You are on page 1of 1

Rip Van Winkle: Transition of the American Society Rip Van Winkle, apart from being one of Irvings

short stories with an interesting plot about a villager is also Irvings representation of the transition of the American Society. In the beginning of the story Irving escribes the American colonial life trough the protagonist, calle Rip. We see Rip in an inn which he was regularly visiting to iscuss all kin s of matters in connection with other villagers. At these occasions they were rea ing newspapers which arrive from !nglan . Since the shipping of these papers took a while, they were always rea ing articles which were alrea y out of ate. It was "uite unbeneficial to iscus matters which ha been alrea y iscusse an solve . It was also unfortunate that they were sub#ecte to the happenings in the $onarchy instea of contemplating about the state of the colonies. %he villagers were the sub#ect matters of t &ing 'eorge III, of the (ritish $onarchy. %his village is very small an everybo y knows each other. Rip goes up a mountain an Irving uses this voyage to show the lan scape. Rip falls asleep an in his ream Irving takes us back in time, as early as when the )u son Valley was inhabite escriptions serve the purpose of+. When Rip wakes up an goes back to the village he notices a lot of change. %he previous escription of the place in the *utch time #ust highlighte the current change which he notices. Rip sees a lot of unfamiliar faces, an instea of the small village he fin s himself in a more populous town. )e sees bigger houses, people ressing ifferently. %he rural society turne into an urban one. *evelopment an progress has taken place. America is not a colony anymore, it has become an in epen ent nation. %he ay he comes back is the ay of the election. %he fresh events an news are taking place in America. %he happenings are irectly influencing them. %hese people are the ones who will vote an choose the members of their government. %he members are not chosen for them, people are agitate an they want to take part in politics. Rip visits the well known inn, but instea of %he Inn the place is calle the -nion )otel. %he portrait of &ing 'eorge III, un er which they rea the newspaper, is replace by the portrait of 'eneral Washington. Rip is confuse , an the changes that he sees happene so su enly, as it if happene over night. enly became a Irving portraye how confuse people were. .rom being a sub#ect matter to the &ing they su lost their past, their history. In the story we can rea about the numerous problems an ifficulties which the American people face . %here were two political parties establishe , the .e eralist an the *emocrats. %he .e eralists were the rich aristocrats who wante to keep their privileges. %he *emocrats who ha the ma#ority of members were or inary, poor people whose aim were to abolish class ifferences an wante everybo y to be treate e"ually. by *utch settlers, the earliest settlers of the )u son Valley. %hese

free, in epen ent nation. %hey ha no national history, customs, social arrangements, they felt as if they ha

You might also like