The Sketch Book of Geoffrey Crayon

Nathaniel Hawthorne’s “The Birthmark” can be read allegorically as a condemnation of the nefarious effects of the patriarchy on young women, represented here by Aylmer and his beautiful wife Georgiana. Georgiana has a birthmark on her check, and because she is other wise “so perfect, [Aylmer] found this one defect grow more and more intolerable, with every moment of their united lives” (pg. 419). Immediately the reader realizes that Aylmer does not see his wife as a human being to be loved…

In, Legend of Sleepy Hollow, Washington Irving highlights a viable arrangement of starvation pictures that starts with his long portrayal of the emaciated, haggard Ichabod and reaches out to the practically physical yearning that his hero feels when he sees the rich produce of Van Tassel 's territory. Irving utilizes imagery, tone, and symbol to suit the equally mixed story line and underlying concept in this story. The author of this short story creates a mysterious and suspenseful tone which…

an attempt to scare one another, saying that if someone is not careful, the Headless Horseman will come for them. However, many Americans do not realize that this legend originated from a story that appears in Washington Irving’s book, The Sketchbook of Geoffrey Crayon, Gent. Washington Irving was born to a Scottish immigrant family on April 3, 1783, in New York City. Later that year, The Treaty of Paris was signed,…

“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 Dream”…

While verse was economically marginal in the early nineteenth century, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807-1882) became the first American poet who could live off his royalties (Gioia 74). He was also the first poet of the New World to achieve an international fame; his reputation reached Europe and even Latin America (64). Devoted to the creation of a native literature, Longfellow committed himself to developing an American poetic diction. In “Our Native Writers” (1825), his graduation address,…

There are plenty of ways to pass time. If you’re taking the bus home after a long night at work and waiting for your stop to come, play a quick game on your phone or listen to music, maybe chat with someone sitting next to you. If you’re waiting in the long lines at Disneyland, take a minute to pay attention to accents and other languages that you might hear, or watch the faces of the people just getting off the ride. If you’re waiting for your nagging shrewish wife to finally stop pestering and…

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…

Journalist Linda Ellerbee, once stated, "People are pretty much alike. It 's only that our differences are more susceptible to definition than our similarities." People do not realize how similar they are until they determine what they have in common. We can see that people accept our differences because our differences make us who we are. Linda Ellerbee 's statement reminded me of the main characters in the stories "The Devil and Tom Walker" and "Rip Van Winkle". Tom and Rip are two…