Rip Van Winkle

By King Meera -
Rip Van Winkle
Rip Van Winkle
Sleeeping soundly for
Twe-enty years

Bhavani ma'am ( *_* )

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  \/  \/
  /\  /\
    \/         <----  Star of David of critical analysis and summarizing

       ___________/1 background\________
       \6 characters/-----PLOT------\2 author/
/5 narrative style\_____________/3 setting\
----------------------\4 theme         /------------

1) Background
Dutch settlement in 1600s; not colonizers so not much account in history; they also did not culturally impact anyone greatly
<Dutch lost Anglo-Dutch war in 1660s and had to give away parts of their land. Later sided with the English against the French>

2) Author
David Knickerbocker believes that history occurs in the lifespan of people
History is to be lived, not recalled

3) Setting
Sleepy Hollow - niche areas where people are unaware of what's happening outside
<Dame Van Winkle - dominant - metaphor for British Empire - Rip Van Winkle a loyalist, obliging - she (like the British) was apprehensive about intellectual get-togethers because of the prospect of enlightenment and exchange of ideas>
retreat into sleepy hollow a form of escapism
<clings to story because he has nothing else left of the past 20 years>

4) Themes
Change, revolution, social conflict, identity crisis, culture, gender roles, ignorance, indifference - sleeping through history
<Futility of historic symbols on everyday objects - would lose its meaning>

5) Narrative style
Unbiased - 3rd person POV - packed with historic events yet doesn't appear factual; there are personal narratives within the larger narrative also

6) Characters
Rip Van Winkle, Dame Van Winkle, son, daughter, innsfolk, new age people

QUICK RECAP:
RIP VAN WINKLE
narrative within narrative
Henry Hudson's the Knickerbocker's story
History is through the lives of individuals
Dutch history
context is American Revolution
Rip a metaphor for Native Americans and other settlers who had no ambitions of conquering the land and kept silent and allowed themselves to be subjugated
Rip himself was not lazy but not particularly enterprising either
Dame is a metaphor for colonial rule
Servile - potion, 9pin game
charactersketches
what happens in inn
removed from incident even as it unfolded around him

READ UP:
Summary
Intro
Setting
Summary 2

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