Rip Van Winkle - Compare and Contrast



Rackham's Illustrations to Rip Van
     Winkle, www.artpassions.net.
     Web. 13 December 2010 

      In my final blog I plan to compare and contrast two of Washington Irving's short stories, Rip Van Winkle and The Legend of Sleepy Hollow. 
     The first comparison is the location of the stories. Both stories take place near the Hudson River north of New York City.
     The second comparison is the nature of the stories. They are both supernatural in theme. For instance, Rip falls asleep with his view of the world one way only to find that it has changed drastically during his twenty year sleep. In The Legend of Sleepy Hollow Ichabod on a walk home is afraid of ghosts and witches coming to attack him. Both of these things are clearly things that would never happen yet each character is worried that it will.
     Now let's look at the differences. The first is the different education and job experience that both characters had. Rip was brought up on a farm so he probably had little to no education. Since he was raised on a farm, he was obviously a farmer. Ichabod is a school teacher and probably had several years of education. These two characters had vastly different schooling and education.
     The second difference is the way they survive in the end of the story. In Rip Van Winkle, Rip returns, after his twenty year nap, to find her daughter all grown up with a child of her own. When they realize that they are related, she takes him to their farm where they 'live happily ever after'. Ichabod is thought to have died at the Horseman's hands. But someone comes back to tell things differently. He was known to have moved to a far away country to become a politician.
     In the end, we come to see that Irving wrote his stories with many differences and some comparisons.


Sources:

Irving, Washington. The Legend of Sleepy Hollow. The Sketch Book of Geoffrey Crayon.
     Birmingham, England. 1820


Irving, Washington. Rip Van Winkle. The Sketch Book of Geoffrey Crayon.
     Birmingham, England. 1820

Rip Van Winkle - Theme

Rackham's Illustrations to Rip Van
     Winkle, www.artpassions.net.
     Web. 12 December 2010  

     Rip Van Winkle is known for its American elements. As more and more literature began to be formed, the value for American elements in readings became just as popular. Washington Irving is a great example of how to be an 'American' author. Irving is known for writing with imagination and for writing traditionally. These are two the things that made him so famous.

     The use of the symbols built Rip up to be happier without the people he lives with. In the story his wife is made out to be an evil woman, his kids show absolutely no respect. This is a description of America before the revolution. But when Rip wakes up on the grassy knoll, everything that he had known before had gone away. These things were replaced with a bright morning and singing birds. Over his head was a flying Bald Eagle. The eagle represents happiness and freedom but Rip doesn't know that yet.
     One other aspect of American elements in Rip Van Winkle is humor.  There are countless moments in the story where Irving used humor. For instance, he told us that he was too scared to stand up to his nagging wife and that his great error in life was that he was opposed to any kind of profitable labor.
     Washington Irving presents many traits that Americans are proud of. From symbolism to humor, Irving leads the way for many more Americans writers to come. This has changed the American people. Because of him traditional stories have been sustained, symbolism has been drilled into the American people, and humor has warmed hearts. This is exactly what Irving wanted to happen. Irving knew he had a way of satisfying readers and that's just what he did to people all over America.

Rip Van Winkle - Use of Description

Rackham, Arthur. Rip Van Winkle. Arthur
     Rackham's Illustrations to Rip Van
     Winkle, www.artpassions.net.
     Web. 11 December 2010  

    Washington Irving uses description greatly 

throughout all of Rip Van Winkle. He uses it when talking about the forests around him and the other characters in the story. When speaking of the nature around him, everything is described in perfect detail. And when introducing a new character, he allows for every features to be explained.  Let's look at a few...

     First up, Mrs. Van Winkle. It is made ver clear that Rip Va Winkle is not quite fond of his wife. Whether or not she was as bad as he made her seem is unclear. The story tells that she is constantly nagging on Rip, asking to him to do things that he clearly is not interested in doing. Mrs. Winkle even made it a point to meet up with Rip and the group of men he "gossiped" with just so she could nag him some more and let the rest of the men know that he was bringing ruin on his family. "Morning, noon, and night, her tongue was incessantly going, and every thing he said or did was sure to produce a torrent of household eloquence." (Irving) The story tells us that she is so frightening that even the dog, Wolf, kept his space from her. Wolf was so appalled by her behavior, that when he entered the house his tail would instantly droop and his demeanor would change. Evidently so was a woman you did not want to be around.

     Next, the description of the pipe smoker. Nicholas Vedder was the man who controlled the opinions in the "gossip" circle. The story tells us that this man, every morning, would take his seat outside his inn. Morning till night he would move out of the sun and into the shade of a tree. He did this so well that all of his neighbors could tell the hour just by the way he sat. The other thing about Vedder was that he rarely spoke. He didn't have to speak because people knew what he was thinking just by the way he smoked his pipe. If he did not like something he heard or read he would smoke forcefully with short angry puffs. However, if he heard or read something that pleased him, he would smoke slowly sending light smoke clouds into the air. With these little descriptions of Mrs. Van Winkle and Nicholas Vedder, I was able to have a ver clear portrait painted in my head.

     Lastly, Irving's description of the forest. The day that Rip wandered up to the top of the mountains is described for us wonderfully. It says that Rip was sitting on a green knoll, covered in herbage. It describes how from the opening between trees he could see all of the country for miles. Out to one side of the mountain, Rip tells us he can see the Hudson and in it a purple cloud reflecting. On the other, we are told that Rip is looking down into a deep mountain valley, filled with bits of the cliff and lightly lighted by the then setting sun. It tells us Rip lay there just looking at this scenery. The way he described it, I wouldn't mind doing the exact same thing.

Sources:

Irving, Washington. "Rip Van Winkle." The Oxford Book 

     of American Short Stories, ed. Joyce Carol Oates.

Rip Van Winkle

Rackham, Arthur. Rip Van Winkle. Arthur
     Rackham's Illustrations to Rip Van
     Winkle, www.artpassions.net.
     Web. 11 December 2010 

     Rip Van Winkle is a simple story about a man who falls asleep for twenty years, then wakes up only to find that the whole world around him has changed.

     In an old Dutch village, in an old town at the bottom of the Kaatskill Mountains, there lived a good man named Rip Van Winkle. Rip was a man who was loved by his neighbors. In fact, all the village wives loved him too. Whenever his wife would get upset with him, they would immediately take his side. He was also adored by all the children. It was told that he could never go into to town without being completely surrounded by him.
     Rip had one MAJOR weakness. He hated labor. He had absolutely no drive to do any work for himself. Right now you're thinking, "What a lazy man!", but that is not the case. Whenever his neighbors would ask him for help, whatever it may be, he gladly helped. But when it came time for him to work on HIS house or HIS farm, it was a lost cause even bothering to ask him. The reason behind this is that whenever he tried working at home, things always went wrong, always.
     As you could imagine, his wife was highly annoyed with this 'little' flaw of his. She would constantly complain to the family about his laziness. Because of his wives constant nagging, Rip was afraid to come home. The poor dog was even afraid of this woman. When things when get real bad, Rip would just leave home and meet up with some of his buddies. They would discuss the town's gossip and the tell each other stories. Every once and a while they would get a newspaper and flip through talking about some of its writings. There were two main men in these discussions. The first being the town's schoolmaster, Derrick Van Bummel, and the second being Nicholas Vedder, the town's inn landlord. The schoolmaster would read the paper and Nicholas would give his opinion of the readings. In order to interpret his opinions, you would have to watch how he smoked his pipe. If he was angry about something, he would blow puffs of smoke often. If he was happy, he would smoke slowly and blow smoke clouds. Let's not forget about Mrs. Van Winkle. She was not shy about finding the men and wearing Rip out there in front of all the men. Would that happened, he would normally gather his gun and his dog and head to the woods. There he would sit under a tree and he and his dog would snack. - This poor, poor man -
     There was one specific day when he went on one of these walks where he lost track of where he was going and ended up on one of the highest point of Kaatskill. He had had a busy day of hunting and lost track of time. He realized that it was getting late and decided that his wife was probably very angry. He gathered his things and he and his dog started their trip back. Before he got too far he heard his name being called. He looked around and saw a man carrying something heavy. Rip was hesitant about helping the man but continued anyway. The two ended up talking and sharing a keg. On their journey home, they came across an amphitheatre. Upon their entry, they found a group of men playing a local village game. Rip and the man joined the others and had a few more drinks with the group. As the night went on, the drinks kept flowing. Rip had so many the he eventually fell into a deep sleep. He awoke the next morning on the very same mountain he was the day before. He sat up and tried to remember what had happened the night before, suddenly he remember the drinking and instantly became angry. He was angry because he assumed that the men had gotten him drunk so that they could rob him. He got up and tried to find the theatre, he had no luck so decided it was best just to head on home.
     On his way into town, he was having a problem recognizing people. Everyone looked and dressed differently than he remembered. When he arrived at his village, that too looked different. It was larger than he remembered and nobody looked familiar to him. He came across a group of people who were discussing voting. A man noticed him and started questioning Rip. They suggested that he was a spy and tried to arrest him. Once things calmed down Rip started asking the questions. He asked where the landlord was, he died eighteen years prior. He inquired about Van Bummel, he went off to war and never returned home. When Rip heard these answers he became down and asked if anyone knew Rip Van Winkle. They all answered yes and pointed to a man leaning against a tree. Rip noticed that the an they were pointing at looked about the same age as he did when he made his journey up the mountain. Suddenly a woman came through the crowd to Rip. She said her name was Judith. Rip asked what her father's name was, she replied, "Rip Van Winkle" but that he had been missing for twenty years. When asked about her mom she told him that she had died. Rip then told Judith that he was her father. She took him back to the farm where she still lived. It was there that Rip Van Winkle lived 'happily ever after'.


Sources:

Irving, Washington. "Rip Van Winkle." The Oxford Book 
     of American Short Stories, ed. Joyce Carol Oates.


Sophia Brookshire, "Rip Van Winkle." 2010,
     www.associatedcontent.com. 11 December 2010

Washington Irving

     Irving, Washington. Washington Irving. 1845.
Time Life Pictures. www.life.com. Web. 8 December 2010

     Washington Irving (1783-1859) was born and raised in New York City. His parents were wealthy merchants. He was one of eleven children, the youngest. Irving's parents named him after President George Washington. "According to a story, George Washington met Irving and gave him his 'blessing'. In the years to come Irving would write one of his greatest works, 'The Life of George Washington'." As a child, Irving was intrigued by the New York City upper class. It is told that he would often sneak out of his family's prayer meetings to attend the local theatre. As a child, Irving developed a love for books and reading. He mainly read stories about voyages and traveling, such as: Robinson Crusoe, Sinbad the Sailor, and The World Displayed. 

     Washington Irving's writing career began at the age of nineteen. Irving started writing letters to a local newspaper, Morning Chronicle, edited by his brother, Peter. He wrote under the anonymous name "Jonathan Oldstyle". His first real success is considered to be his book, Salmagundi (1807-1808). This book was written by not only Irving but also his brother Irving and a friend James Paulding. Salmagundi was a short story collection that picked at NewYork City's political, social, and cultural life. Irving had another successful book in 1809. He wrote A History of New York, from the Beginning of the World to the End of the Dutch Dynasty. Again he wrote under an assumed name, Diedrich Knickbocker, who was a Dutch American. This would be the last work written by Irving for several years. In 1809, Irving's fiancee, Matilda Hoffmann (17), died. He flipped back and forth between his career choices, legal or writing. This writing drought ended in 1815 when he moved to England.
     In 1815, after the death of his mother he decided to take off to Europe. Here he started his 'legal' career. He worked in England for a Liverpool import-export business. It wasn't three years later, the business crashed and he found himself without a job or a way to support himself. So, at the age of thirty-five, Irving then made his decision to make his living by being a writer. It was then that he began to write down all of his feelings and thoughts. He later published a book under the pseudonym, Geoffery Crayon. This collection was called The Sketch Book (1819-1820). The Sketch Book had about thirty different parts to it. It was mostly made up of English pieces but also include: four travel stories, six essays, two accounts of American Indians, three miscellaneous pieces, and lastly, three short stories, Rip Van Winkle, The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, and The Spectre Bridegroom. The Sketch Book was a huge hit as it was appealing to a large number of readers. Since this book sold so quickly and became such a huge deal, Washington Irving was considered to be America's first international literary celebrity. With this books considerably large amount of profits, Irving was then able to make writing his full-time job. In 1824 Irving decided to change his writing topics up a bit. Instead of writing fiction and descriptive writings to history and biographical writings. In this time, he moved to Spain and worked as a diplomatic attache. While holding this job, he wrote the life account of Christopher Columbus and a historic piece about Grenada, Spain. This concluded his work in Europe and in 1832, he returned back to the United States.
      Washington Irving died on November 28, 1859, in Tarrytown, New York. He was buried in Sleepy Hallow Cemetery. Not much is told of Irving's death but he seemed to have known that his death was coming. That night before going to bed he said, "Well, I must arrange my pillows for another weary night! If this could only be the end!"




Sources:

Liukkonen, Petri. "Washington Irving".
     www. kirjasto.sci.fi/wirving.htm. 2008. Web. 8 December 2010

Advameg Inc. "Washington Irving".
     www. notablebiographies.com. 2010. Web 8 December 2010