Every one of us as kids loved reading myths such as Hercules or Perseus. However, did you know that there are some myths that originated right at home? Washington Irving’s story of Rip Van Winkle manages to merge several traits of a mythological story. The traits we will focus on include, setting the story in the past, filled with exaggerated characters, and features magical events with their consequences. How do these traits affect the story? And how do readers feel because of these traits? Now, Irving uses the setting to add a mythological characteristic to “Rip Van Winkle”. The years after the American Revolution used as the setting further the plot. When we first meet Rip Van Winkle he was living in a “village” which “was yet
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A story where a man magically falls asleep for 20 years requires strange characters to help push the story. In this story Dame Winkle, Rip Van Winkle’s wife, is always nagging at him. In the story we read, “Morning, noon, and night, her tongue was incessantly going.” (Irving, 65) This is one of the reasons Van Winkle likes to go to the mountains where he meets the creatures who eventually lead him to fall asleep. With these characters we as the audience realize that this story is meant to feel out of proportion. The creatures also rarely talk in the story, creating a tone of mystery. A central theme of the story is the inevitability of change. These characters help push that theme. Dame Winkle’s over-the-top nagging pushes him to go to the mountains were the creatures lead him to falling asleep. Without these characters we couldn’t grasp the story the way Irving would want us …show more content…
The plot furthers because we are intrigued by this man’s life and how an event like this changes him. When Van Winkle meets these creatures and sees the world they live, we have a sense of mystery. In the story we hear a little about the creatures, “Though these folks were evidently amusing themselves, yet they maintained the gravest faces, the most mysterious silence…he had ever witnessed.” (Irving, 69, 70) The audience is enthralled and mystified by how strange by what happens. Readers understand the theme of certain change of how these events lead to Van Winkle in a new society 20 years
A story where a man magically falls asleep for 20 years requires strange characters to help push the story. In this story Dame Winkle, Rip Van Winkle’s wife, is always nagging at him. In the story we read, “Morning, noon, and night, her tongue was incessantly going.” (Irving, 65) This is one of the reasons Van Winkle likes to go to the mountains where he meets the creatures who eventually lead him to fall asleep. With these characters we as the audience realize that this story is meant to feel out of proportion. The creatures also rarely talk in the story, creating a tone of mystery. A central theme of the story is the inevitability of change. These characters help push that theme. Dame Winkle’s over-the-top nagging pushes him to go to the mountains were the creatures lead him to falling asleep. Without these characters we couldn’t grasp the story the way Irving would want us …show more content…
The plot furthers because we are intrigued by this man’s life and how an event like this changes him. When Van Winkle meets these creatures and sees the world they live, we have a sense of mystery. In the story we hear a little about the creatures, “Though these folks were evidently amusing themselves, yet they maintained the gravest faces, the most mysterious silence…he had ever witnessed.” (Irving, 69, 70) The audience is enthralled and mystified by how strange by what happens. Readers understand the theme of certain change of how these events lead to Van Winkle in a new society 20 years