Catskill Park

A small town called Westford, in New York State, that’s where I resided in for eighteen years of my life. Westford is about two hours of the city. The closest grocery store is thirty minutes away, and the nearest hospital is twenty three miles. Westford is all country in every way. Animals ran wild everywhere. Some of the animals you would see are squirrels, quails, chipmunks, deer, and even bear. They were not afraid of anything, until hunting season. The trees are so tall with many colors, red, brown, and yellow in the fall. The summers are so muggy and hot, but growing up there you didn’t notice, but we always swam or had water balloon fights. I remember one winter, we got snowed in our house. We were unable to get out the front door. So we had to go out the sliding glass door over the patio and trek mounds of snow to catch the bus for school. In spring, with my mother’s green thumb, the flowers bloomed beautifully, she had roses. They were so red and plump you would swear they shinned. These are just some of the beautiful things I got to treasure while living here. Sadly, not everyone felt this way about my beloved town of Westford. Outsiders thought of it as run down, or even a town full of hicks. In fact many outsiders would call it Hicksville USA. Some even went as far to say that the only type of people who lived here were inbred rednecks, I’ve always found that rude. Us as townsmen never agreed with any of this, we found our town close nit, homey even, where…

“Rip Van Winkle” Imagine if you took a nap and woke up twenty years later, everything would be completely different. In the story of “Rip Van Winkle” by Washington Irving, a man by the name of Rip Van Winkle living during the period of the Revolutionary war when America was ruled by Great Britain, took a nap in the park and woke up twenty years later to a free country. When he awoke he no longer recognized the people and the village he lived in twenty years ago. This story is an example of an…

history,” the mountains still stand—day after day, signaling a consistent and invaluable history, hinged upon “legendary lore.” As it happens, this lore is now more real to him than the history of others, as he can only gather what the world is from story and second-hand interpretation. In the note appending the story, the tale is said to again be an “absolute fact,” as Knickerbocker explains that he has heard the story from strangers, has talked to Rip Van Winkle himself, and has seen “a…

Rip Van Winkle as a Romantic Hero Rip Van Winkle is a short story written by Washington Irving which follows a lazy farmer named Rip, who enjoys helping everyone besides himself and his wife. Rip wanders off into the mountains one day and falls asleep, only to awaken after twenty years have passed. The author endows Rip with various characteristics that portray him as a Romantic Hero. Some of these qualities include being child-like and innocent, disliking women, and going on a journey in…

1882 which legislated that logging would be banned on all state-owned land. In 1892, a bill establishing the Adirondack Forest Preserve as a state park passed the legislature, indicated by a blue line that encompassed the parts of the region where state acquisition of private in-holdings was to be concentrated. A new covenant to protect the Forest Preserve was included in the new Constitution in 1895. The Adirondack Forest Preserve would henceforth be protected as ‘forever wild’. Early in the…

“Rip Van Winkle” was an iconic short story that was written by Washington Irving, in June, 1818. It was so well-known that almost every child in the United States has read it or heard about it once in their lifetime. Irving creates a simple-minded and easygoing character named Rip Van Winkle. He was cherished by the community, but his wife henpecks him day and night because of his carefree attitude. However, Irving’s illustration of Rip does not encompass the true reality of the “American…

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? …

Bud, Not Buddy Modern Era Bud, Not Buddy, is read all over the country because of the Great Depression, but if it was written in today's times, that would not be the case. If this story was written in the modern era a lot of things would be different. Bud's mother wouldn't have died, Bud would've had more knowledge about Hooverville, and Bud would have been able to find Herman E. Calloway's exact location. I think the changes in this story would make it a lot more eventful. If this story was…

Have you ever thought what it would be like to live in a fantasy world or to a part of your favorite fictional book? Many people think that these fake worlds would be better than reality. There are so many characteristics in these stories that make us find it more appealing. Whether it be the unique characters or magical events. A lot of these characteristics we like about stories appear in American myths. All of the main characteristics of an American myth can be found in Washington Irving’s…

Imagination may envelop the mind of Washington Irving’s readers with the satirical grace of every line’s aid. Traveling endlessly, Irving made use of the slightest details of everyday life and scenery throughout the beginning of the nineteenth century. His observances benefited his writing along with the troubles he faced as his life progressed. Born as the youngest of 11 children, in 1783 in New York City, Washington Irving was named for the commander of the Revolutionary War and first…