What was Washington Irving's goal in writing "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 story in a single night. This, coupled with the nostalgic attitudes in the story itself, speaks to a desire to return to a previous time, when life was simpler:

The very character of the people seemed changed. There was a busy, bustling, disputatious tone about it, instead of the accustomed phlegm and drowsy tranquillity.
(Irving, "Rip Van Winkle," bartleby.com)

Although the necessity and morality of the war is not addressed, it seems that at least this town was not directly harmed by the British Monarchy, and (from Rip's example) could have continued in peace regardless of the ruler. Everything that was familiar is now strange; the change is irrevocable and Rip cannot return to his past. In the same way, the past of all humans is gone forever, anad can only be remembered, but the memory is often far more positive than actual events. Rip's (and Irving's) memories of the past are seen as better than the present, but not to any explicit effect; the ideal or the image of the past is desired, not necessarily the actual past itself.

How does the setting of "Rip Van Winkle" contribute to the story's meaning and effect?

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 the theme of “petticoat government” applies not only to the henpecking of Dame Van Winkle but also to the “henpecking” of the British government in the Colonies.  For the readers, this time period is long ago, and Irving is using the distance between the time of the reader and the time of the story to lend a sense of credibility to the story.  It also takes place in the mysterious Catskill Mountains – So the setting is “long ago” in “a far-away place,” like many of the most imaginative tales (“Once upon a time, in a kingdom far away”).  This adds to the mystery of the story and clues the reader to the fact that the story is fanciful or fantastic (like a fairy tale or a science fiction movie).  Distance in time and place serves to heighten the story’s supernatural elements, while the specific time period of the story is meant to connect the henpecking of Dame Van Winkle to other forms of “petticoat government.”

Analyze the setting, character, and point of view in "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.  However, this frame actually creates doubt since the narrator who is Geoffrey Crayon, the author of The Sketch Book claims to have found the papers of the "late Diedrich Knickerbocker."  Thus--so says enotes--Crayon who is of "questionable judgment" has the story from Kinickerbocker, who is also unreliable.  In addition, the tone of the mock-heroic with the opening quotation that invokes the god Woden suggests unreliabilty in its humor.  Thus, the point of view of this story clearly establishes it as fiction.

SETTING

The setting of Irving's story is strongly connected to the theme of the American Revolution.  Various critics have assigned the beginning of the story to somewhere between 1769-1774 and the return of Rip to around 1789-1794.  The beautiful Katskills mountains establish the Romanticized atmosphere of Rip's experience.  For, while he is lost in the Katskills, Rip is, like the Romantic, calmer and more contemplative of nature's "green knoll."  This mood contrasts greatly to the setting to which van Winkle returns as one man is "haranguing vehemently" and there is a "Babylonish jargon" and

a busy, bustling disputatious tone [about the crowd] instead of the accustomed phlegm and drowsy tranquility.

This alteration in setting suggests Irving's proclivity to nostalgia for the beauty, calm, and stability of the colonial village.  Nevertheless, the fact that the face of George Washington on the sign resembles "the ruby face of King George" and only the coats differ indicates that Irving's narrator yet feels that much is unchanged other than the temper of the "usual crowd of folk."

CHARACTERS

While the reader tends to sympathize with Rip van Winkle who is harrassed by a termagant wife, the reader must also wonder what Rip has done to deserve praise.  For, while he is willing to help his neighbors and entertain the children of the village, Rip neglects his "ragged children" and wife.  Rather than being with his family at the end of the day.  Rather than spend time with his family, Rip is often "dodging about the village" since he possesses "an insuperable aversion to all kinds of profitable labor."

Van Winkle's wife, abandoned for twenty years, bursts "a blood vessel in a fit of passion at a New England peddler." Despite her tempestuous nature, the perception of the wife on the part of the readers is somewhat questionable since they must wonder whether the termagant wife that the narrator says, or is she justified in her scolding and anger since her husband is neglectful and a "ne'er do well"?

The stranger who approaches van Winkle in the mountains resembles the legendary explorer Hendrick Hudson, and, according the Peter Vanderdonk, the most ancient resident of the village, comes with his crew to haunt the area every twenty years.

What was Washington Irving's main purpose in writing "Rip Van Winkle"?

I love #4 - let us not get so bogged down by the constant search for meaning that we lose the ability to be entertained by what is, after all, a piece of sheer brilliance! If I put my Literature teaching hat on however, it is clear that time is a key theme in this short story - how we use it, abuse it and waste it.

What was Washington Irving's main purpose in writing "Rip Van Winkle"?

Washington Irving, along with Poe, is known as the father of the short story.  He was successful in large part because he created a believable world despite the make-believe nature of the story.  Let's face it--the plot isn't credible in the real world; however, we're captured by the idea and ramifications of a twenty-year nap.  The story was set in a particular place and time, but I use the idea often today when thinking about the dramatic changes in our world even in the past decade, let alone the last century.  "Rip Van Winkle" just works as a reflection piece--and what a great name!

What was Washington Irving's main purpose in writing "Rip Van Winkle"?

To entertain.  It's a wonderfully funny story and people from all ages, backgrounds, belief systems can relate and connect.  To think that someone fell asleep and didn't wake again for many years is a sort of adventure and has been repeated in many sitcoms and movies today.  The underlying message is to not wish your life away and to be very careful what you wish for--in addition, the lesson is to cherish those you have and the life you live, since we don't have to look too far to find someone who is in worse shape than we are.

What was Washington Irving's main purpose in writing "Rip Van Winkle"?

As a Romantic, Washing Irving expresses a certain nostalgia for the past and the beauty of the colonial times.  The contrast between Van Winkles's life during colonialism and the life after the American Revolution is marked.  When he returns from his long sleep, van Winkle finds his home abandoned, forlorn.  When he hurries to his "old resort,"  it, too, is gone.  Although there is the usual crowd of people about the inn, there is "a busy, bustling disputatious tone about it" instead of the accustomed phlegm and drowsy tranquility.  Clearly, there is a nostalgia conveyed by the tone of the changes made after Rip van Winkle's return.

What was Washington Irving's main purpose in writing "Rip Van Winkle"?

It is an accepted theory that Irvin intended to state that time is valuable, time is of essence, and that time is life. Basically, it may have been a call to action for people to avoid idleness, so that they would just quit stealing "other people's oxygen" and to lead a fruitful, meaningful, and purposeful life.

However, there are the hidden innuendos typical of authors of the time such as the avoidance of marriage, the tediousness of married life, the rights of men to keep their freedom, the question of marriage as a social need, and the mockery of how men escape the scorn of women.

What is your analysis of "Rip Van Winkle" by Washington Irving?

"Rip van Winkle" is a fantasy that relates to age-old folk tales, specifically a German tale about "Peter Klaus," which includes strange, supernatural beings, a perilous journey, and enchanted slumber. But there is irony in Van Winkle's adventure of a grand landscape and mysterious happenings as Irving plays with Romantic and heroic conventions. Rip's quest in the woods (merely to help carry a keg of liquor) is mundane, and his only accomplishment is to wake up and wonder how he will explain where he has been to his termagant wife, Dame Van Winkle, who symbolizes the harsh Puritan voice of practicality.

After he returns to the inn where he once enjoyed "the tranquility of the assemblage" as the men gossiped about the village, smoked, and told "endless sleepy stories about nothing," Rip finds instead a cacaphonous group that prefigures the bustling, disputatious tone of the new country:

...haranguing vehemently about rights of citizens--elections--members of Congress--liberty--Bunker's Hill--heroes of Seventy-six--and other words which were a perfect Babylonish jargon to the bewildered Van Winkle.

No longer is the portrait of George the Third hanging before the inn, and when Rip declares to the argumentative group, "I am a poor, quiet man, a native of the place, and a loyal subject of the King--God bless him!" a shout of "A Tory! A Tory! a spy! a Refugee!" arises from these new Americans, bewildering Van Winkle. Rip wonders what has happened to his home; he is a man at the end of his tether, confused about this new country in which he lives.

In descriptions of the final scenes, it is apparent that Rip feels terribly out of place. Here Irving satirizes the post-revolutionary scene. At the same time, Irving the Romanticist expresses a nostalgia for the earlier times of pre-Revolutionary War calm and the natural beauty of the colonial village when Rip

... took his place once more on the bench at the inn door and was reverenced as one of the patriarchs of the village and a chronicle of the old times "before the war."

"Rip Van Winkle," often credited as the first American short story, imitates old folk tales, but it also brings into play the lyrical and Romantic, the comical and satiric, and the nostalgic.