Comparing Rip Van Winkle And Washington Irving's American Dream
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Hook: The American Dream is often seen as representing the nation’s unchanging ideals, but in reality, as older generations fade to sleep, those that follow wake up anew with their own new versions. American Dream mention: James Truslow Adams defined the American Dream in his book The Epic of America as “That dream of a land in which life should be better and richer and fuller for everyone, with opportunity for each according to ability” (quoted in “In Search of The American Dream”), but this was far from the last word. Context: One version of this American Dream can be seen through the eyes of a rich but shady magnate, who chases his American Dream through the pursuit of wealth. Another version of this dream, however, by contract, occurs
The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald and “Paradox and Dream” by John Steinbeck are perfect examples to prove that the American dream is unattainable. This is shown in many different ways throughout both. The Great Gatsby shows it in more of a made up way. “Paradox and Dream” shows it in a more realistic way. No matter how the unattainability is portrayed, it is all meant to have the same meaning.
Immoral Money It is evident that the American Dream is just an unreachable ambition and that people are destined to languish in their journey for money, love, and happiness. Everyone soon learns that the American Dream is just pretending to be the American Nightmare. This is seen in The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald. It follows wealthy Americans on their trek for the American Dream.
The American Dream Why is the American dream a prominent sought out ambition between the individuals living within America? The question of the American dream has always been long debated and has a flexible topic structure. A consistent belief of this dream can be irregular and vary between people. The creation of the American dream is derived from the Declaration of Independence which states that each individual has the right to, “life,liberty,and the pursuit of happiness.” A fundamental aspect of the American dream is perseverance that will lead to financial prosperity in any case irregardless of social class or additional factors.
“Rip Van Winkle” and the Emergence of an American Mythology. By Danise Bachman Rip van winkle in indeed a classic piece of American mythology. Washington Irving set this story in the past and filled it with exaggerated and sometimes, strange characters. It also features a mysterious and magical occurrence that put the main character to sleep for twenty years!
The American Dream is a lifestyle: the thought that if you put in hard work, you will gain wealth. Through this wealth, you will have happiness. In the novel The Great Gatsby, Jay Gatsby is quintessential of The American Dream: he started off dirt poor and with dedication, he made himself into something; a rags to riches story. As The Declaration Of Independence states: 'All men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.' In other words, every person in America has the right to really make themselves into someone, even if you start with nothing.
How has the American Dream changed from the 1920’s to now and how has the theme of the American Dream been supported by works of American Literature. We will see how the American Dream though time did not follow what the founding fathers set out for us in the declaration of independence and when they said, “The authors of the United States’ Declaration of Independence held certain truths to be self-evident: that all Men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness". We will see how the American Dream suffers, what an American Dream is centered on, and how, for some, the American Dream is unattainable. In "The Great Gatsby" by F. Scott Fitzgerald, "I Hear America Singing" by Walt Whitman and in "Harlem" by Langston Hughes we see the American dream depicted, as the loss and utter death of a distracted corrupt American Dream, as the love of the American dream, and as the American Dream for Blacks in a time of segregation and discrimination.
Washington Irving’s, The Sketchbook of Geoffrey Crayon, Gent. is a collection of thirty-four of his essays and short stories. Attributed to the fictional Dutch historian character, Diedrich Knickerbocker, are two of Irving’s most popular stories, The Legend of Sleepy Hollow and Rip Van Winkle. Rip Van Winkle is the story of a Dutch villager, living at the foot of the Catskill mountains before and after the American Revolutionary War. Van Winkle is genuinely loved by the people of his village, especially by the children whom he tells ghost stories to, plays with, and gives toys. However, this simple, easy-going man has one great error in his character: he is incredibly lazy, despising work in all forms.
Imagery is defined as the use of “figurative language to represent objects, actions, and ideas” in a way to “appeal to our physical senses” (LiteraryDevices Editors). Washington Irving is an American author during the early ages of an independent America. Taking place before and after the American Revolution, Irving offers offers a unique perspective on small American towns. Throughout his short story Rip Van Winkle, Irving incorporates the element of imagery to connect the audience to the setting, relate the character to the audience, and enhance the reader's experience. Irving writes as the main character, Rip Van Winkle.
Over the course of this week we read two works of writing. One is the short story “Rip Van Winkle” by Washington Irving in 1819. The other is Benjamin Franklin’s Autobiography. These two stories are pinnacle pieces of literature. One being a well known fictional work through the United States, the other is the writing of and by one of America’s Founding Fathers.
The American dream is to start your life with little to no money and work your way into making a liveable salary. The American dream is often thought of by immigrants, many immigrants move to the U.S. thinking they follow the American dream. In the book The Great Gatsby, James Gatsby the mysterious wealthy character who dropped out of college and started his life as a young man. Gatsby could be compared to the immigrants in the thought of the American dream.
The Oxford Dictionary defines the “American dream” as, “the ideal that every US citizen should have an equal opportunity to achieve success and prosperity through hard work, determination, and initiative”. The American dream hasn’t evolved since the coining of the idea; the dream is still to have a steady job, a nice house, and a pleasant family. However, that dream does not appeal to everyone. Jon Krakauer’s Into the Wild looks back upon the incredible journey of Chris McCandless. The story of a well-to-do young man who after graduating from a high-ranking university, donates all of savings to charity, burns the cash in his wallet, abandons all of his material possessions, and cuts ties with all of his family and friends to embark on his own personal odesseye in nature to carry out an adventure living in
The Great American Dream is an ideal that states through hard work and dedication, every American citizen has the opportunity to accomplish personal goals and achieve success. The amount of effort put forth to obtain these goals, and achieve individualized success is decided upon by that citizen. Some of the more common goals and successes are ownership of property, obtaining wealth, enjoying liberties, experiencing patriotism, and raising a family. In “Rip Van Winkle” by Washington Irving, the main character Rip is able to obtain the Great American Dream through laziness. Washington Irving satirizes the Great American Dream in his short story, and in this paper I will analyze how “Rip Van Winkle” can be read as a parody.
The idea of the American Dream is indicated through out the novel, especially through the characters Lennie and George. They talk about their dream so much that it becomes a ritual between them and often they can finish each other’s thoughts and sentences. This is quite amazing, because Lennie is mentally challenged and has trouble thinking for himself. The dream gives both men purpose in a time when life is harsh and cruel.
In novels focusing on parody of European attributes of romanticism Washington Irving created the unexampled masterpieces. “Rip Van Winkle” being one of the unexampled works of Washington Irving combines gentle and perfect humor. This story is Irving’s imaginative reworking of an old German tale in which his valuable parody professionally covered. In the story Washington Irving gave the national shade to the description of events and outlandish beings for America.
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