ichabod’s views on witchcraft, in which he “most firmly and potently believed,” just as Irving was eager to adopt and adapt the traditional folktales he learned in Europe (“Legend of Sleepy Hollow”). Irving characterizes Crane as superstitious primarily to develop him as an intelligent and harsh schoolmaster and as a foil to the simpler countryfolk natives while also displaying his own love for exploring literature. Washington Irving’s development of Ichabod Crane as a superstitious outsider reflects his early experiences as a stranger and his embrace of foreign

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Washington Irving’s characterization in another short story, “Rip Van Winkle,” portrays his own romantic and financial strife. Irving describes how Rip Van Winkle was “thrice blessed” with the gift of a nagging, angry wife (“Rip Van Winkle”). Although this characterization of Rip’s wife does not directly parallel Irving’s life, Robert Ferguson describes how Dame Van Winkle “never receives so much as the courtesy of her full name.” This development of Dame Van Winkle as a nameless, nagging wife reflects Irving’s continued mourning for the loss of his first love, Matilda Hoffman. Her death marked the Irving’s greatest and earliest woe and caused him to implant the same loveless condition on his character, Rip (May). Irving transferred not only his romantic tragedy to his character, but also his brief financial struggles. He describes Rip as having an “insuperable aversion to all kinds of profitable labor” (“Rip Van Winkle”). Irving developed Rip as a poor man, who is barely was able to support his family, paralleling how Irving was motivated to write largely by his startling wealth depletion after the failure of his once-successful family business (May). Thus, Irving subjected Rip Van Winkle to the same loveless condition and struggle for money that he was forced to overcome on his path to fame.
While Rip Van Winkle endures a loveless marriage, Washington Irving describes how Ichabod Crane’s unromantic pursuit for love and eventual demise respectively symbolize American expansionist ideals and provide his commentary on the concept. The hero of “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow” finds that “the conquest of his heart was complete” not after meeting Katrina Van Tassel, but upon seeing her luxurious house (“Legend of Sleepy Hollow”). Irving’s character became obsessed with acquiring the wealth and land that accompany Van Tassel “from the moment Ichabod laid his eyes upon these regions of delight” (“Legend of Sleepy Hollow”). Scott Yarbrough analyzes this hunger and describes how Ichabod symbolizes the concept of manifest destiny through America’s need “to acquire and assimilate every element of the continent.”. However, this symbol fails to show any connection to Washington Irving’s life until the story’s conclusion, as “Brom Bones, too, who, shortly after his rival’s disappearance conducted the blooming Katrina to the altar” (“Legend of Sleepy Hollow”). Just as Ichabod symbolizes manifest destiny, his death and the ensuing happiness of the natives symbolizes a triumph for the ethnic minorities and Native Americans who pay the price of expansion. Washington Irving clearly portrays his negative view on manifest destiny ideals by portraying the concept’s symbol, Ichabod Crane, in a negative light and by describing his idea of a happy ending where the natives triumph over the expanding United States.
Washington Irving’s symbolism in “Rip Van Winkle” contrasts his negative views on America by relating the positive aspects of the young United States through the main character of his story. Rip Van Winkle is portrayed as a cheerful man “of foolish, well-oiled dispositions, who take the world easy,” and is thus directly comparable to Irving’s youthful mindset (“Rip Van Winkle”). However, this depiction also has a deeper meaning, as Rip functions as a “symbol of American infancy and misplaced innocence” (Ferguson). This symbolism comparing Irving’s character to the American spirit illustrates Irving’s position that the United States’ imaginative culture outweighs the country’s questionable expansionist intentions. Irving’s positive outlook on the youthful spirit he symbolized in Rip was likely induced by his position as a young child with eleven older siblings (May). Washington Irving’s freedom of imagination as the youngest sibling influenced him to symbolize the youthful American spirit in the character of Rip Van Winkle, which reflects his overall favorable view on his homeland.
Although Irving’s symbolism had different effects in “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow” and “Rip Van Winkle,” his imagery in the two stories had similar roots and consequences. Irving’s elongated and suspenseful descriptions were induced by his position as an “amused observer of people and customs” and a wealthy merchant’s son (Yarbrough). Irving had ample opportunities to explore both foreign and American landscapes, and both are reflected in his works. His European exposure is clear as he describes Rip’s village in “shingle roofs gleam among the trees, just where the blue tints of the upland melt away into the fresh green of the nearer landscape” (“Rip Van Winkle”). Although foreign cultural and geographical descriptions are common in both of Irving’s stories, American details are also integrated and often mixed with European culture to form a unique setting for these tales. Another parallel between Irving’s life and his literature is revealed in Irving’s detailed description of Rip’s village from a small community to a flourishing city (Ferguson). This growth in American culture that Irving portrays through imagery was witnessed firsthand by Irving, as the country changed drastically during each of his European excursions. Thus, Washington Irving’s abundant imagery in the stories reflects his observational nature as well as the cultural changes he witnessed while overseas.
Washington Irving’s characterization, symbolism, and imagery in “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow” and “Rip Van Winkle” reflect his childhood experiences, observational tendencies, and romantic losses. Irving’s life was a rollercoaster of experiences with the loss of his first love and family business marking his deepest plunges. Despite these personal struggles, the positive aspects of Irving’s life dominate the parallels in his literature. This positive outlook drove his success as a writer and lead critics to praise him as an “American literary hero” (Ferguson). Washington Irving brought glory to his homeland by leading America into the literary world and revolutionizing literature worldwide.