Rip Van Winkle by Washington Irving - Essay Example

17 September Rip Van Winkle Themes: Friendship Friendship, help, and affection are some of the main themes of Rip Van Winkle. Rip lives with his family. His wife Dame Van Winkle scolds him for not working to make money. Rip’s wife is in command. Rip happens to be a hen-pecked and obedient husband. Rip likes to spend time with children. He narrates them stories and offers them toys. Times change, cultures change, lifestyles change, but human values remain the same. Dame Van Winkle often shouts at Rip and may even track him down if need be in order to humiliate him, but all of the children and the women who lived in that village would take his side.

The love, affection, and warmth for Rip Van Winkle would not be limited to humans. Even the dogs recognized him and would not bark to see him. Rip Van Winkle is known to others as an extremely useful man who can extend his hand of help in any kind of work needed. This is understandably, the main reason why so many people love him since Rip keeps proving his friendship again and again with different people; “a friend in need is a friend indeed” (“Cultural Dictionary”). Indeed, the same friendship becomes the cause of the twist in the story, when one day, while helping the Dutch strangers carry the keg up the mountain, Rip happens to drink a bit and then goes on to sleep for almost two decades.

When he wakes up, he finds that his wife is dead. In a way, Rip’s habit of being “the friend in need” (“Cultural Dictionary”) rids him from all sorts of tensions and depressions in life so that he can have a wonderful and peaceful time sleeping, where he does not have to get berated by his wife everyday, or think, “what excuse shall I make to Dame Van Winkle?” (Irving 25).Works Cited:“Cultural Dictionary: A friend in need is a friend indeed definition.” Dictionary.com. 2012. Web. 17 Sep. 2012. .

Irving, Washington. Rip Van Winkle. Digital Scanning Inc., 2009. Print.