Rip Van Winkle Essay

Did your parents ever read to you as a child? Were you read stories of magical events, strange characters, or even exciting places? Whether you were or not, all three of these things can be found in the short story “Rip Van Winkle” written by Washington Irving. In this essay I will explain how Washington Irving incorporates these three characteristics into the story. I will also be explaining the impact these characteristics have on reader’s experience of the story.

“Rip Van Winkle” is set in an exciting place and time in history, the American Colonials before and after the American Revolution. The town which the character Rip Van Winkle lives is a little town near the Hudson River below a strange mountain. “Whoever has made a voyage up the

: “On entering the amphitheater, new objects of wonder presented themselves. On a level spot in the center was a company of odd-looking personages playing at ninepins. They were dressed in a quaint, outlandish fashion.” “He was naturally a thirsty soul, and was soon tempted to repeat the draught. One taste provoked another, and he reiterated his visits to the flagon so often, that at length his senses were overpowered, his eyes swam in his head, his head gradually declined, and he fell into a deep sleep.” “At length he reached to where the ravine had opened through the cliffs to the amphitheater; but no traces of such opening remained.” -Narrator in “Rip Van Winkle.” When Rip Van Winkle met these strange men he drank until he passed out and woke up twenty years later. Upon returning to the amphitheater all that remained was the side of the mountain. These men were based on an Old Dutch legend and Washington Irving incorporated that legend to his own writing to form the story “Rip Van Winkle.” The inclusion of these magic men and their drink allow the reader of the story to understand how it is possible for Rip Van Winkle to fall asleep for twenty years and how these men and the amphitheater disappeared without a trace, never to be seen