Irving’s “Rip Van Winkle”
Rip Van Winkle is a story based on a main character of a similar name. It revolves around the life of Rip, a hermit who is loved by all the members of his village especially the young children to whom he narrates stories. He has two children, a son and a daughter. Rip is a lazy man and this makes his farm fall into ruin because of the neglect. Rip’s wife is constantly arguing with him because of his laziness and his sale of the fertile portions of their land leaving the rocky, infertile ones. One of his favorite places is the mountains. He prefers to go hunting and fishing there. Once, in one of his visits to the mountains, he meets a Dutch dressed man who calls him by his name. Rip is surprised that the man knew his name even though he had never met him before. The Dutch man requested him to assist him to carry a keg up the Catskill Mountains. Rip happily obliged and helped him to carry the keg up the steep mountains. This story explains the culture of the people who lived during the years before the American Revolution.
At the top, he met other men dressed similarly to the one Rip had accompanied. Rip avoids making conversation with the men and does not ask from where they came. However, he starts taking their liquor secretly and falls asleep soon afterwards. When he wakes up, everything seems unusual for instance; his beard has grown to about a foot long. He realizes that he has been asleep for about twenty years and all the people he knew have mostly died because of the American Revolutionary War. This literary work has demonstrated the culture of the time it was written quite clearly. From the short story, Rip and the rest of the village depended on agriculture for sustenance; however, some people also took up hunting and fishing to supplement their diet. This is proven by the nagging of Rip’s wife about the state of their farm. Therefore, it is clear that they relied on agriculture. The sale of Rip’s fertile portions of land is also another indication that they were farmers.
The story is set in the period before the American Revolution, and it is supported by the undying loyalty they had for King George III. It was before the emergence of American leaders like George Washington. The story as a work of literature symbolizes the struggle of the characters to define American self-identity. This is because it is set in a period where there were no definite American leaders, and their allegiance laid with foreign royals, in this case King George III. The setting of the story is in the present day New York City, one of the most prominent American cities. Characters and the Place the story is set in is used by the author to depict the struggle for self-identity the villagers had during the time prior to the American Revolution. During this period, they were in-between two nationalities, the British and Americans. However, after the war, they are entirely American, as they have attained self-identity and have their own leaders like George Washington.
The author has used several quotations in the course of the text. Rip stated, “A tart temper never mellows with age, and a sharp tongue is the only edged tool that grows keener with constant use.” The statement was directed at his wife since she was always arguing with him. The quote means that the only thing that gets better with repeated use was tongue lashing, as evidenced by his wife, whose skills had gotten better since the beginning if their marriage. In another instance, the author states the following, “Poor Rip was at last reduced almost to despair; and his only alternative to escape from the labor of the farm and the clamor of his wife, was to take gun in hand and stroll away into the woods.” This quote seeks to shed light on the cause of Rip’s love for the woods. It was because if the pestering that his wife accorded to him. Rip, therefore, preferred to spend long hours in the woods to avoid quarrels with his wife. This book is a great work of literature as it encompasses several issues that affected American citizens during the period of its writing.
Use the order calculator below and get started! Contact our live support team for any assistance or inquiry.
[order_calculator]