Rip Van Winkle's Life After The American Revolution

Irving used Rip Van Winkle to look at the changes made after the American Revolution by showing the economic and political differences between Rip Van Winkle's early life time too after he wakes up twenty years later. Before the American Revolution King George was in power over the colonies, so his portrait was portrayed at the small Inn of the village. The people of the village were not up to date on public events, they would sit around and gossip about events that have already taken place. Their opinion is controlled by Nicholas Vedder the Patriarch of the village. He was the landlord of the Inn and spent his days lazing around on the front porch of the Inn smoking his pipe. The way he communicated was with his looks since he rarely ever spoke. The village life was very laid back, do as little as possible in life, it did not matter if someone was doing economically better in life …show more content…
He helped out his neighbors before he did any of his own work. The neighbors loved him, his wife not so much. He didn’t worry about falling behind other people as long as they were doing well he was happy. He is very confused when he returns, because he has no idea what has happened and it is hard for him to accept the changes of the village. Moreover, it is significant that the villagers are of Dutch ancestry because they are the settlers of New York and the author uses a nickname for the Dutch as his name, Knickerbocker. The name is used to help the author sell his book. The author trying to tell a folk lore, true history of ordinary people, but with a tale. The voyage they take over and the first glance of the Hudson is an inspirational for family members and could be seen through ordinary eyes as beautiful. The villagers were of Dutch ancestry because that is the ancestry of New York, however, it is significant in a way that the author uses that ancestry to sell his stories and