Text analysis
Part One: The Town
The text in this story is a folklore and the story is meant to teach a lesson. The first few paragraphs talk about the town in which the story takes place, and details that if you had ever been there, then you had certainly heard of Rip Van Winkle. Irving uses imagery in the first paragraph to paint a picture of how the town looks and acts. The next few paragraphs go on to describe Rip's character and how everyone in the village loved him. His only downfall was that he was passive and indifferent towards his work. The words of choice in the text really show how much everyone in the village knew how he acted and how everyone expected him to act as well. This text and word choice is talking up Rip and also belittling him at the same time. Saying he would do more for others than he would do for himself.
Part Two: The Mountains
As Rip becomes more and more overwhelmed by the chastisement of his wife he starts to fantasize about getting away and he decides to escape to the mountains for the afternoon. He takes his comrade in agony, his dog Wolf, and sets off for the afternoon for the refuge of the wilderness. His idea of the mountains, indeed anywhere away from his wife, as a safe place for him to avoid his responsibility is something that has been conditioned in to his brain over the years of verbal abuse. It has engrained in him this escapist fantasy: that anything other than the real world must be better. So, when Rip is confronted with the opportunity to drink with strangers in the woods, he does not feel that he should hold back. Rather, he is the one who takes the drink from them in order to enjoy his afternoon away from his life and join in the festivities.
Part Three: The New Town
After Rip awakes and returns to the village, it takes him some time to realize what has happened to him. In his mind it has only been a day since he left. However, once he becomes aware of the time change, we see that Rip is not upset by what happened to him. Rather, he is relieved that he no longer has to claim any responsibility in his life. He is free to be himself; a passive, if not lethargic, member of society. He has not changed his ways from before, but rather he is not bound by duty or social obligation to be a provider.
The text in this story is a folklore and the story is meant to teach a lesson. The first few paragraphs talk about the town in which the story takes place, and details that if you had ever been there, then you had certainly heard of Rip Van Winkle. Irving uses imagery in the first paragraph to paint a picture of how the town looks and acts. The next few paragraphs go on to describe Rip's character and how everyone in the village loved him. His only downfall was that he was passive and indifferent towards his work. The words of choice in the text really show how much everyone in the village knew how he acted and how everyone expected him to act as well. This text and word choice is talking up Rip and also belittling him at the same time. Saying he would do more for others than he would do for himself.
Part Two: The Mountains
As Rip becomes more and more overwhelmed by the chastisement of his wife he starts to fantasize about getting away and he decides to escape to the mountains for the afternoon. He takes his comrade in agony, his dog Wolf, and sets off for the afternoon for the refuge of the wilderness. His idea of the mountains, indeed anywhere away from his wife, as a safe place for him to avoid his responsibility is something that has been conditioned in to his brain over the years of verbal abuse. It has engrained in him this escapist fantasy: that anything other than the real world must be better. So, when Rip is confronted with the opportunity to drink with strangers in the woods, he does not feel that he should hold back. Rather, he is the one who takes the drink from them in order to enjoy his afternoon away from his life and join in the festivities.
Part Three: The New Town
After Rip awakes and returns to the village, it takes him some time to realize what has happened to him. In his mind it has only been a day since he left. However, once he becomes aware of the time change, we see that Rip is not upset by what happened to him. Rather, he is relieved that he no longer has to claim any responsibility in his life. He is free to be himself; a passive, if not lethargic, member of society. He has not changed his ways from before, but rather he is not bound by duty or social obligation to be a provider.
ThemesThere are several Themes that present themselves in Rip Van Winkle, however, the main themes that are found in this narrative are Imagination and Progress. Imagination and childlike wonder are everywhere in this story and they become a centralized idea that Rip is the embodiment of. The story brings to life the legend of Henry Hudson and his crew and turns it in to something contemporaneous by relating it to the people and events of his own time.
The second theme that can be clearly seen is progress. When Rip had been in the village at the start of the tale, no one seemed to care that it was under imperial British rule. But after he came down from the mountain, and the Revolution had taken place, everything had changed. So, it would seem that he was trying to convey that with progress comes change. It was overwhelming for Rip at first, but he eventually became used to it and went back to his idle ways. It could also be that he was trying to teach people that if you don’t keep up with the work ethics around you, you will get left behind. |
SymbolsRip Van Winkle is a representative symbol of the story. He represents the “old country”. Since the change seemed to happen overnight for him, he is unsure how to deal with it. So it could be said that both Rip and the country enjoyed the progress, but are still holding tightly to the old traditions.
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