Rip Van Winkle Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Rip Van Winkle - Essay Example ‘Rip Van Winkle’ (Irving, 1996) He was a very productive writer and that is the reason why he was able to become wealthy as a professional writer. As rightly quoted by (Wagenknecht, 1962) Washington Irving was an expert stylist and other writers took him as a model. The mainstay of Irving’s stories lies in the depiction of his characters which draws the reader to identify himself with it, and how he views the world and interacts with it. The character of Rip Van Winkle is unique and brings out the essence of realization that the author tries to bring to his reading audience. â€Å"Rip Van Winkle† sets the terms for what was to come in the following years, especially for male authors (Wagenknecht,1962) Most female writers dedicated themselves to writing sentimental novels, while male writers preferred Gothic and Historical themes (Wagenknecht, 1962) In making a comparison between sentimental and romantic themes (Bryant, 2009) states that the ‘historical romance was fond of setting the Rip Van Winkle marks the ushering in of American literature with a narrative framework and this pattern of masculine fiction is seen crystallized in the story of â€Å"Rip Van Winkle† who goes to sleep for a 100 years, only to wake up and find a very different world around him. This story is also Ð ° reflection of people who lived in Europe and decided to migrate to America, an unknown land – ‘to the savage side’ (Bryant, 2009) Rip is not very comfortable with women and ‘he is unhappy with his wife and decides to live on his own.’ (Irving, 1996) He also takes his dog with him named â€Å"Wolf† (Irving, 1996) The protagonist satisfies two of his desires – escaping from society and also escaping from the institution of marriage. However, the hero comes back to society after Ð ° transforming experience and then we see the characteristic changes in his persona (Wagenknecht,1962) Rip Van Winkle is a well constructed story that opens with a panoramic view of the serene