Reading From Rip Van Winkle
The story is chosen from The Sketch Book of Geoffrey Crayon , Gent (1820).Irving , the author of this book got the idea from a German legend about a sleeping emperor ,and create a character named Rip Van Winkle with infantilism , nostalgia for the past ,and loss or surrender of manhood . Maybe , Rip Van Winkle is served as a typical image of American male as seen from abroad ,like Gant ,in the book of the LOOK HOMEWARD, ANGEL .
At the beginning of this fiction , the author introduced the basic condition of the character , then he mentioned his background at length ,and what happened after a sleep for twenty years . The story combined the reality with imagination . Now, follow me to go into the story of Rip.
Rip was one of those happy mortals , of foolish , easy-going dispositions, who take the world easy ,eat white bread or brown , whichever can be got with least thought or trouble ,and after marriage ,he would rather stave on a penny than work for a pound .If left to him ,he would have whistle life away in contentment not guilty. He was so desperate for freedom instead of responsibility that his sole domestic adherent was only his dog Wolf. I think perhaps that the very free, idle, disposition was not coordinate to his wife’s made his family a obstacle for him . He was afraid of she keeping continually dinning in his ears about his idleness , carelessness and the ruin he was bringing on his family ,and whenever it happens he either shrugged his shoulders, shook his head ,cast up his eyes, but said nothing ,as it goes that silence is the best resistance ,or went a small inn, where he was free and can do what he want ,for example ,drinking , smoking talking listlessly over village gossip , or telling endless sleepy stories ,or, went to the wood along with his only friend ---Wolf, who was used to consoling him. His story remind me of Gant ,when they young , they both were so rebel that they were not harmony with the family ,even the whole society , but at the end of the story ,Rip came home again with self-questioning :who am I ? and what is my name ? after a sleep for twenty years.
He falls into a 20-year sleep and exchange his best life for a peaceful old age. As far as I’m concerned, this “ came home ” has no more than two meanings . First , Rip physically came home . Second , his soul and thought were converted to the reality.
第二篇：Rip Van Winkle
What Can We Learn from Rip Van Winkle
The author of the story, Washington Irving, considered as the first American man of letters and the Father of American literature, is still among the most widely read authors in modern times. Rip Van Winkle is one of his most famous stories.
It seems Rip Van Winkle is a strange story, but when deeply analyzed, it becomes understandable and thought-provoking.
What can we learn from the story then? First, the frame work is from a German source where the story of Rip has already happened and become legendary. Then, in terms of the content, we have the double past of Rip?s youth before the Revolutionary War and his old age in the time of the Republic. Last but not least, the meaning of the story is surely how to live through an unpleasant personal and social past as if it never happened.
The style of the story is characteristic of Irving: the sentences are long but easy and balanced; the tone is familiar and sympathetic to the readers. The opening paragraph shows Irving?s ability to paint an atmospheric picture with detail, with color, and even with the very shape and sound of his sentences. The Caatskill Mountain becomes fabulous under his pen with variant scenery. Irving also depicts the pacific and ordinary life of the village where Rip lives in, an ordinary man who is to experience something extraordinary. The last sentences of the third paragraph: “their tempers, doubtless, are rendered pliant and malleable in the fiery furnace of domestic tribulation, and a curtain lecture is worth all the sermons in the world for teaching the patience and long-suffering. A termagant wife may, therefore, in some respects, be considered a tolerable blessing; and if so, Rip Van Winkle is thrice blessed.” show Irving?s gentle wit. Except for the narration, there are also dialogues. Such as “?Poor Wolf,? he would say, ?thy mistress leads thee a dog?s life of it; but never mind, my lad, whilst I live thou shalt never want a friend to stand by thee!?” and “?What brought him to the election with a gun on his shoulder, and a mob at his heels, and whether he meant to breed a riot in the village?? ?Alas! Gentlemen.? cried Rip, somewhat dismayed, ?I am a poor, quiet man, a native of the place, and a loyal subject of the 1
king, God blesses him!?”. These dialogues are similarly easy and fluent and unobtrusively suited to the character speaking.
Not only has the story of Rip Van Winkle become a tradition, but also many of the elements in the story are themselves traditional and familiar. Rip is a hen-pecked husband and likeable good-for-nothing. He lives an idle life, taking the world easy, and does not like labor work, which even affects his son and his dog. At home, torrents of trivial and quarrels trouble him, irritate him, but the hen-pecked husband always gives in return nothing but shrugging shoulders, shaking head, and casting up eyes. Dame Van Winkle is an example of the termagant wife, an eloquent woman who sees nearly no advantages on her husband. But on the other hand, without Dame Van Winkle, the story cannot be so complete. Rip?s successful avoiding encountering the terrors of his wife makes his magic dream possible. The mountains are the home of magic, and the magical sleep is found throughout this fairy tale. Besides, such details as the rusted gun Rip finds when he wakes and the changes Rip meets when he returns to the village make the story as real to the readers as if it were an everyday occurrence. From the description, Irving?s skillful use of the specific setting of the Hudson River valley is clearly presented in front of the readers.
In spite of the informality, the story of Rip Van Winkle has great effect and meaning. Not only is Rip himself appealing to one side of our natures, but his story, too, has its attractions. Rip?s extraordinary experiences appeals for the impulse to sleep out of our troubles, to fade away from the world. And such an idea lies not too far below our minds. Above all, Rip?s mixed attitude toward the changes in his village reflects Irving?s mixed attitude toward the rejection of the past involved in a great social revolution. After all, the revolution has upset the natural order that lies deep in people?s mind.
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