Comparing Washington Irvings Rip Van Winkle and Americas War of Indep

Parallels in Washington Irvings deplume new wave flash and Americas state of war of Independence The falsehood of Rip caravan scud is well cognize throughout American culture. As one of Americas most popular hapless stories, few school children have not heard of Rip Van Winkles twenty-year slumber or imagined his long, gray beard. In the telling and re-telling of this mysterious tale, the captain setting of the story itself has, for the most part, been forgotten. Few Americans are aware of how the story originated, and in what context it was initiative presented to the public. Rip Van Winkle first appeared as a part of Washington Irvings The Sketch Book. This was a hookup of various poor works, ideas, thoughts, and pictures. Rip van Winkle was only a part of this collection, but eventually gained a great deal of popularity in its own right. When considering this story, it is important to keep in mind the original context and its relation to other works within The Sketch Book. However, as Rip Van Winkle has stood on its own in American culture, in that location is also a place for examining the story apart from The Sketch Book. When doing this, legitimate symbolism becomes apparent. Washington Irving uses symbolism in Rip Van Winkle to relate Rips life and experiences to the situation of the American colonies in relation to outstanding Britain and the War of Independence. In this interpretation of the symbolism in Rip Van Winkle, the marriage between Rip Van Winkle and noblewoman Van Winkle represents the union between the American colonies and Great Britain. The characters themselves have certain attributes which symbolize the perceived characteristics of the two entities. Dame Van Winkle is usually unhappy with Rip. She has cer... ...respectively. Rips experience in the Kaatskill Mountains ultimately sheds light on the changes of the American public, and Washington Irving accomplishes his purpose of establishing a t radition for the American short story. Works Cited Barbarese, JT. Landscapes of the American Psyche. Sewanee Review. 100 (1992) 599-603. Dawsone, Hugh J. Recovering Rip Van Winkle A strict Reading. Lauter, Paul, ed. The Heath Anthology of American Literature. Boston Houghton Mifflin, 1988. Rubin-Dorsky, Jeffrey. The Value of Storytelling Rip Van Winkle and The Legend of sleepy-eyed Hollow in the Context of The Sketch Book. Modern Philology. 824 (1985) 393-406. Shear, Walter. Cultural Fate and Social Freedom in Three American Short Stories. Studies in Short Fiction. 253 (1988) 249-259.