The short story Rip Van Winkle, written by Washington Irving, portrays a helpful and well-liked Dutch-American man who is loved by his neighbors. However, being a generous neighbor who helps others, he is an irresponsible husband and father to his family. The avoidance of his duties and reality, accentuated by the author, demonstrates the story of Rip, who had been sleeping inside the mountains throughout the American Revolution. Through the informal tone of the story, a questionable idea about freedom is formed. Furthermore, Irving weaves a humorous social commentary about progress, time, and liberty through the mythical book of Rip Van Winkle.
Taken during the American Revolution, under the tyrannical government ruled by the British king, George the Third, the author paints a man who slept through the war and finds himself in a completely new condition. As the author wrote this story during the War of 1812, under severe circumstances, the setting and characters are all based on the ideas of the historical background. As the story takes place during the American Revolution, it establishes the symbolism and characteristics of the characters. From Rip’s point of view, he can symbolize the American colonies, while his wife, Dame Van Winkle, symbolizes Great Britain. Just like he escaped his wife and needed to get used to the new village, America is freed from Britain and also requires adaptation to the newborn country. As Irving’s classic American story incorporates several characteristics of American history, it also uses some conspicuous and unprecedented skills to make the readers wonder. The story s told by a fictional storyteller, Diedrich Knickerbocker, who is said to have collected these stories straight from the mouths of villagers. Furthermore, inaugurates some prompts between history and fiction and makes people wonder about where the line between fiction and history occurs. While Irving himself was a historical writer and biographer, his interest in American history is well painted inside the book. Suggesting how the historical characteristics inside them are well developed.
Through the short story Rip, the author denotes the behavior of escaping reality. Like everyone might have dreamt of an ideal paradise for people to run away and hide from their present troubles, Rip fell into a deep sleep and ran away from the wars and burdens of his life. By expressing an ideal way of escaping all the societal constraints and quandaries, Irving highlights the consequences and allure of eluding reality. Rip was tired of his wife’s nagging about his irresponsibility, so he went to the inn to hang out and drink with his friends. One day, Rip went hunting in the Catskill Mountains with his dog, Wolf, to get rid of his wife’s complaints. While Rip achieves an ultimate escape from the verity and nagging of his wife during twenty years of sleep, he also has a literal detachment from the familiar world he once lived in. His wife was dead, his friends were mostly killed and injured during the wars, and Rip had a son just like him and a daughter who was already married and had a child. The place he lived in wasn’t ruled by King George III but was governed by President Washington. Rip’s journey represents the desire to flee from the responsibilities of his life, accentuating the effects of choosing to live inside a bubble of perfection.
As Rip was free from his former responsibilities and societal norms, his passive longing for freedom versus societal rules and troubles was more unconscious or subconscious than an active pursuit. Rip is portrayed as a passive character that tends to avoid responsibilities; his longing for freedom was never really achieved through his actions but rather a twist of fate: falling asleep for twenty years. As he was starting over from his previous life, he was also free from his responsibilities to his family due to his age. However, his freedom is gained differently than that of other people in his neighborhood. His friends obtained their chosen freedom by actively fighting in the war, while his action of obtaining freedom without interference is limited. According to Charles Taylor, a Liberian politician, positive freedom is the ability to fulfill one’s purposes, and negative freedom is the freedom from interference by others. In contrast to positive liberty, Rip's negative liberty is concerned with freedom from external restraints and contrasts with positive liberty. Irving depicts perplexed emotion of Rip when he returns from the mountains and discovers the unfamiliar neighborhood, illustrating him as an outsider. As part of the humor of the book, Rip did not change in any meaningful way, portraying a futile escape from reality.
Through its informal narration, Irving’s Rip Van Winkle has created a setting in which anything can happen when the character is carried away to a strange piece of land. Rip, an irresponsible husband, and father to his family, slept inside for twenty years during the American Revolution. Through the story of Rip, Irving highlights the themes of escapism and the consequences of neglecting one’s responsibilities. Rip’s constant desire to avoid his duties and immerse himself in leisure activities leads to his isolation from his family. This serves as a cautionary tale, warning readers about the danger of prioritizing personal pleasure over fulfilling one’s obligations. Additionally, Irving uses Rip’s slim-to-none transformation upon awakening from his long sleep as a match for the changes that occurred in America during the revolution, emphasizing the importance of actively participating to gain one’s freedom.
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