Preview

Rip Van Winkle Essay

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
551 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Rip Van Winkle Essay
“Rip Van Winkle”

Can you consider yourself a true American if you haven’t read the classic tale of “Rip Van Winkle” by Washington Irving? It’s a lighthearted story that is a bit silly, but has message intertwined in its classic words. It is a necessity that every American should experience. Irving’s story is a well thought out mix of pure old fashion American folk quality’s such as; a unique setting, exaggerated characters, and peculiar events and consequences that occur. This story has many different folk aspects are quite an amusing combination.
The first folk characteristic that stands out in the fable is the remote almost magical setting. The tall tale is set is a small mountain village Nestled in the foothills of the Catskill Mountains. Reading about this type of setting is really appealing and emprises the effortless beauty of such places as well as the majestic poise of the American countryside. Also this scenery is a perfect for setting the tone of this wonderful fairy tale. Furthermore Irving uses his extraordinary imagery skilled to describe the Catskills as “fairy mountains” and also stated that in the sun they “glow and light up like a crown of glory.” even though Irving does and amazing job at vividly describing the dramatic settings of folk tales; that is just one of the couple folk traits he used to add personality to “Rip Van Winkle”.
The second old fashioned feature he used to spice up his story was embellished and entertaining characters. By creating lighthearted exaggerated individuals, the Readers feel content laughing at their silly quirks. Look at Rip, for example he was so lazy he took a nap for 20 years. By using exaggerations to absorb readers Irving tells how Rip sleep so long “his beard had grown a foot long!” And His “house gone to decay—the roof fallen in, the windows shattered, and the doors off .” In addition he successfully used tactics to leave his memorable characters etched in your mind; although that is not the only

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    To start off with there all around feeling and theme. Rip VanWinkle is set in a fantasy world right of the bat by the way Irving sort of zooms in on the scene, first he tells of the mountains and then the town and down till he's in the room with Tom and his wife. In The Devil and Tom Walker the author gives some info on the situation and the…

    • 478 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Even though Romantic Literature is concerned with nature, the inner world of human nature and the past, Washington Irving only focused on the past and nature in The Devil and Tom Walker. Irving expresses nature when Tom meets the devil in the forest. He depicts the forest by saying…

    • 383 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Throughout history, writers have used many different styles to articulate their beliefs, and each new idea seems to evolve from an outgoing style. Washington Irving, an American author who wrote the short story "The Devil and Tom Walker", was one of many to go completely against this trend in the United States during the 18th century. He helped to introduce American Romanticism to the masses, a bold move considering that the general public still idolized Puritanical or Classicist writings. The freedom to create any story imaginable helped fuel authors to completely overhaul novels, poems, and short stories, and "The Devil and Tom Walker" is a classic representation of the changes that have occurred in American literature.…

    • 1323 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Despite the evidence that Washington Irving uses to show his love for America in his stories, he portrays some characters in the Devil and Tom Walker and The Legend of Sleepy Hollow as greedy. Irving shows concern for America by placing stories in uniquely American moments. In this essay I will prove through passages and quotes from Irving’s stories that he shows his love for America in his stories and portrays some characters as greedy in the two stories.…

    • 790 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Edward Scissorhands Essay

    • 796 Words
    • 4 Pages

    A dark castle sat on the outside of town still visible from town but too eerie for anyone to dare to go up there. There was a kind lady who cares and loves everyone. Her name is Peg, Peg welcomes Edward to town and gives him a nice place to live. Everyone is impressed by what Edward can do until Kim, Pegs daughter and her boyfriend Jim return from their camping trip. Edward falls in love with Kim the moment he laid eyes on her. Kim is rude and embarrassed at first but once Jim showed Kim who he really was she instantly knew she loved Edward. In the movie Edward Scissorhands, Tim Burton uses costume, color, and set/props to create a contrasting mood throughout the fim.…

    • 796 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    bob duncan

    • 526 Words
    • 2 Pages

    6. Compare the appearance and activities of the inn before and after Rip’s sleep. Remember that Washington Irving is writing this story right after America became a country. How might the inn reflect the political and social changes that have taken place in America at that time?…

    • 526 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    The characters in “Rip Van Winkle” are exaggerated and strange. For the most part, Irving uses Rip Van Winkle & Dame Van Winkle to show exaggeration in the characters. People in their town view Rip Van Winkle as someone who is friendly & loves to help everyone. His wife, Dame Van Winkle, only saw him as being lazy due to Rip not doing much work around his house. Dame Van Winkle spends most of her time in this story criticizing him and Rip just “….shrugged his shoulders, shook his head, cast up his eyes, but said nothing.” To get away from his wife’s nagging, Rip chooses to go up to the Catskill Mountains with his dog. Dame Van Winkle…

    • 273 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    American Literature plays a prominent role in education. Nathaniel Hawthorn and Washington Irving, are two very influential men of American literature, in the genres that are of humorous and gothic short stories. Their works are treated with the same themes of hypocrisy, the foibles of human nature, and the rejection of strict religious intellect. Nathaniel Hawthorns “Young Goodman Brown” and Washington Irving “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow” are considered to be two very dynamic short stories. Both writing styles are within the same essence of themes and portray various symbolism meanings within their works.…

    • 617 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The first subtle way Irving shows his bias, intentional or not, is in the way that neither wife’s personality really affects the outcomes of their stories. Dame Van Winkle henpecks Rip because of his idleness, a trait which wouldn’t change even if she weren’t mentioned at all. Rip’s long sleep happened as a result of entering the woods to avoid her for a…

    • 629 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Freedom In Rip Van Winkle

    • 509 Words
    • 3 Pages

    The theme of freedom is one of the most important themes in American literature and in American society. Still today they are almost obsessed with the concept of freedom, going as far as renaming “French Fries” with “Freedom Fries” when the French government did not agree to go to war in Irak with the American forces in 2003. Rip Van Winkle is a short story wrote by Washington Irving written in 1878 and published in 1819 in the The Sketch Book of Geoffrey Crayon. Here we are going to discuss the different ways of representing freedom in Rip Van Winkle, a story written during the first years of the American society.…

    • 509 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    What I mean by this is that the story of Rip Van Winkle also teaches us about the lesson of adapting to new things. Rip Van Winkle had fallen asleep for 20 years, and after he woke up, everything was very different. If Rip hadn’t ventured off away from his village and into the woods, fallen asleep, then wake up 20 years later, everything would be different whether for better or worse. Washington Irving defines American Mythology in a way that uses events, characters, and setting.…

    • 617 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Edgar Allan Poe and Washington Irving are both enthralling writers. They both have unusual styles of writing but they are similar in some ways. The writers are comparable in the use of tone in their works. Irving‘s use of tone in his stories are typically optimistic, yet dramatic. Poe’s uses of tone in his stories are filled with horror and are also dramatic. Poe and Irving use different techniques to develop a complex meaning in their short stories. For instance, elements such as imagery, tone, and irony are placed in these stories contribute to make these stories intense.…

    • 751 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Washington Irving’s Rip Van Winkle story’s main character, Rip Van Winkle, is a man from New York who would considered to be a patient and quiet person. Rip’s wife would be viewed as someone who is annoying and angry.…

    • 685 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Steinbecks Writing

    • 408 Words
    • 2 Pages

    His use of repetition is another great aspect of his liturature. The repetition creates rythym for the reader and help the words seemingly flow right off the page. This is a great attribute for an author because it helps their audience get sucked into the story and not wanting to put the book down. One example of this comes from the novel The Grapes of Wrath……

    • 408 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    He describes, “a mountain stream [that] was now foaming down it, leaping from rock to rock, and filling the glen with babbling murmurs” (Irving, “Rip Van Winkle, 19). Irving personifies the stream as a child in this instance, describing the stream to have human qualities that are typical of young children. In addition, he uses the sensory details of hearing to allow the reader to feel as if they were in the setting. Because a river cannot jump between rocks, or speak like a human, the element of personification allows the author to use the connection between the two to make a happy mood. Based upon the positive connotation associated with children, readers look favorably and warmly upon the small stream. Another variation of this in Irving’s writing is shown in his story, “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow”, the author describes a “spring of the softest and sweetest water, in a little well formed of a barrel… [That] then stole sparkling away through the grass, to a neighboring brook, that babbled along among the Alders and Dwarf willows” (Irving, 1). In addition to being an example of figurative language, Irving uses small instances of…

    • 1398 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Good Essays