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What Does Rip Van Winkle Mean

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Throughout the short story “Rip Van Winkle” Washington Irving explains the story of a man who is so bossed, bothered and controlled by his wife that when he falls asleep and awakens 20 years later, he is thrilled when he realizes he no longer has to deal with her. Rip Van Winkle wakes up and the people who were the colonists of Great Britain were now citizens of the United States of America. Irving’s compulsive use of historical references makes the reader question if he is symbolizing something else through this relationship of husband and wife. We can gather this easily but what we cannot understand is why Rip is so surprised that Independence from Great Britain is declared. Irving just might be suggesting that much of society did not feel …show more content…
He makes countless of references to life after the civil war in the U.S. The author immediately introduces the idea of the nation now being free from Great Britain when Rip wakes up from his 20-year nap. He mentions what Rip notices hanging off of a building that he no longer recognizes, “it was fluttering a flag, on which was a singular assemblage of stars and stripes—all this was strange and incomprehensible.” At first I found it strange that Rip has so much to apprehend when jumping 20 years into the future and one of the first things mentioned was a symbol of the American Colonies’ freedom. Irving goes on to make numerous references to this newfound freedom; it wasn’t hours after waking up and Rip had already learned about General Washington, rights of citizen, elections, members of Congress, liberty, Bunker’s Hill, heroes of ’76, the war and was even asked which political party he belonged to. Was this just coincidence that all of Rip Van Winkle’s first encounters involved description of life after the Revolutionary War? The author was making a point other than a miserable marriage or a funny story of what time travel would feel like; he was indicating something

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