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Please analyze Washington Irving's "Rip Van Winkle"
Rip van winkle summary essay
Please analyze Washington Irving's "Rip Van Winkle"
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“The Butter Battle Book” by Dr. Seuss is an effective satirical representation of the Cold War. Dr. Seuss was alive during the Cold War; he wrote this book to display his feelings towards the war and used it as an eye opener to bring about public awareness of not only the national issues, but also the tension involved in some of the global ones. The book wasn’t just entertainment for children to enjoy or just awareness for the adults but a lesson that can be easily understood by both audiences. He was passively trying to get across to people that with the social issues that were arising, there were flaws on both sides of the argument.
The Holocaust, which began in 1933 was directed by Adolf Hitler. During the Holocaust, the Jewish people had to live in prison camps called “concentration camps” where they were forced to do physical labor. In the realistic-fiction novel Night by Elie Wiesel, the narrator describes what life was like during the Holocaust. The historical period did influence the text because the book describes the lifestyle of the Holocaust, and the outcome.
Transformation of the Tale: Washington Irving’s “Rip Van Winkle” and Robert Coover’s Rip Awake An American folklore that established Washington Irving as one of the first American authors, “Rip Van Winkle” is a short story about a local Dutch-American villager and the mysterious event that kept him away from home for twenty years. Narrated in the third person omniscient, the narrator depicts a panoramic view of the natural landscape as well as provides an objective view of the main character’s thoughts. To provide a closer view of his personal thoughts, Robert Coover reintroduces Rip Van Winkle with his own monologue in Rip Awake to give him a voice to describe the aftermath of his experience when he returns home.
The theme of the short story,” Marigolds” by Eugenia Collier is that in a ugly situation there is something positive within. In the text the author states ” Beyond the dusty brown yard, in a dazzling strip of bright blossoms, clumped together in enormous mounds, warm and passionate and sun-golden”(Collier 164-167). This shows that these marigolds were the only beauty sticking out of the ugly field of Miss Lottie. This matters to the setting because within the dusty brown field there was marigolds which were bright and beautiful meaning there is something positive. Another piece that proves this is” she had nothing except for a falling down hut, a wrecked body, and John Burke, the mindless son of her passion.
The novella Generals Die in Bed was written by Charles Yale Harrison who was born in Philadelphia and raised in Montreal. Harrison fought in World War 1 with the Canadian army and later became a writer in New York City. Generals Die in Bed is a fictional novella based on Harrison’s personal experience with the army that mostly takes place in France from the early part of the war until 1918. The story follows a private throughout his time on active duty that offers a brutally honest depiction of the war trenches during World War 1. As the novella progresses, we gradually see the narrator’s growing hatred for war.
“Rip Van Winkle” and the Emergence of an American Mythology. By Danise Bachman Rip van winkle in indeed a classic piece of American mythology. Washington Irving set this story in the past and filled it with exaggerated and sometimes, strange characters. It also features a mysterious and magical occurrence that put the main character to sleep for twenty years!
Over all, this story allows us to observe changes within the mentalities of army officers. First, the trauma of living in a war zone can add a significant amount of intangible weight into someone’s life. In “The Things They Carried,” we discover that Cross’s men “carried all the emotional baggage of men who might die (443).” Given that the majority of humans have experienced some form of trauma, we can understand how some men were driven to suicide and others into
Rip’s own dog even scowled at him. This displeased him. When he went outside a man came up to him and asked who he was, Rip said he was Rip Van Winkle and that he loved the king. A woman then shoved through the crowd and took him home with her. Rip’s wife had died of a blood clot and some of his friends had fought in the war.
Mark Twain and Kate Chopin were experts at creating regionalist works. Regionalism refers to texts that concentrate heavily on specific, unique features of a certain region including dialect, customs, tradition, topography, history, and characters. It focuses on the formal and the informal, analyzing the attitudes characters have towards one another and their community as a whole. The narrator is particularly important in regionalist fiction for he or she serves as a translator, making the region understandable for the reader.
Imagery is defined as the use of “figurative language to represent objects, actions, and ideas” in a way to “appeal to our physical senses” (LiteraryDevices Editors). Washington Irving is an American author during the early ages of an independent America. Taking place before and after the American Revolution, Irving offers offers a unique perspective on small American towns. Throughout his short story Rip Van Winkle, Irving incorporates the element of imagery to connect the audience to the setting, relate the character to the audience, and enhance the reader's experience. Irving writes as the main character, Rip Van Winkle.
Rip Van Winkle pursues a very seldom lifestyle with no pursuit and no ambition. He displays almost no willingness to change from his traditional ways after realizing the American colonies were independent from British Tyranny. He even still accepts the rule of King George III when he enters the town greeting the towns people with saying he is a loyal subject of the king. The reader can see his total disembodiment from the situation when the narrator says “instead of being a subject of his Majesty George the Third, he was now a free citizen of the United States. Rip, in fact, was no politician;
Hugh S. Dawson also added some thoughts to the ideas of Young, Fetterley and Fiedler about Rip Van Winkle that Rip Van Winkle being Gothic story once more shows the advantage of marriage to avoid from wasting life in impenetrable forest [6, 14/08/2015]. Another bestseller work of Washington Irving is “The Spectre Bridegroom” that also included in “The Sketch Book by Geoffrey Crayon, Gent.”. If Irving in “Rip Van Winkle” headed to mix the physical and metaphorical dream reflecting the sigh of freedom in colony, in this work he brought the new American breath to the old Europe. Unlike other works, Irving described the happened events in Germany. All these hinted at that Irving wanted to ruin the old fences around Europe that formulated for many years.
The Great American Dream is an ideal that states through hard work and dedication, every American citizen has the opportunity to accomplish personal goals and achieve success. The amount of effort put forth to obtain these goals, and achieve individualized success is decided upon by that citizen. Some of the more common goals and successes are ownership of property, obtaining wealth, enjoying liberties, experiencing patriotism, and raising a family. In “Rip Van Winkle” by Washington Irving, the main character Rip is able to obtain the Great American Dream through laziness. Washington Irving satirizes the Great American Dream in his short story, and in this paper I will analyze how “Rip Van Winkle” can be read as a parody.
he, in a subtle sarcasm, mocks society 's idealization of the harsh reality of war and its dismissal of the pain and torture experienced by the soldiers till their inevitable demise when he mentions that the wretched soldiers are thought to be "hankering for wreaths and tombs and hearses. " By virtue of a combination of the DEATH IS DEPARTURE and DEATH IS NIGHT conceptual metaphors, we read the linguistic expression "go west" as denoting the soldiers ' death. And via the DEATH IS GOING TO A FINAL DESTINATION metaphor, we visualize the "tombs" as the final destination to which their bodies are sent with "wreaths" in "hearses."
In novels focusing on parody of European attributes of romanticism Washington Irving created the unexampled masterpieces. “Rip Van Winkle” being one of the unexampled works of Washington Irving combines gentle and perfect humor. This story is Irving’s imaginative reworking of an old German tale in which his valuable parody professionally covered. In the story Washington Irving gave the national shade to the description of events and outlandish beings for America.
