Ichabod's Imagination In Brom Bones

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No one's imagination is more noticeable than that of Ichabod Crane. Ichabod Crane is tall, thin, awkward, and is characterized by his wild imagination.When he walked into Sleepy Hollow, was there a real Headless Horseman, did he imagine the whole thing, or did Brom Bones tricked him? We may not know, but Ichabod’s imagination renders him impotent and is extremely powerful. Ichabod’s imagination leads to his downfall in two ways. First, his imagination leads him to get completely carried away about the situation with Katrina, such that he thinks his chances are much better than they are, and he fantasizes about the future so much that he cannot imagine failing--but this also keeps him from making the necessary life changes to become the kind of person suitable for her. Second, his great enjoyment of ghost stories and other supernatural tales, which he actually believes because of his strong imagination, makes him utterly susceptible to Brom Bones’s prank, so he is doubly defeated. The imagination of Brom Bones may also be noticeable he …show more content…

Although Ichabod is the protagonist of the story, he is more of an anti-hero who does not seem to deserve marriage to Katrina. That he fails is a kind of poetic justice to punish him for his selfishness. Brom seems somewhat more genuine than Ichabod in his attempts to win Katrina’s hand, for he is willing to fight tooth and nail to defeat his rival, while for Ichabod it is more of a scheme. Ichabod’s passivity and his blatant fantasizing about Katrina’s money (but not about her) make us think that, coquette or not, Katrina can do better. Brom is more a man of the people, so readers are more likely to be glad that Katrina has chosen him. At the same time, we do not know her very well, so it is hard to know how well this match is going to turn