An Analysis Of Washington Irving's The Legend Of Sleepy Hollow

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The Legend of Sleepy Hollow was a speculative fiction story written by Washington Irving. The story takes place around the Hudson River and by the Tappan Zee. There is a town known as Terry Town. This town is actually a prosperous and happy place since the townspeople know each other well and are mostly farmers. This thriving town, however, has some hidden dark secrets. “Not far from this village, perhaps about two miles, there is a little valley, or rather lap of land, among high hills, which is one of the quietest places in the whole world (6).” However, this place is known to for supernatural events occurring in this place. This includes a “ghost of a Hessian trooper, whose head had been carried away by a cannon-ball, in some nameless battle during the revolutionary war… [riding along the shadows in The Sleepy Hollows on his nightly quest for his missing head] (7).” The Headless Horseman is probably the most influential character in the story. The reason being this is that the all townspeople always mention him and tell stories one another about him. It’s like that if he symbolized the town. The Headless Horseman is an interesting question. Why …show more content…

In the party at the Van Tassel estate, many townspeople told stories during the party. Most of the stories were about war stories like the story of old gentlemen using a small sword to deflect a cannonball (29). Besides war stories, there was also some horror like stories the women haunting Raven Rock. I believe that these stories telling or why many horror stories are being told is because of The Sleepy Hollow area. In the article its clearly stated how some people at the party were at The Sleepy Hollow one point and they all acted mad, insane, and in some state of despair. The thing that questions me a lot more about the Headless Horseman is what happened to Ichabod Crane later that