The short interesting novel, “Rip Van Winkle”, written by Washington Irving, talks about a man who woke up after sleeping for 20 years and found that the people and things around him had changed. Rip Van Winkle lives in a small Dutch village at the foot of the mountains in the Catskills in the eastern United States. Rip was kind, helpful, and well-liked by others but he never took care of his own farmland or his own children. All the housework fell on his wife and she always complained to Rip.One day, Rip walks in a forest to “hunt” as usual but he sees a stranger wearing traditional Dutch clothes carrying a large wine barrel. The men said nothing and asked Rip to help him carry the wine barrel. Rip followed him to a hidden mountain place. There Rip saw a group of people playing strange games. They offered Rip wine and Rip happily took it. One up after another until he was so drunk and fell asleep. When Rip woke up, he found himself alone with an over-a-foot long beard. When Rip returned to the village, he found that everything had changed. He cannot recognize anyone in the village. The portrait of King George III hanging on the wall had now become President Washington. A young man approached him. Rip discovered that this young man was actually his son, his daughter had grown up, and his wife died long ago. Finally, the daughter took care of Rip. This story leads readers to reflect on three different themes, including Running Away From Reality, Freedom, and As Time Goes By.
People run away from reality because they try to avoid or escape from the challenges, responsibilities, or uncomfortable complaints or truths in one’s life. But simply desiring to run away is not enough; people need to take some actions to make it a reality. Before Rip’s long sleep, he cared for the village children and frequently played with them, but he neglected his own children. Rip gladly helped the villagers with their work, yet ignored his own farmland. His neglect led to his wife’s constant complaints. To avoid it, Rip spent time at the tavern chatting with the villagers. Rip is a typical run-away person. He ran away from his wife’s complaints, farm work, and eventually escaped into the forest, drinking wine and sleeping twenty years. Basically, Rip ran away from marriage, family duties and responsibilities, and the government ruling under King George III, to get his own “freedom”. But Rip’s freedom does not come from active rebellion. His freedom is based on escape to the forest sleeping twenty-year long Rip doing nothing significant effort but enjoying the good results of getting his own freedom. Unlike his friends freedom through action rebellion. One friend dedicated his life to his country and died on the battlefield; another friend served in the U.S. congress and contributed to the construction of a new country. Rip’s case makes readers think is freedom should be passively obtained or actively pursued? What is the true meaning of freedom? Is freedom still worth cherishing if people just escape their own responsibility to get the freedom? Passively accepting freedom instead of actively fighting for it might lead people to miss the opportunities for growth.
Tree freedom involves actively controlling one’s life rather than merely running away from reality. Balancing responsibility and freedom is key to achieving true freedom because responsibility grounds freedom with purpose and accountability. After Rip’s long sleep, there are no complaints because his wife had passed away long ago. With his children grown, he no longer has father duties, and he is no longer a colonist working for King George III. Normally, the theory of the dream is that people want to run away from reality because they are not satisfied with the current situation. But this does not fit Rip’s case. Rip’s story is the new start of life after twenty-year sleep. He has a new and FREE life because nobody is complaining to him because his wife died. And he does not have any young kids to take care of because his kids all grow up. The feature of this new life is FREEDOM. Rip's freedom somehow shows the freedom of America, freedom from his wife, freedom from being a colonist. But it is not his action to make freedom happen. Rip did not do anything to make the freedom happen. Rip got his freedom because his wife died and his kids grew up. On the contrary, America got freedom from their fight in their own hands; but Rip got freedom from his sleeping. People need to take actions for freedom. If you want to get freedom, you cannot do nothing, like Rip just sleeping. You have to do something to WIN your freedom. True freedom is not just freedom from external situations; rather, it is an internal state of being.
As time moves forward, some situations, perspectives, experiences, or people might change over that period. People respond differently to life’s change. Some people accept the change and grow from it while others are unwilling to make the change. During Rip’s twenty-year sleep, everything had changed. His wife had passed away, his children had grown up, and the United States had become an independent nation, free from King George III’s rule. The twenty-year span not only allowed him to miss his own life, but also allowed him to experience the great historical changes in the United States from a British colony to an independent country. The former King George III has been placed by President Washington. Rip’s twenty-year sleep is a symbol of how time moves forward regardless of individual actions.This suggests that time is unstoppable. People can never stop time. The time which has passed would never be back. When time passes, it just passes. The time cannot be reserved. Despite historical change, Rip remains the same, nothing changes about him, showing the endurance of his personal nature. It is easy to change a country but it is hard to change one's nature. On the other hand, the villagers listen to Rip stories, revealing a longing for the past. Rip is always sharing what happened before and a lot of people enjoy listening. This suggests that they want to stay where they were before. As time progresses, some individuals successfully adapt and evolve while others remain the same and choose not to take any action.
“Rip Van Winkle”is an interesting story. The metaphor of dream, or twenty-year sleep symbolizes running away from reality to get freedom. But it leads readers to deeply think about the meaning of freedom. Rip at the end of the story has his own freedom: no wife to complain to him since his wife died, no need to sacrifice his time to take care of his own children because his kids had grown up. Rip is freedom from marriage and family responsibility. However, is this kind of freedom really good for him? Can run away from reality really being freedom? Rip’s story shows that one’s freedom does not entirely depend on outside circumstances, but more on individual choices. If a person runs away from reality to get freedom, then that kind of freedom is not true freedom even if the world has changed.
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