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The Legend Of Sleepy Hollow Short Story Analysis

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World-famous writer Edgar Allan Poe once said, “A short story must have a single mood and every sentence must build towards it.” Short stories like the ones Poe wrote became popular in the 19th century. This is the same time period that American-writer Washington Irving lived and wrote in. My favorite short story by Irving is “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow”. Through phenomenal imagery and a great theme Irving manages to create a world the reader can put themselves in. “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow” is set in the small drowsy town of Sleepy Hollow. It is rumored that a fallen headless soldier’s ghost haunts the town. A scholar named Ichabod Crane lives there and enjoys reading scary stories. Ichabod longs to win the heart of a wealthy girl named Katrina Van Tassel, but a man named Brom is also interested in her. One night, Ichabod is walking home and the headless horseman chases him. He is so frightened that he leaves town and never returns. It is alluded that Brom pretended to be the horseman in order to scare Ichabod away. Overall, this story was very interesting and keeps readers hooked with each new paragraph. Although on the surface “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow” seems to be just a ghost story, a major theme is present. Marriage for the sake of love versus marriage for the sake of money is suggested through the narration of the story. Ichabod’s interest in Katrina is due to her vast fortune. When he learns of the Van Tassel fortune, he “rolled his great green eyes over the
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