Sleepy Hallow Research Papers

“In the bosom of one of those spacious coves which indent the eastern shore of the Hudson… there lies a small market town or rural port, which by some is called Greensburgh, but which is more generally and properly known by the name of Tarry Town.” (Irving 338) This sentence begins one of the most famous stories in the collection of American Literature, “The Legend of Sleepy Hallow” by Washington Irving. In this story, there is a view of famous American legends and what life was like living in this young country. In the short story “Legend of Sleepy Hallow”, the characters Katrina Van Tassel and Ichabod Crane present the common roles and characteristics found in early American life, such as physical features, daily life, and mating rituals

Looking at Katrina, she appeared to be quite plump and had “delicate little dimpled hands” (Irving 355), meaning chubby hands. She was thought to be quite scandalous and “little of a coquette” (Irving 346) because her petticoat was just a little short and showed “the prettiest foot and ankle in the country round”. (Irving 346) She is consistently referred to as “Blooming Katrina” and is famed for having vast expectations. Inversely, Ichabod and Brom are polar opposites. Ichabod was a tall, lanky, schoolmaster who was more sensitive and friendly with the wives in Sleepy Hallow. He is referred to as a native Connecticut man, or in more recent terms a hillbilly or someone who was looked down upon in society, someone who never gets the girl. Brom, on the other hand, was portrayed a strong, warrior-like character. He prided himself on being a great horseback rider and was the epitome of the “macho man”. In this time period, Katrina and Brom were considered the ideal man and woman, Katrina with her plumpness and softness and Brom with his macho attitude and strong

Women were still considered the lesser sex, yet they appeared to be the ones doing most of the work. Sleepy Hollow opens with how Greensburgh got its name “Tarry Town”. “This name was given, we are told, in former days, by the good housewives of the adjacent country, from the inveterate propensity of their husbands to linger about the village tavern on market days”. (Irving 338) From this, an inference can be drawn that men would rather sit around town drinking and conversing with other men, a lot like in Irving’s other famous short story “Rip Van Winkle”, where Rip let his farm fall apart and his wife was the one left to try to take care of it while he sat outside the hotel talking with the other gentlemen in town. This is, also, seen in the Van Tassel household, “His notable little wife, too, had enough to do to attend to her housekeeping and manage her poultry… While the busy dame bustled about the house, or plied her spinning-wheel at one end of the piazza, honest Balt would sit smoking his evening pipe at the other, watching the achievements of a little wooden warrior…”. (Irving 351)A recurring theme in Irving’s Sleepy Hallow is he portrays men as almost lazy and lifts women up as the ones who keep things from falling apart in their households, this is seen in the town and in the main