Legend of Sleepy Hollow vs. Pip Van Winkle

Washington Irving was a well-respected author of his time. He had written many works, and most were under his pen name: Diedrich Knickerbocker. Two of Irving’s, or Knickerbocker’s most famous works were that of Rip Van Winkle and The Legend of Sleepy Hollow. Both of these works have similarities as well as differences between them both. The stories were written during the same time period, yet are supposed to have taken place before and after a war. In America, there were lots of pressing issues at hand, and Irving touches on some of these during his works. Both of these stories take place along the Hudson River, past NYC. In both of the works, within the first few sentences, it even mentions the words “river Hudson,” which helps us to picture where in America both of these stories supposedly have taken place. The difference about the location within each of these plots is that one is on the eastern side of the river, while the other on the western side. In RVW, the story seems to hint that the story is taking place BEFORE the revolutionary war while LSH seems to take place AFTER the same war. In LSH, it was stated that the closest town was that of Terrytown, and in RVW, no close town was ever mentioned. LSH never seems to have much going on within the town itself. The town is pretty relaxed and nothing ever interesting happens within it. In RVW it seems like the town is that of a working class town. It is hinted that RVW even had some farmland where he lived. The jobs of the two main characters in the stories are vastly different. In RVW, Rip was hinted at being a farmer, yet he never did any of the farming on his own land. However, Ichabod was the schoolteacher in LSH. He was one of the most well respected men around the town, just under the village parishioner. What is ironic in both of these stories is how the main character in RVW was very lazy in a town where everyone seemed to be doing something. In LSH, the main character in a town, with the name