... to the imaginative. Irving often leads the reader astray with Ichabod's wild fantasies and silly thoughts and plans. The fact that his favorite book, in which he firmly believes is Cotton Mather's history of New England witchcraft his hysterically ironic. "He was, in fact, an odd mixture of small shrewdness and simple credulity. His appetite for the marvelous and his powers for ... ; and both had been increased by his residence in this spellbound region. No tale was too gross or monstrous for his capacious swallow- (637). Not only is Ichabod interested in Mather's witchcraft; but also, h...

• Word Count: 963
• Approx Pages: 4
• Grade Level: High School

... to overrun local custom and history-is essential in activating the ghost story. In part this is because Ichabod is not really all that hard-headed. He "potently believe[s]" in Cotton Mather's witchlore, and his "appetite for the marvellous" is only matched by his extraordinary "powers of digesting it" (pp. 276–277). Also, his susceptibility to perceiving the uncanny in his ... ...

• Word Count: 1590
• Approx Pages: 6
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

... the corn fields as a scarecrow and scare all the birds away. He did not have many friends, but "... he had read several books quite through, and was a perfect master of Cotton Mather's History of New England Witchcraft, in which, by the way, he most firmly believed."(Washington 45). Yet, he is the most educated in the Sleepy Hollow. He has his ... ...

• Word Count: 626
• Approx Pages: 3
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School

... the Puritan ideology that had given rise to, among others, the ill-fated witch-hunts. Such a reading could be also supported by the fact that Ichabod "was a perfect master of Cotton Mather's History of New-England Witchcraft, in which, by the way, he most firmly and potently believed". Ichabod fails in his matrimony designs only due to his fancy of being run ... ...

• Word Count: 2890
• Approx Pages: 12
• Grade Level: Undergraduate