Washington Irving

Spencer Lambert
ENGL 48A
Journal for Washington Irving
October 26, 2009

"The very character of the people seemed changed. There was a busy, bustling, disputatious tone about it, instead of the accustomed phlegm and drowsy tranquility."

Internet Quotation: "Even though there is ongoing debate, Irving's accomplishments as being the first American author accepted abroad, establishing the American short story genre, and his work as a biographer and historian are undisputed and secure Irving as a permanent fixture in American Literature." - Laura Braley

Summary: The first time Rip Van Winkle looks around his old town after his twenty year slumber, he sees these busy people fussing about endlessly. I think that this quotation is the starting point for discussing the changes portrayed in the story, as the society moves from slow and simple to fast and complex. It is all too much for Rip the first time he looks upon it, but he ultimately comes to grips with it in time, becoming a lazy old relic of a bygone era in American history.

The second quotation is from a resource site on Irving. There isn't anything particularly special about it; I put it here simply because Irving was one of the first truly (read: internationally) successful American authors, and it should be said when talking about the man. Also, as a fan of the American short story genre, I felt I should pay my respects to the person who essentially created the style. Without him, we might never have been blessed with most of the works we read for this class. Not to mention the complete lack of Ernest Hemingway, which I must say because a world without his short stories isn't a world at all.

My Ideas: This story is a very interesting way to frame the changes in American society, mostly because I do not know where Irving's sympathies lie. On the one hand, he sees this new American society as bustling and exciting, having been released from the tyranny of King George III. Even Rip is happy in this new society, mostly because Dame Van Winkle is finally off of his back all the time.



But there is also a sense of nostalgia for the old, idle Dutch town that was sleepy, half-drunk, and, using his word, tranquil. There is a natural sort of innocence in such a town, where nothing terrible happens, where there are no goings-on beyond the daily movements of the town. Even their news is old, so it means nothing substantial, just some more material to talk about with friends and neighbors. It is a very picturesque vision; indeed, I had a strong urge to follow Rip's lead and find a nice patch of grass to nap on after reading this story.



There is not really a judgement one way or the other, in my mind, on this new nation. The new Americans are busybodies, with all of their storming movement and activities. They're also cheap, shown in the portrait of King George III simply repainted from red to blue and renamed George Washington. Yet there isn't anything necessarily bad about this vision; it is simply the new way of doing things. Plus, there is a space in the new American tradition for Rip. His idle ways are eventually accepted as who he is, and he has a fine place within the community, despite not really doing anything for himself. He isn't the normal American, but he can still exist among such people.

What is more apparent is Irving's disparaging view of Dame Van Winkle, which I find a little unsettling. Everything about her is apparently negative, and Irving -- or Diedrich Knickerbocker, rather -- comes off as distinctly antifeminist. At the end, the conclusion of the story is that the old Dutch inhabitants like the story because they hope that they might one day fall asleep for twenty years and rid themselves of their wives as well. While she was perhaps a bit over zealous in her critiques of her husband, the moral of the story is seemingly not about the new America, but that a man will be happier if he can get away from his woman. The "resignation to his fate, or joy at his deliverance" when Rip hears Dame Van Winkle's name mentioned doesn't seem quite fair to women.



So the story is stuck between an imaginative, humorous look at the changes in America, complete with bearded, strangely-dressed men, and a harsh view of women as nuisances. I'm not sure what else to say, as the story itself seems to make its aims clear. It is a portrait of old and new America, mixed with some mildly misogynistic overtones. Fun, lighthearted, semi-patriotic perhaps. But also cruel towards wives who likely only have the best interests of their indolent husbands in mind.