Passage 1 Passage 2

He ‘s a lazy and obedient hen-pecked husband. “In a word, Rip was ready to attend to anybody’s business but his own; but as to doing family duty, keeping his farm in order, he found it impossible.” His idleness to his responsibility can be seen as American’s unwillingness to be a servant of England. “There is phlegm and drowsy tranquility” around the town before the revolution war. However, after Rip awakes from his sleep for twenty years, everything in the town has changed. “There was a busy, bustling, disputatious tone about it, instead of the accustomed phlegm and drowsy tranquility.” Also, the sign outside the tavern where he spent much of his time has changed from King George to General Washington. After seeing all of these changes, at first Rip doubts his own identity, especially when he sees his son who is” a precise counterpart of himself.” However, before long, “he resumes his old walks and habits,” because he doesn’t compelled to change himself into a post Revolutionary American. Since it never happens as an event in his life, it makes no drastic change in Rip’s life. Because he has no indent to fit in the new society to be who he has to be at the new age, he tries to retreat or stay in the past which is what the Americans need to lead their cultural life.

The historical context urges the Irving’s great tale into the world of American mythology. Another example of the impact of mythological setting lies near the beginning of the plot arch. Rip goes up into the Kaatskill Mountains to hunt; a place that Irving depicts as remote in the following excerpt from the story: “Rip had unconsciously scrambled to one of the highest parts of the Kaatskill Mountains…and the still solitude had echoed.” The isolation that Rip had while in the mountains, where he would later sleep for twenty years, impacts the reader. It shows the reader the reason why nobody ever found him, as well as evoking a deeper emotion and concern for Rip as he slept out there all alone. Emotions find themselves imbedded in this mythology once again.

He enjoys helping his neighbors, sitting under a tree, and talking to his friends at the inn, no matter what anybody else says. He enjoys his quiet existence, even when his home life brings him down. The supernatural plays a large part in Rip’s story as well. In the Katskill mountains, Rip falls asleep for twenty years and wakes up after the American Revolution. In a way, this is exactly what Rip wanted.

Georgiana’s birthmark represents the sole flaw that prevents her purity to Aylmer. The narrator states, “Seeing her otherwise so perfect, he found this one defect grow more and more intolerable…it was the fatal flaw of humanity…the symbol of his wife’s liability to sin, sorrow, decay, and death” (Hathorne, 213). Even though others found her imperfection appealing, Aylmer views the birthmark as a visible reminder that separates any woman or man from perfection. Georgiana has innocently looked upon her birthmark as her “charm” because of the opinions of others around her. Aminadab, Aylmer’s lab assistant, even comments on how he would leave the birthmark untouched if Georgiana were his wife (Hawthorne, 216). Unfortunately, Aylmer cannot come to terms with this horrifying defect and is determined to fix it.

Irving describes the sights Rip is seeing for the first time, “the very village was altered; it was larger and more populous” not only that but, “he found his beard had grown a foot long” (6). When Rip arrives to the town the only thing he is worried about is finding his wife and receiving the fire he knows his wife will spit at him. Rip arrives in the town shocked when he finds the image of King George III replaced by George Washington. As Rip continues through the town he becomes confused and unable to understand that there is an election currently going on. When he is questioned by townspeople as to “which side he voted?” (7). Rip says, “ ‘I am a poor quiet man, a native of the place, and a loyal subject of the king, God bless him!” (7). Rip is hearing the townspeople talk so freely of elections and politics, it’s all very new, and it represents the freedom of speech these citizens now have and the responsibility of the new democracy. A main struggle of the story was one of identity, especially at this time in history. The citizens of America, twenty years after Rip Van Winkle finally awoke, found their identity. Rip, who was having difficulty finding himself throughout the story, finally finds his identity when his own identity after he is told about his wife’s passing and being

The narrator includes observations of other women regarding the mark: “Some fastidious persons -- but they were exclusively of her own sex -- affirmed that the bloody hand, as they chose to call it, quite destroyed the effect of Georgiana's beauty, and rendered her countenance even hideous.” The narrator opposes such an absurd accusation, likening it to the ridiculousness of asserting that blue veins in quality marble degrade the marble: “But it would be as reasonable to say that one of those small blue stains which sometimes occur in the purest statuary marble would convert

When Rip returns to the village he discovers it has changed. Rip found out when he was gone that his wife was dead. Rip's daughter, son and some villagers knew who he was and he is accepted by the others. The village also looks different from before by new builds stand in place of old ones and the Yankee hotel is where the old Dutch inn was. The people also have change to concerned citizens from phlegmatic burghers. The village has drastically changed so since this has happen Rip thinks life has passed without

When the United States was trying to become a country, it was very underestimated by the bigger countries because it was only thirteen colonies and it was considered laughable to other countries. In the story Rip represents the colonies by being very friendly, childish, and naive. For example, when Rip is in the forest about to leave and this strange, nameless man starts calling his name and instead of running the other direction goes up to him and tries to help. “If left to himself, he would have whistled life way, in perfect contentment; but his wife kept continually dining his ears about his idleness, his carelessness, and ruin he was bring on family” Irving 32. He wants to be free from the tyranny of his wife, so he can live freely. The United States wanted to be free from King

Irving reveals the irony of Rip’s absolute sloth when it came to supporting his family. Dame Van Winkle was a tempestuous shrew, which forced Rip to leave for the solitude of the Catskill Mountains with Wolf and his gun. Irving created a mysterious fellow with a stout keg [American Traditions, Irving, Page 68] who lead Rip to a hollow that looked like an amphitheater. “On entering the amphitheater, new objects of wonder presented themselves” [American Traditions, Irving, Page 69].

As Rip walked through the woods behind his subdivision and towards his friend’s home, he began to feel very sleepy from all of the hotdogs, chips, and Surge Soda he had while watching the big game. So, he decided to sit down beside a large oak tree so that he could take a rest and look at the nearby Catskill Mountains and listen to the rushing waters of the Hudson River. However, rather than continuing his walk as planned, Rip wrapped his neon windbreaker tighter around his body and fell into a deep sleep.

The first qulity Irving associated with a Romantic hero was being an individual. Rip clearly did not follow the social norm of men in the village. While all other men went to work, Rip, “would sit on a wet rock( Irving” or “assist a neighbor”. He was willing to help anyone but his family. If Rip had followed the crowd, he would not have had the the calling and would never have been able to go into the

Although Irving’s story had striking similarities with the folktale, he fused history of the American Revolution with the old imaginative literature. Irving used the story of Rip to symbolize the struggles Americans faced before and after the Revolutionary War.

Rip’s fascination with the past enables his escape from his new reality after he wakes up from his twenty-year slumber. Rip feels shocked and angry that King George’s picture no longer hangs on the wall, but instead he sees a mystery man, George Washington. When asked if he is democratic or republican, he replies “I am a poor quiet man, a native of the place, and a loyal subject of the king, God bless him!”(Irving 35). Rip’s fascination with the past makes him escape from his new reality that he is in now. He reminisces on the British-ruled colonies because that is all he knows and does not want to accept that he has been asleep for twenty-years.

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.

For Rip Van Winkle in Washington Irving’s “Rip Van Winkle”, the natural world is depicted as a means of escape for Rip, while further shaping who he is as a being. Irving’s story not only examines a character who is opposed to the American Revolution but more so, a man with a vision of an impossible dream of personal independence. Rip leaves town and turns to the femininity of the Catskill woods, in efforts to leave the real world behind. As he slowly becomes possessed by surrounding landscape, Rip’s imagination takes him away from the world of commerce, leading him to fall into an everlasting sleep. Eventually, when Rip awakes after twenty years, he finds himself in a completely different universe where the natural scene has transformed to