Washington Irving

Washington Irving is a writer who authored many short stories and essays in the early nineteenth century. He is the writer of many classical short stories, such as “Rip Van Winkle,” “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow,” and “The Devil and Tom Walker,” which are many people’s favorite short stories. However, in many of these stories the portrayal of certain male characters--and their relationships with female characters--have raised the question of whether or not Washington Irving had some questionable ethics. More specifically, it is misogyny that the late author has been accused of because of his stories. The male characters referred to in these accusations are Tom from “The Devil and Tom Walker,” Rip from “Rip Van Winkle,” and Brom Bones from “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow.” These characters’ portrayals show how Irving was misogynistic, rather than these values simply just a byproduct of the era Irving was living in. The first piece of evidence for this accusation is the character of Tom Walker from “The Devil and Tom Walker.” Tom Walker is introduced in the story as a person that is not likeable in many senses, and his wife is perceived the same way (Lines 31-37). The story describes the people living in the Walker house as all having a bad name (Line 31). Furthermore, Irving goes into great detail to describe how awful Tom…

where Romanticism style writing was at it’s climax. It included fine detail, knights, monsters, supernatural, lush nature, and imagination. An author, by the name of Washington Irving, sought to create stories other than the dramatic, chivalrous, romantic stories that were dominating the world of literature. He wanted a book that would be amusing to read, and could have the reader laughing. From this desire, he created “The Legend of Sleepy…

The main focus of all my research on Washington Irving, a Yankee living in New York, was to learn how the first American author pictured the world. Irving is widely considered the first American author not because he was the first author in North America, but because he is the first person in America to write stories “by heart”. What I mean by writing with heart was that Irving wrote with a passion, as he considered his work written for the reason of what he loved the most, humor. Irving wrote…

James Cooper and Washington Irving: Different but Alike Washington Irving was born on April 3rd, 1783. He spent his childhood growing up in Manhattan, New York alongside of his ten other siblings. His parents were William and Sarah Irving, his mother was the granddaughter of a clergyman, and his father was an affluent merchant who strongly supported the cause of American Independence. All of Williams sons were expected to support themselves so therefore, he sent Washington to study law in 1801,…

joy within Christmas, Washington Irving’s short story, “Old Christmas,” sets the scene of Christmas and creates the heartwarming feeling of Christmas within the readers. “Old Christmas” is a story in which Washington Irving experiences Christmas in the old days and the modern days. He captures his grand, memories of old Christmas - the loving hearts and joyous smiles, and he awakens readers to the problem within their modern society and how they have forgotten cheerful traditions of the past.…

In the story of “Rip Van Winkle” by Washington Irving, a man by the name of Rip Van Winkle living during the period of the Revolutionary war when America was ruled by Great Britain, took a nap in the park and woke up twenty years later to a free country. When he awoke he no longer recognized the people and the village he lived in twenty years ago. This story is an example of an American mythology including the three myth characteristic of past settings, strange or exaggerated characters, and…

“Rip Van Winkle”, written by Washington Irving, is about a man in colonial America named Rip Van Winkle, who falls asleep in the Catskill Mountains and wakes up twenty years later, having missed the American Revolution. The setting of “Rip Van Winkle” is in New York before and after the American Revolution. Irving uses historical allegory to create an American Romantic folktale that strengthens the national identity of the newly formed country. The main character and protagonist of the story is…

Author Washington Irving who is considered one of the Great American authors, wrote during the romanticism period. Particularly, in his work titled “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow” written in 1819 we can see evidence of the characteristics, themes and style identified with the romanticism movement which was extant in American letters between 1800 and 1850. As a representative of such a movement, Washington Irving then remains one of the most identifiable and iconic writers of his time. Washington…

T Melose once said “Every work of literature leads up to one great moment of insight, one instant in which the truth stands revealed.” He tried to express how everything in a literary work comes together to orchestrate a perfect moment of epiphany when a character or reader can finally see things as they really are. This style of structure has been seen in many different successful works of literature throughout the ages. Authors like, dark romantic writer Washington Irving, and Kate Chopin,…

The evil in “Adventures of The German student” by Washington Irving is caused by no other person than wolfgang himself. Wolfgang causes his own evil because he makes his own decisions and he isn’t heavily influenced by anyone but himself. “His health was impaired; his imagination diseased”. (Irving 2). This shows that Wolfgang has bad thoughts and he lets his mind get the best of him. Wolfgang doesn’t have much control of what he thinks and he has a wild imagine with things that may never…