Comparing Washington Irvings Rip Van Winkle and Americas War of Indep

Parallels in Washington Irving's Rip Van Winkle and America's War of Independence The story of Rip Van Winkle is well known throughout American culture. As one of America's most popular short stories, few school children have not heard of Rip Van Winkle's twenty-year slumber or imagined his long, gray beard. In the telling and re-telling of this mysterious tale, the original context 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 first presented to the public. "Rip Van Winkle" first appeared as a part of Washington Irving's The Sketch Book. This was a collection of various short 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, there is also a place for examining the story apart from The Sketch Book. When doing this, certain symbolism becomes apparent. Washington Irving uses symbolism in "Rip Van Winkle" to relate Rip's life and experiences to the situation of the American colonies in relation to Great Britain and the War of Independence. In this interpretation of the symbolism in "Rip Van Winkle", the marriage between Rip Van Winkle and Dame Van Winkle represents the union between the American colonies and Great Britain. The characters themselves possess certain attributes which symbolize the perceived characteristics of the two entities. Dame Van Winkle is usually unhappy with Rip. She has cer... ...respectively. Rip's experience in the Kaatskill Mountains ultimately sheds light on the changes of the American public, and Washington Irving accomplishes his purpose of establishing a tradition 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 Corrective 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 Hollow' in the Context of The Sketch Book". Modern Philology. 82:4 (1985): 393-406. Shear, Walter. "Cultural Fate and Social Freedom in Three American Short Stories." Studies in Short Fiction. 25:3 (1988): 249-259.