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Rip Van Winkle: A Revolutionary Piece in Fairy Tale Clothing
Summary: The story of Rip Van Winkle by Washington Irving is seemingly one about a man who sleeps for twenty years and sees his world turned upside down. On the contrary, the story is metaphoric for the American Revolution and how the colonists came to join in the struggle with England.
When read at first glance, Washington Irving's "Rip Van Winkle" seems to be a tale of a lazy man who just wanted some peace and quiet, and ended up with almost too much of it. When analyzed at a deeper level however, "Rip Van Winkle" is more a symbolic story about the changes in the world going on at the time the story was written. Irving wrote "Rip Van Winkle" to show the world the struggle of the newly independent Americans trying to cope with life after English rule.
The character of Rip Van Winkle was one who was considered lazy and unproductive. He was "one of the happy mortals...who take the world easy, eat white bread or brown, which ever he can be got with least thought or trouble..." (Irving 983). Winkle was the kind of man who did the least amount of work possible to get...
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This section contains 1,221 words (approx. 5 pages at 300 words per page) |
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