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Rip is known as a “round” type of character, which means he is mentioned throughout and appears throughout in the whole story. Rip continuously suffers the wrath of his “termagant” wife Dame Van Winkle, who sees Rip as a lazy nobody and blames him for all their misfortunes. Dame Van Winkle is known as a “flat” character, which means she is also mentioned throughout the story, but does not appear in the story as much. Rip was known to have an “aversion to all kinds of profitable labor.” He hates all kinds of work with a passion and would much rather take his dog and go hunting and fishing instead, while his farm and his family goes into ruins. In spite of all of that, all of the village people liked him and even the children, whom Rip spent his time playing and making their games. Rip sees his farm as a failure and blames himself for it. He is so used to his wife’s harsh criticisms that he simply “shrugged his shoulders, shook his head, cast up his eyes, but said nothing”.
Rip finds solace at the village inn, where he drinks and listens to gossip. Mainly about the unfair ruling of King George III of Britain, who unfairly taxes the colonies. One day he was fed up with his wife that he took his dog and went for a walk up the Kaatskill Mountains. There he meets a strange looking little man whose appearance was “short, square built… with thick bushy hair, and a grizzled beard. He was also dressed in Danish-like clothes. The little man was holding a keg filled with some kind of liquor and he bade Rip to help carry it and to come with him. They came upon a clearing where there were more little men and they were drinking liquor and playing a game of nine-pins which made a sound like “distant thunder”. The little man made Rip serve the liquor to
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the other men. Rip tasted some of the liquor and it was so good that he went back for more. The liquor made him go into a stupor and then into a deep sleep.
When Rip wakes up, he finds his gun rusted away, his dog gone and the little men gone too. He returns to his village and finds unfamiliar people dressed in a different fashion. Rip then also finds out that he has grown a foot long beard! He goes to his house and finds it “gone to decay-the roof fallen in, the windows shattered, and the doors off the hinges.” He goes to the village inn and finds it gone with a building called “The Union Hotel” in its place. There was standing in the ground a “tall naked pole, with something on the top that looked like a red night cap, and from it was fluttering a flag on which was a singular assemblage of stars and stripes.” There was also a picture of a man who looked similar to King George III, but was dressed in a blue coat and had the name “General Washington” under it. These symbols have a lot of meanings to them. The “tall naked pole” which was the American flag symbolizes freedom, liberty, freedom-of-speech, and the United States of America. The poster of King George III symbolizes taxation and unfair-ruling. Also, the poster of General Washington symbolizes self-governing and freedom of the colonies.
There was a small crowd in front of the hotel talking about an election and Rip’s bedraggled appearance caught the attention of the crowd. The people thought with his appearance that he must be a spy but Rip responds “I am a poor quiet man, a native of the place, and a loyal subject of the king, God bless him!” When the crowd heard him utter those words they thought for sure he was a spy. Rip assured them he meant no harm and asked what had happened to his former companions. He was told they had died or gone
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of to war. Just then, a woman came forward with a child, who cried at the sight of Rip Van Winkle. The woman addressed the child as Rip and scolded him. Rip Van Winkle asked the woman what her name was and who her father was. The woman replied that her father was Rip Van Winkle, who disappeared 20 years ago and no one has heard from him since. Rip then asks where her mother is. The woman replied that she died after having an affair with another man. This part of the story has the use of cosmic irony because it was a twist of fate that Dame Van Winkle’s heckling of Rip led him to harbor deep feelings of resentment of her that he ran out and met the little men with the tankards of alcohol that made him fall asleep for 20 years. When he woke up and found out that his wife was dead he felt relieved and comforted.
Rip then embraced his daughter and declared to her that he is her father Rip Van Winkle and if no one recognized him. Everyone was amazed and wondered what had happened to him. Rip then told his story to everyone and some were skeptical and some winked to each other. Rip Van Winkle went to live with his daughter and her family. He then learned that King George no longer governed the colonies and that he was now a free citizen of the United States. Rip soon put his life back together.
All in all, I found this story very interesting. It was a story about the “political upheaval of the American Revolution.” But it was very good to read and it kept me in suspense of what was to happen next.
