Rip Van Winkle

Washington Irvings Rip Van Winkle is an interesting read of American short story. It perfectly symbolizes or stands for the confusion of thoughts, senselessness of actions during that time. Rip Van Winkles escapism and lost image symbolized the American commoners feelings at one point.
 I think the short story is a brilliant one, with Irvings romantic traits very clearly and aptly brought out through Rips character  a longing to go back and remove all traces of conflict and decision making from his life. The story is a fantasy tale with heightened imagination which is at a point unrealistic. But, all said, Rips character is an extremely lovable one. I find a certain sense of solace in him and completely sympathize with him. More so, because of his torturing wife, who is, not only a fiery furnace of domestic tribulation but, also a bad mother who keeps on shouting on her children.
This undoubtedly makes marriage and relationship as the central conflict of the story. Rip sleeps for twenty years to escape the bantering of his wife, which at first seems very funny. But if analyzed clearly, one can identify the underlying meaning of his slumber. He is a simple man who doesnt understand war, revolution and also do not want to take up big responsibilities. He does seem to be an escapist but all at the cost of the confusion and irrationality of his times.

While Rip is a simple good-natured man, an obedient hen-pecked husband, his wife on the other hand is one of those shrews at home. Why is his wife perennially angry with him when he is a good natured man who is ready to assist a neighbor even in the roughest toil and someone who is so well with the children that he made their playthings, taught them to fly kites and shoot marbles, and told long stories. Rips own family seems to be somewhat like a wrecked situation, which he tries to escape strongly. Hence, he slumbers for twenty long years.

This conflict is brought out best and aptly in Rips realization that twenty years have passed hence. In Irvings words,

On awaking, he found himself on the green knoll from whence he had first seen the old man of the glen. He rubbed his eyesthought Ripwhat excuse shall I make to Dame Van Winkle
         
The theme of American Revolution is well established through this conflict in the story. Rip falls asleep during a time when the country was yet a province of Great Britain. He wakes up at a point when the portrait of the dead His Majesty George the Third who ruled Great Britain from 1760 to 1820 hangs in the wall of the inn. When Rip wakes up, significant changes surround him. America is a free country with George Washington as its first President. His village which was of a small existence is now a big town bustling with men who were busy with their farms and lives, now discussing politics actively.
           
According to a critic, Washington Irvings Rip Van Winkle became an immediate American classic and retains that position in the American canon today. Indeed, the central character, Rip, has attained iconic status in both popular culture and with academic critics. It deals with the subject of American Revolution and the immediate drift between Europe and America. Also, like the American short story, this short story is also based on folklore. In this case, it is a Grecian one. Irving Americanized the Grecian story Peter Klaus to suit his own literary frame. The story Rip Van Winkle is an extremely interesting one, in which Irving interpolates the beauty of the human imagination and contradicts it with the seriousness of wars and revolutions.