Daigrepont, Lloyd M. “Rip Van Winkle and the Gnostic Vision of History”. Clio 15.1 (1985): 47-59. Wilson OmniFile. Web. 21 Sept. 2015. Lloyd Daigrepont is an English Professor at Lamar University in Beaumont Texas. In this article, Dr. Daigrepont has pointed out the view of Rip Van Winkle, and many Americans, as seen by Irving. In addition to how Rip’s character is viewed in the story, Daigrepont points out Irving’s understanding of change and how the progression of civilian life in America may not have been for the better. Daigrepont sees Rip as a lazy man that would do anything to get away from his nagging wife at home. However, the way the story is told by Irving, Daigrepont feels that the laziness is somehow overlooked as nothing more than typical male behavior that is widely accepted by the small village he was from. The main point of this article is to point out Daigrepont’s assertion that Irving saw the “possibility of a way of life in which men make the best of the human condition by accepting their own imperfections and the discipline of nature rather than compounding discontent through hopeless pursuit of the ideal” (Daigrepont 56). Basically saying that men of that time were fine with their inadequacies. They weren’t motivated to change for the better. …show more content…
As a reader, I’m interpreting Irving’s giving Rip a happy ending in this story as almost rewarding his ignorance and laziness. He slept for twenty years because he was sick of a wife that nagged him and somehow he is rid of her and he has a new life. He is fine with the fact that she is gone and he can move on as if she never existed. Wyman, Sarah. “Washington Irving’s Rip Van Winkle: A Dangerous Critique of a New Nation.” ANQ: A Quarterly Journal of Short Articles, Notes, and Reviews 23.4 (2010): 216-22. Omnifile. Web. 21 Sept.