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Rip Van Winkle


            
             Washington Irving was one of the first American writers to win fame outside of his own country. Many believe that Rip Van Winkle was one of the first short stories to be in a local American setting, the Kaatskill Mountains. Irving wrote with great humor and imagination, which in part is why Rip Van Winkle is still read today. It is a timeless story of far away places and magical people. Rip Van Winkle is a leisurely tale as was Washington Irving.
             Rip Van Winkle was written in the Romantic Period, which explains many of the themes throughout this short story. During this time it was believed imagination was greater than logic and a better solution to finding truth and beauty. Rip falls asleep and imagines that he meets a dwarf who leads him to what he thinks is an amphitheatre. Where he sees many strangely dressed people playing a game of ninepins they offer him something to drink and he falls asleep again. It is not possible for someone to sleep for twenty years, which is where the "imagination is greater than logic" part comes into play. It takes a great imagination to think a story like this up and you have to use your imagination to picture the story and the places inside your head. Romantic writers also believed that nature was a haven and cities led to corruption. Washington Irving sets the story up in a small village where Rip lives with his constant nagging wife. Rip leaves to escape from the verbal abuse of his wife and goes into the mountains, which was a haven for him and his dog, Wolf.
             Rip Van Winkle also has a moral. The moral is to have your priorities in order. Rip helped his neighbors whenever possible, yet was reluctant towards his own family. His house and yard was a mess and his family was falling apart because of it. The story also teaches unconditional love. Rip was gone for twenty years and when he came back nobody knew who he was or why he was there. Yet his only daughter recognized him and took him in when the rest of his family and friends where gone.


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