Rip Van Winkle Research Paper

There is no rules or guidelines to classify certain stories as American Literature. So, what makes a story American Literature? “Rip Van Winkle,” by Washington Irving, is a profound short story and an example of American Literature. “Rip Van Winkle” is about a man who falls asleep for several years. He finally wakes up and he sees that the places around him have changed tremendously. When he returns to the village no one remembers him, except an old villager, who verifies his story.
Washington Irving was born in 1783 and died in 1859. He was the first American writer to achieve fame in Europe. His mentors included other great American writers such as, Edgar Allen Poe and Nathaniel Hawthorne. Irving had written essays, biographies on George Washington and Muhammad, and short stories. He also spoke out against the mistreatment of Native Americans by Europeans (F.D. Hunt, ACAS 125 lecture, January 28, 2008).
In writing “Rip Van Winkle,” Irving was the first belletrist, or a person who writes for pleasure rather than for practical use. Irving also introduced non-fiction as a genre (F.D. Hunt, ACAS 125 lecture, January 28, 2008). “Rip Van Winkle” is an eponymous character, meaning the main character is named the same as the title (F.D. Hunt, ACAS 125 lecture,
The common American person found it easier to accept these myths then to challenge them. As long as they had the basic needs then they did not care about other things around them (F.D. Hunt, ACAS 125 lecture, January 28, 2008). In “Rip Van Winkle,” Irving believes things change in order to have a purpose. “Having nothing to do at home, and being arrived at that happy age when a man can be idle with impunity, he took his place once more on the bench at the inn door” (Irving. 31). Like many other Americans, Rip accepted the fact that the village and people around him had changed because things change over