How Does Rip Van Winkle Symbolize The Struggle Of Early America

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

In Rip Van Winkle, Irving shows his doubts in the American Identity and the American dream. After the Revolutionary war, America was trying to develop its own course. They were free to govern their own course of development; however, some of them had an air of uncertainties on their own identity in this new country. Irving was born among this generation in the newly created United States of America, and also felt uncertainty about the American identity. Irving might be the writer that is the least positive about being an American. The main reason for this uncertainty is the new born American has no history and tradition while the Europe has a great one accumulated for thousands of years. Therefore, in order to solve this problem, Irving

Next, the characters enter the scene of mythology. In order for mythology to come across as supernatural, the characters must lend themselves to mystery. In Rip Van Winkle, not only do other intriguing characters appear, but Rip himself tends towards strange behaviors. After all, Rip did sleep for twenty years without waking. That in its self begins to reveal the underlying interest of the story. Perhaps the most strange and exaggerated characters would prove to be the bowler in the forest. In the text it says, “He was still more surprised at the singularity of the stranger’s appearance.” It goes on to

This shows how women were often depicted as the antagonist in literature. It shows she was controlling and intolerable. Rip loves to sit around with his friends and talk about newspaper stories which is his way of avoiding work of any kind. The nagging insults Rip and causes him to declare women as troublesome. Eventually he can’t take any more and leaves. “Poor Rip was at last reduced almost to despair; and his only alternative to escape from the labour of the farm the clamour of his wife, was to take gun in hand, and stroll away into the woods” (459). It represents women in a negative light, because Dame Van Winkle drove her husband to leave. Women are expected to be respectful to their husbands. When they don’t do as they are told, they are seen as stubborn and arrogant like Dame Van

Rip Van Winkle’s positive traits also symbolically represent the ideal of what “New Americans” wanted to be; beloved, free-spirited, and kind. No one has no problem with Rip Van Winkle and his eagerness to do anything for anyone, except his wife. Irving states, “Morning, noon and night, her tongue was incessantly going, and everything he said or did was sure to produce a torrent of household eloquence” (2). Yes, Rip was extremely caring and helpful but he also came with his own bad traits. Rip was stubborn, very irresponsible, and he lacked ambition. All of these bad traits which happened to get on Dame Van Winkle’s nerves. Rip can never catch a break with Dame Van Winkle. Dame Van Winkle would get angry at him for anything and everything he did, it was a never ending tirade “sharp tongue is the only edge tool that grows keener by constant use” (2). Dame Van Winkle would nag Rip to death over his chores and duties so much that his only refuge would come from running away. Washington uses the character of Dame Van Winkle as a symbol for Royal England and its treatment of the Colonies. Rip Van Winkle's character portrays

Exaggerated characters are a very important aspect of a mythological tale, and there are many characters in “Rip Van Winkle” that are exaggerated and strange. One of the first strange characters is Wolf, but Wolf is a dog, despite his name. Wolf is described as a courageous and loyal companion to Rip, but Wolf’s courage does not stand up to Rip’s wife, Dame Van Winkle. She hates Wolf, but this hatred is ultimately exaggerated. “True it is, in all points of spirit befitting an honorable dog, he was as courageous an animal as ever scoured the woods- but what courage can withstand the ever-during and all-besetting terrors of a woman’s tongue?” (pg. 11) He is described as letting his tail hang between his legs when he is in Dame’s presence.

The character of Rip Van Winkle was one who was considered lazy and unproductive. He was "one of the happy mortals...who take the world easy, eat white bread or brown, which ever he can be got with least thought or trouble..." (Irving 983). Winkle was the kind of

The next and main thing that he noticed was the town and country government changed during the time period that he was asleep. Nicholas Vedder’s inn was now gone since there was no one to take care of since Vedder had died. When Rip Van Winkle came into town for the first time, he saw that his old favorite place to gossip with friends was now gone and had been replaced with a modern inn. He was simply confused when he originally saw this change; not realizing yet those twenty years had gone by. The primary difference that he observed was that King George’s picture was not located on a sign that used to represent the country of England. But now the sign has a picture of someone that Rip Van Winkle did not recognize named George Washington. Rip Van Winkle did not know about the Revolutionary War or about the new government of the brand new country who won its freedom from England. His world that he thought he

Rip Van Winkle is described as a man who “was one of those happy mortals, of foolish, well-oiled dispositions, who take the world easy, eat white bread or brown, whichever can be got with least thought or trouble, and would rather starve on a penny than work for a pound” (46). He was a stubborn man

Through the course of “Rip Van Winkle” you stumble upon many remarkable and strange characters. Washington Irving reveals these complex characters through humor and exaggeration. Irving not only gives readers the characters

Furthermore, Rip Van Winkle’s identity itself represents America’s journey before and after the American Revolution and the difficulties that were faced. When the reader is first introduced to Rip Van Winkle, he is a well-known man. The community loves him and he has made a name for himself based off the needs of others. He is very dependent on the community and the community is dependent on him. The following citation how well-liked Rip Van Winkle is before he takes his trip to Kaatskill mountains. “Certain it is, that he was a great favorite among all the good wives of the village […] The children of the village, too, would shout with joy whenever he approached.”(https://www.ibiblio.org/ebooks/Irving/Winkle/Irving_Winkle.pdf, Page 8) When Rip returns, he is faced with the reality that he has lost any form of identity he once had. Nobody recognized him, the children laughed at him, and even the dogs barked after him, none of these were the case before his trip. Irving used Rip Van Winkle to represent America

broken down. In Washington Irving’s ‘Rip Van Winkle”, the main character, Rip Van Winkle, was a

Within Washington Irving's story “Rip Van Winkle”, Irving depicts an early British colonist by the name of Rip. Rip although the descendant of the chivalrous Van Winkles does not like to perform arduous tasks. Irving illustrates this within the text stating, “ Rip Van Winkle, however, was one of those happy mortals, of foolish, well- being oiled dispositions, who take the world easy, eat white bread or brown, whichever can be got with the least thought or trouble, and would rather starve on a penny than work for a pound.” ( Irving 32) This highlights the indifferent attitude Rip has when it comes to results in life as well as his desire to avoid work. Rip is somewhat odd in this respect, however, because he is always willing to give help to his friends, but not work for his family, he lives a life of sorrow at the hand of his griping wife, Dame Van Winkle. Rip spends most of his time discussing politics and events at the local inn, where even there he cannot escape the heckling of his wife. Often time Rip also takes trips into the woods with his dog, wolf, although one day while taking his usual stroll, he encounters a short man with a grizzled beard who asks for his assistance. Rip agrees and helps the man, they meet up with others to drink and this leads to Rip becoming inebriated to the point of exhaustion. Rip falls asleep and wakes up the next morning unsure what had exactly happened in the woods.

Before the American Revolution, people used to have determined beliefs, traditions and government, but after the war, society was confused. For example, the website saylor.org stated, “Politically, the American Revolution carried significant and historic consequences … established a republican form of government out of what had been a monarchical and colonial political system. It altered the position of American people from being subjects of the British crown to citizens and political participants of a republic” (How Revolutionary Was The American Revolution?). Now, people had more freedom and the ability to express their thoughts on what they wanted for their country. As a result, people was struggling to leave old habits. The symbolism in this quote emphasizes how America had to adapt: “Rip now resumed his old walks and habits; he soon found many of his former cronies, though all rather the worse for the wear and tear of time; and preferred making friends among the rising generation, with whom he soon grew into great favor” (Irving, 1014). This quote is of great importance because it shows the reader that Rip Van Winkle himself represents the old country. Since all the news about the revolution and his family happened so fast to him, he does not know how to deal with them. For this reason, he kept his “old habits”, while at the same time, he adapted to his environment. Given these points, “Rip Van Winkle” can be analyzed as a story about the struggle for identity because of the

Rip Van Winkle knew how to make the most out of his freedom and this aura about him led other people to follow