I have to say that, while I like this story very much, the humor is outdated. The age-old theme of the bullying, shrewish wife has become tattered. The various women's movements of the twentieth century have enlightened us about the damage caused by negative stereotypes of women. I feel more empathy for Mrs. Van Winkle than I do a desire to laugh at her.

Rip's hapless, laid-back character is supposed to be humorous as well. However, understanding the plight he leaves his wife and children in because he has no ambition doesn't seem very funny either.

There could be comedy in Rip's waking up clueless after twenty years of sleep, but Irving doesn't play that part of the story for laughs: his point is to focus on how much life has changed in the years since Rip fell asleep.

The story may not read as laugh-out-loud funny in part because Iriving's primary purpose is not to raise chuckles; it is to contribute to an American mythology expressing how much better it is to be living in a free and independent democracy than a colony dependent on a monarch.

This question requires a personal response, yet in today's world we are flooded with sit-coms on television that deal primarily with the same theme-the lazy husband and the nagging wife, always a humorous theme to see how the husband avoids the wife's nagging! How many can you name? I think of "The Simpsons," the classic, "All in the Family," and even earlier, "The Honeymooners." Therefore, the reason this tale has withstood the test of time is that it is timeless. Whenever you have marriages, you will find spouses who bicker and nag, the general stereotype is that is the wife! Another ageless theme is that of escape. Rip is allowed to escape the dreariness of his existence by drinking magic liquid and sleep away his drudgery. I would imagine many of us would have chosen to escape once in awhile! Again, I would think you could name quite a few movies that deal with this theme!