Rip Van Winkle: Innocent Or Guilty?

“Rip Van Winkle” and the Emergence of an American Mythology. By Danise Bachman Rip van winkle in indeed a classic piece of American mythology. Washington Irving set this story in the past and filled it with exaggerated and sometimes, strange characters. It also features a mysterious and magical occurrence that put the main character to sleep for twenty years!

Transformation of the Tale: Washington Irving’s “Rip Van Winkle” and Robert Coover’s Rip Awake An American folklore that established Washington Irving as one of the first American authors, “Rip Van Winkle” is a short story about a local Dutch-American villager and the mysterious event that kept him away from home for twenty years. Narrated in the third person omniscient, the narrator depicts a panoramic view of the natural landscape as well as provides an objective view of the main character’s thoughts. To provide a closer view of his personal thoughts, Robert Coover reintroduces Rip Van Winkle with his own monologue in Rip Awake to give him a voice to describe the aftermath of his experience when he returns home.

He doesn’t know what he has done wrong to make his mother leave him in such a place. Initially in this novel Jennings is very innocent in each of the homes he travels to because he

John, feeling concerned and worried wasn’t sure if he should go and assist his wife or stay and help protect and serve his country. John decides that his wife is more important to him as she is the only loved one John has left. John leaves the next morning of the 21st as planned and returns back to his hometown in the

When his enemy wanted to attack he went up and talked to the Indian leader (as cited previously) and made a deal “Deerslayer met his offered friendship in a proper spirit, and they shook hands cordially, each endeavoring to assure the other of his sincerity and desire to be at peace” (pg.167). Rip Van Winkle’s wife had a reason to henpeck him and it was because he was too lazy at home “… but as doing family duty, and keeping his farm in order, he found it impossible… Rip Van Winkle however 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” (pg.151). Deerslayer was the opposite of lazy, he liked to work hard in his job “Then indeed, the long practice of Deerslayer as a hunter did him good service. Accustomed to fire with the deer on the bound, and often when the precise position of the animal’s body had in a manner to be guessed at, he used the same expedients here”

Throughout the story of Rip Van Winkle there is a theme of mutability. Mutability can be described as an "ability to change". In the story of Rip Van Winkle, Irving's main theme seems to be the mutability of both the individual American and American society itself. In the first part of the story Rip and those in his community are loyal to the King and the old world, when Rip returns following his long sleep, his community and their loyalties have changed. Those whom he associated with have also changed, throwing off their sedentary intellectual pursuits to become men of action in their new nation.

She has a lot of contempt for Rip due to his unwillingness to work and carefree lifestyle. Her abusive control over Rip represents King George and the British rule of the colonies. Even though the colonies were mistreated by the King they still stayed faithful and attached to the crown same as Rip stayed by his critical wife. Here the irony lies in Rip’s absence of feeling towards his wife Dame Van Winkle. Even though he was lectured and bossed around by her he still felt content.

Rip Van Winkle pursues a very seldom lifestyle with no pursuit and no ambition. He displays almost no willingness to change from his traditional ways after realizing the American colonies were independent from British Tyranny. He even still accepts the rule of King George III when he enters the town greeting the towns people with saying he is a loyal subject of the king. The reader can see his total disembodiment from the situation when the narrator says “instead of being a subject of his Majesty George the Third, he was now a free citizen of the United States. Rip, in fact, was no politician;

Rip Van Winkle is incredibly lazy and his dislike for responsibility mirrors that of America not wanting to be a servant of England. Before Rip falls asleep on the mountain, the town is considered to be quiet and peaceful. However, when he wakes, the town has changed into a bustling, excited little area. Even the tavern is different; King George's name has been replaced by General Washington.

Irving’s Character Alikeness Biographical and short story writer, Washington Irving is known for his works “Rip Van Winkle” and “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow.” However, he does have additional short stories. Between 1819 and 1820, Washington Irving published The Sketch Book, which was made up of approximately 30 short stories. Within those works were characters such as John Bull, Rip Van Winkle, Ichabod Crane, the Headless Horseman of Sleepy Hollow, and several other unnamed characters. Now, the nameless characters in Washington Irving’s tales had just as deep impacts in their stories as named characters; from those deep impacts came about noticeable character resemblances between those characters.

He is intrigued by their attire and also by what they were doing. He gladly joins them in the game as well as in drinking. He feels drowsy and falls asleep. He thinks that he has slept for about a night but in actuality, he has slept for twenty years. The reader would have to imagine Rip gone into a deep sleep for twenty years.

In novels focusing on parody of European attributes of romanticism Washington Irving created the unexampled masterpieces. “Rip Van Winkle” being one of the unexampled works of Washington Irving combines gentle and perfect humor. This story is Irving’s imaginative reworking of an old German tale in which his valuable parody professionally covered. In the story Washington Irving gave the national shade to the description of events and outlandish beings for America.

Rip Van Winkle is a genial, passive man living in a small Dutch province in the Catskills, who spends his time engaging in work that is not useful or profitable, like hunting squirrels and doing odd jobs in houses and gardens for other people and leaving his own. He is the “henpecked husband” to wife, Dame Van Winkle, who constantly complains to him about his uselessness and Rip often finds himself hiding from her. Furthermore, Rip can be identified as a lazy American man, who one day wanders off with his dog Wolf into the Catskill mountains where he runs into an odd group of men drinking and he fell asleep in the Catskill Mountains and did not wake up for decades missing the American Revolution and the dramatic transformation of both his town

Rip Van Winkle could attract the attention of the other famous personality from Europe whose name was Jean Robert Planquette, French composer. He was very famous due to the songs. At the same time he was author of famous operettas. But Rip Van Winkle, theatre single, brought him reputation all over the world. He worked in accordance to Rip Van Winkle and The Legend of Sleepy Hollow written by Washington Irving which reworked by Dion.

When Richard’s heard the news of her husband’s death, he assumed Mrs. Mallard would be devastated. While everyone knew Mrs. Mallard was “afflicted with heart trouble” (57), him and her sister, Josephine, wanted to give her the news with “great care” (57). Josephine broke the news to Mrs. Mallard in “broken sentences”