The Theme of the American Revolution
In Washington Irving’s Rip Van Winkle

von: Moritz Oehl

 

One of Washington Irving’s earlier works and typical for his humorous writing is The Sketch Book. It also features the tale of Rip Van Winkle, which is the source of the following essay and a very satirical (though deep) approach to the theme of the American Revolution. By using Diedrich Knickerbrocker as narrator of the story, Irving escapes any possible attempts to criticize him for his social satire. The purpose of this paper is to show how and why the theme of the American Revolution is the most important part of Rip Van Winkle.

Irving’s (fictitious) tale is set in a “little village of great antiquity” (Irving, 981) on the Hudson River. Surrounded by the majestic Kaatskill Mountains, the inhabitants live an uncomplicated and simple life. The American Colonies are still under British rule and revolutionary ideas have not arisen yet. One of the inhabitants is Rip Van Winkle. Although he is of Dutch descent, “he inherited […] but little of the martial character of his ancestors”. Instead, Rip is a good-natured fellow and father, “ready to attend to anybody’s business but his own” and takes life easy. He is “a great favorite among all of the good wives of the village” and “not a dog would bark at him throughout the neighborhood” (Irving, 982). Unlike the emerging revolutionary generation, Rip is the total opposite of progressivism – he does not care about tomorrow but lives his life in the present, or even in the past.

A first example of the depth of the story and a clear sign for Irving’s allusions is Rip’s wife. She is the hero’s greatest worry and causes him a lot of headaches by always criticizing and telling him to do the work on the farm. His “idleness, carelessness, and the ruin he was bringing on his family” enrage her and she does not want her children to be like him. Like the relationship between the American Colonies and England could be regarded as a maternal link that is going to be dissolved, Rip and his wife are far from a happy marriage, either: “Times grew worse and worse with Rip Van Winkle as years of matrimony rolled on” (Irving, 983).

One of Rip’s distractions from his wife is meeting with his friends. Representing a backward looking attitude as well, they form a kind of informal club and meet on a bench in front of a small hotel, the Village Inn. Their lacking sense of progressivism is obvious by “a rubicund portrait of his majesty George the Third”. Irving ironically characterizes a typical meeting as follows: “But it would have been worth any statesman’s money to have heard the profound discussions that sometimes took place, when by chance an old newspaper fell into their hands, from some passing traveler. How solemnly they would listen to the contents, as drawled out by Derrick Van Bummel, the schoolmaster, a dapper learned little man, who was not to be daunted by the most gigantic word in the dictionary; and how sagely they would deliberate upon public events some months after they had taken place” (Irv ing, 983 – 984)

Not only do they still look upon their king as a very respectable person, they also try to escape present and future challenges by pondering about weeks-old events. So, in general, Rip’s life revolves around getting out of the way of today’s and tomorrow’s duties. He does not move forward. Since his wife sometimes even interrupts the “junto” (Irving, 984), the only possibility to flee from that (to him) tyrannic and despotic attitude is to take a walk into the woods. Here, Rip tries to find some ease and comfort. As he strolls in the Kaatskill Mountains one day, his attention is attracted by a voice screaming his name. Some instants later he recognizes a strangely looking figure, “a short square built old fellow, with thick bushy hair, and a grizzled beard” who’s “dress was of the antique Dutch fashion” (Irving, 985).

[...]