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Rip Van Winkle
Both Irving short stories provide a satiric commentary on American social issues, especially the difference between a "European" and an "American" outlook on life. As part of the myth building of a...
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Rip Van Winkle
The patrons of the inn in "Rip Van Winkle" change as follows. Before Rip's twenty-year nap, they consist of apathetic, lackadaisical men like Rip. They all like to hang out, read months-old...
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Rip Van Winkle
The main idea of the story is to show how much the world has changed since Rip fell asleep twenty years before. It is a celebration of American independence from Britain. Rip is apathetic,...
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Rip Van Winkle
This is an intelligent question to ask about this intriguing short story that seems to offer some kind of reflection on the Americna Revolution and the independence from Britain that was achieved....
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Rip Van Winkle
“Rip Van Winkle” is a short story written by Washington Irving. It was first published in 1819. In this short story, the main protagonist, Rip Van Winkle, falls asleep during a walk in the...
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Rip Van Winkle
Rip Van Winkle is presented as gentle soul, one of those people who'll do anything for a quiet life. Not the most ambitious of men, he likes nothing more than to spend time in the local tavern,...
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Rip Van Winkle
Washington Irving first makes Rip an interesting character to us by treating him as a comic figure—a happy-go-lucky man whose children and farm are going to ruin while he is out fishing, helping a...
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Rip Van Winkle
Unfortunately, your word count request considerably exceeds the word count we usually use at e-notes for answering questions within this category. However, I will answer your question for you...
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Rip Van Winkle
An allegory is a story, a setting, or a thing with a hidden meaning. In the passage you allude to, the men in question stand for—are an allegory for—the apathetic, foolish Americans who drifted...
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Rip Van Winkle
Authors employ five methods of characterization, four of which are indirect: through a physical description of the character through the character's actions through the character's thoughts,...
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Rip Van Winkle
Benjamin Franklin - the self-made man - was ambitious, arrogant and successful. He pursued life relentlessly and constantly challenged himself and the world around him.Rip Van Winkle is the...
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Rip Van Winkle
There are a number of ironic elements in this story. You can see one in the preface, where Irving discusses Diedrich Knickerbocker. There he refers to him riding his "hobby," which is to say,...
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Rip Van Winkle
There are many differences in Rip Van Winkle's small town after he awakens from his 20 year nap! Since Rip falls asleep right before the Revolutionary War and wakes up in the years after, so much...
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Rip Van Winkle
Washington Irving's "Rip Van Winkle" was published in 1819, during the Romantic period (1789-1832). Texts of the Romantic period illuminated the importance of the individual, nature, the...
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Rip Van Winkle
Rip van Winkle takes his gun and heads up into the Catskill Mountains on a regular basis. It's nice and quiet up there, a place where he can go to escape his bad-tempered, nagging wife. It's also...
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Rip Van Winkle
The short story “Rip Van Winkle” by Washington Irving is named after its main character. Rip Van Winkle is described as not a very intelligent yet pleasant man, as he is “a simple good-natured...
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Rip Van Winkle
One of the most important Romantic ideals included in this story is the idea of individual freedom. When the story first opens, Rip Van Winkle is henpecked by his wife and, although he seems...
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Rip Van Winkle
By falling into a deep sleep for twenty years, Rip has missed the tumultuous events of the American Revolution. As he returns to the site of the tavern where he and his friends wiled away the time...
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Rip Van Winkle
Classical literature shows heroes who have qualities of courage, bravery, and morality. As literature progressed, the image of a hero progressed as well. We move from epic heroes, where...
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Rip Van Winkle
In Washington Irving's classic folk tale "Rip Van Winkle," Rip Van Winkle wakes up on the same grassy knoll where he fell asleep. Rip looks around for his gun and instead finds a rusted old...
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Rip Van Winkle
One of the main conflicts in this story is between the "Old World" European-style apathy Rip represents and the energy and vibrance of the new United States. Rip annoys his wife by not having drive...
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Rip Van Winkle
Rips reveals character through the description of people like Rip, his wife, and his daughter as the narrator sees them. For example, the narrator describes Rip as constantly blaming his farm for...
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Rip Van Winkle
Certainly, the American Revolution is pivotal to the meaning of "Rip van Winkle." For, Irving's tale reveals his feelings towards the New Englanders that he considers Purtanical intruders who...
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Rip Van Winkle
The narrator seems to sympathize a lot with Rip Van Winkle. Rip certainly has characteristics that could (and did) get him lectured by his wife, like his avoidance of profitable labor despite his...
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Rip Van Winkle
Readers are given a couple of paragraphs that describe Rip Van Winkle's general aversion to doing work that benefited either himself or his family. He makes conscious decisions to not work on his...
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Rip Van Winkle
Several facts of Washington Irving's life connect him to "Rip Van Winkle." First, Irving grew up in New York. As a teenager, Irving took several trips up the Hudson River to the Catskill Mountains,...
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Rip Van Winkle
In the humorous folktale Rip Van Winkle, Washington Irving tells of a man who walks up into the Catskill Mountains, meets some strange bearded men who offer him some magic liquor, and wakes up 20...
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Rip Van Winkle
Yes, Rip Van Winkle does face alienation after twenty years of sleep. He comes back, thinking he has just slept one night, to find his world completely upended. His wife is dead and his children...
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Rip Van Winkle
The story of "Rip Van Winkle" is told by a fictional man named Diedrich Knickerbocker. It takes place in the 1700s. New York was once a Dutch colony called New Holland. Even after New Holland...
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Rip Van Winkle
‘Rip Van Winkle’ deals with a fantastical event at its heart, but uses this to illustrate some broad truths about life. The main theme with which the story deals is that of change, and how people...
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Rip Van Winkle
In the context of "Rip Van Winkle" the Tories are those Americans who remained loyal to the British during the Revolutionary War. When Rip wakes up, he finds that his local inn (as well as having...
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Rip Van Winkle
Wolf is the name of Rip Van Winkle's dog. In many ways, I'd suggest that Wolf represents Winkle's life back in the colonial era, lost forever after his long sleep, and the changes that have...
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Rip Van Winkle
In my opinion, this is clearly a comic piece. At times, Irving pretends to be serious, but I think this is just one of his ways of making the story more amusing. Irving pretends to be serious by...
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Rip Van Winkle
Washington Irving had a genius for inventing comic fictional narrators. In fact, he did not sign his real name to his work until he was over fifty. He had two narrators, Jonathan Oldstyle, Gent.,...
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Rip Van Winkle
One possible goal for the story is to bring about a sense of nostalgia. As recounted in one biography, Irving was inspired by a conversation with his brother-in-law, and subsequently wrote the...
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Rip Van Winkle
This is a bit of a tricky question, because the narrator emphasizes that everything has changed in the village. The question might be referring to one of two things -- the mountain scene, or the...
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Rip Van Winkle
At the beginning of Washington Irving's tale "Rip Van Winkle" the narrator offers a description of the story's setting by detailing geographical features WHOEVER has made a voyage up the Hudson...
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Rip Van Winkle
Iriving's story illustrates that the Revolutionary War and the democracy it brought woke people up. It roused them from the deep sleep or stupor in which they had been living under British rule....
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Rip Van Winkle
Rip is popular with the children of the village because he “helps at their sports, makes their playthings, teaches them to fly kites and shoot marbles, and tells them long stories of ghosts,...
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Rip Van Winkle
Through the character of Rip Van Winkle, Washington Irving satirizes an apathetic, happy-go-lucky person who would rather not work too hard and who blames his troubles on outside circumstances. For...
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Rip Van Winkle
Dame Winkle is presented as a "termagant" and "virago," terms of derision used for a scolding, angry, verbally abusive wife. We are told that Morning, noon, and night, her tongue was incessantly...
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Rip Van Winkle
Washington Irving sets the story in Revolutionary America – the portraits in the inn are the biggest clue to this. The portrait of King George is replaced with a portrait of George Washington. So...
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Rip Van Winkle
Washington Irving seems to delight in presenting models of marital disharmony. Note how he does this in "The Devil and Tom Walker" as well as in this classic short story. However, it is important...
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Rip Van Winkle
"Rip Van Winkle" indicates that its protagonist was asleep during the American Revolution mainly through implication, as it is never directly stated, and the reader must infer from details of the...
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Rip Van Winkle
The first person Rip meets is described as a "'‘short, square-built old fellow’ dressed in old-fashioned Dutch clothing". He is trying to carry a large keg of liquor up the rocks of a dry...
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Rip Van Winkle
POINT OF VIEW More than introduction, the italicized opening of Washington Irving's "Rip van Winkle" provides a frame for the tale, explaining how it was found and defending its credibility....
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Rip Van Winkle
When Rip falls asleep, the colonies are firmly under British control, the situation seems unlikely to change, life is slow-moving, and Rip enjoys visiting the Inn, where he can hang out on a bench...
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Rip Van Winkle
Rip Van Winkle provides a window to the American Revolution from the vantage of a Dutch burger in the Catskill mountains. What changed in Rip's world was the sovereign authority to whom the locals...
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Rip Van Winkle
Gender and politics are really the two main themes of Rip Van Winkle. The gender issue is pretty clear, but the political one is less so. In terms of gender, the story is a very stereotypical one...
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Rip Van Winkle
The joke in mentioning Diedrich Knickerbocker as the source for the story comes from a knowledge of other works of Irving. In 1809, Irving published his first book called A History of New York...
