“Rip Van Winkle”

1. “Rip Van Winkle” Washington Irving

2. Interest in the common man and childhood • Rip lives in a small village, keeps a farm, and frequently goes hunting and fishing in the mountains nearby. Strong senses, emotions, and feelings • Rip’s desire to escape his wife • Rip’s confusion when he wakes up

3. Love of Nature • Setting in Catskill Mountains (p. 69) • Rip loves to hunt and fish (p. 70) • Descriptions of beauty of the landscape (p. 69, 72, 74-75) • Sense of loss when Rip notices that the tree that used to be next to the inn is gone (p. 76)

4. Celebration of the Individual • Rip is the original anti-hero • A protagonist who is a non-hero or the antithesis of a traditional hero. While the traditional hero may be dashing, strong, brave, resourceful, or handsome, the antihero may be incompetent, unlucky, clumsy, dumb, ugly, or clownish. (http://web.cn.edu/kwheeler/lit_terms_A.html)

5. Importance of imagination • Hendrick Hudson and his crew • Rip sleeping for twenty years • At end of story (p. 80) it says the story was based on the German myth about Frederick der Rothbart and the Kypphaüser Mountains • However, the intro to the story (p. 67) says it might be based on the German story of Peter Klaus or the ancient Greek story of Epimenides.

6. Gothic elements • N/A

7. How would you describe Rip Van Winkle? (What does he enjoy? What does he dislike?) • Simple and good natured • Kind neighbor – plays with children, helps anyone who asks • Henpecked husband • Doesn’t like profitable work – will help anyone else but neglects his own farm & family

8. What is the first indication that this story is not wholly realistic? • On p. 72 when the stranger appears in his antique Dutch clothes.

9. What is Irving attempting to compare and contrast in this story? What is the message of this comparison? • He compares pre- and post-Revolutionary America. • He expresses concern that Americans lack: community, appreciation for nature, and connection to the past.