Rip van winkle

Washington Irvings “ Rip Van Winkle” Washington Irving was a great traveler and reader. He made innumerable voyages to Europe. His lifetime of readingled him to knowing many folk tales. One of the most fundamental purposes behind writing “ Rip Van Winkle” was the fact that Irving wanted to lend the United States, that was by then a newly found country, the same conventional sense of tradition which had been previously enjoyed by the older nations due to their traditional wisdom. Irving also wanted to elaborate the importance of politics in America throughout the history. Through his writing, he conveyed to the audience the influence of American Revolution upon the society as a whole. I believe Washington Irving’s purpose for writing ‘ Rip Van Winkle’ was teaching that idleness is the biggest hindrance in the path to modernization, and elaboration of political importance in America.
The plot is an escapist castle in the sky. The inefficiency of Rip Van Winkle as a male hero symbolizes his inability to provide for his family and take care of his farm. He sleeps through the time for full twenty years in an attempt to escape the cost of his idleness and does not wake up until his idleness is forgivable. The American dream is grounded in ambition and hard work. This behavior of Rip Van Winkle contrasts with the American dream. Therefore, he can not keep pace with the rapidly changing and modernizing society. His idleness does not let him progress with time. Politics is also an important theme of the story. Irving has shown that political discussions were important in America in all times. Rip’s discussions with his friends about politics in the youth and people’s curiosity about which political party is Rip from symbolize the importance of politics to American people.
Rip Van Winkle and Fall of the House of Usher are apparently entirely different stories with little to no obvious resemblance in any way, though there are some underlying themes that may support the comparison between the two stories. One of the themes is idleness. Usher kills the time playing guitar while Rip kills the time gossiping with friends and wandering around. Usher is the last descendent of the family just like Rip is the last to know the old American culture. Death in both the stories is a sign of life. For Rip, Dame’s death is a source of liveliness. On the other hand, death gives that power to Madeline that life had sapped.
Irving is absolutely correct to suggest that we should work hard in order to keep pace with the rapidly changing world. In the contemporary age, there is so much competition everywhere that one can not afford to be idle. Idleness causes an individual to sleep through the life whereas hard work enables an individual to live the life in its true colors. Idleness makes an individual dependent, just like Rip was dependent upon his friends in the youth and his daughter in his old age. Agreed that he helped others in their works, but he did not fulfill his own responsibilities towards his own family, and was thus outcast.