The Winds of Change and the Relic - Book Report/Review Example

The Winds of Change and the Relic: An Analysis of Washington Irving’s Short Story “Rip Van Winkle” The short story “Rip Van Winkle” by Washington Irving operates on various narrative and semantic levels. Though it can be considered a fairytale, its political ramifications affix it in the specific context of the American Revolutionary War between the 1770sand the 1790s. Published in the year 1819, the story adapts the earlier fairytale versions of the story in German, Jewish and Chinese origins to reflect on the sudden social change in a village at the foot of New York’s Catskill Mountains in the course of twenty years. The story is presented as the posthumous writing of Diedrich Knickerbocker, in a fashion that could be treated as meta-fiction in the post-modernist stance. The basic stream of thought that permeates the story is that of a stagnant lifestyle exemplified through the protagonist, Rip Van Winkle. He is well-loved by everyone in the village, except for his wife. His household and farm are in bad shape because of his negligence, even as he serves all the people of the village. He is described as “one of those happy mortals, of foolish, well-oiled dispositions, who take the world easy, eat white bread or brown, whichever can be got with least thought or trouble, and would rather starve on a penny than work for a pound”. He is a passive listener at Nicholas Vedder’s inn, where the newspaper that came to them occasionally was read out loud by the schoolmaster Derrick Van Bummel. Most of the villagers accepted the reactions of the patriarch, Vedder as the most appropriate one. Though the entire village is depicted as laid back in general, the signs of them moving on moment by moment in the ideological and material aspects of life are made in contrast with Rip Van Winkle who remains on the periphery as an unobtrusive soul. He is incapable of taking in the signs of change and believes his days to be as normal and perfect as ever. He is so accustomed to his nagging wife to the point that he takes it for granted that he and his wife could stand for each other on any day. The major shift in the tale takes place when Rip decides to take a new route unconsciously, to the highest parts of Catskill Mountains. It is there that he encounters visions and experiences that were different from his daily life. He gets in contact with a person presumably belonging to the ancient Dutch civilization, and on helping him is led to an amphitheatre where he witnesses strange creatures playing ninepins. He drinks their alcohol and sleeps for twenty long years. When wakes up, he expects to go back to the village where everything remains the same as he left it a day ago. But he finds out to his shock that almost everything about the village has changed, and there is hardly anyone whom he could identify. The wind of change had escaped Rip Van Winkle’s senses in a figurative manner. He proclaims in the drastically changed village that he is a loyal subject of King George III, to invite the wrath of the liberated masses. He finds it difficult to believe that a war has taken place, and that some of his friends have died while some have ended up being in positions unthinkable to him. In short, Rip Van Winkle has remained on the same spot like a rock while the river of change had flown much beyond him. It remains doubtful whether Rip accepts wholeheartedly the changes that had taken place in his absence. When he is recognized by an old local, he tries to reestablish his old position in the village. He is accepted by his daughter and he tries to return to his good old life where the absence of his wife is only a relief to him. He does not miss her as much as Wolf, his dog. This is evident of the strong trait of laziness in his blood, since his wife had been the only person who wanted him to change. Even the wholly transformed village accepts him as he is, this time as a relic. Even as he finds it difficult to become a part of the new world, he finds it very easy to entertain the people, especially those like him with a Dutch ancestry, with his tales of what the place had been twenty years ago. It is here that the story brings in a strange parallel. If it had been Rip Van Winkle who found it difficult earlier to come to grips with the place that had surpassed him twenty years all on the sudden, it is now the turn of the villagers who have to deal with a sudden flight back to twenty years. For the newcomers, this is a new revelation. For those who have discounted the existence of a vivid past in exchange for the ideologies of revolution, the presence of an old man straight out of a different time frame can be quite intriguing. Irving makes use of a few character types to compare and contrast the sate of affairs in two distinct periods in the same village. Though Rip Van Winkle remains the major character all through the narration, a cross section of the pre-revolutionary village is presented through the description of men and women in general. Moreover, certain character types are introduced through the school master Derrick Van Dummel and the inn owner Nicholas Vedder. Rip’s domineering wife is contrasted with the other housewives in the village who treat him kindly. However, the contrast is applicable also between Rip and the other men of the village who spend more time for their family and farm than for others, like Rip. There is also a contrast between the atmosphere of the old village and the politically and culturally changed village after twenty years. The new people are different in their dressing, lifestyle and manners. They are a lot aggressive than the old villagers who lived an idyllic life. For a person like Rip who had been an odd man out even in the relatively laid back atmosphere of the old village, the sea change could have been a real challenge. But even to his surprise, he finds a comfortable place in the village as an old man, who is rather treated as a relic. However, the eerie picture of Rip’s son moving slowly around the village much like Rip in his younger days establishes the contrast between the changing world and those who cannot but remain the same. The magical world where Rip escapes to for the twenty long years remains a mystery to all. Modern day science considers such long escapes to sleep as a biological phenomenon. However, the fairytale aspect of the story is the strongest where Rip encounters strange creatures and undergoes an unexplainable period of slumber. This is the essential beauty that Irving could perhaps have intended to bring to the story, which is basically of strong political motives. It is possible to appreciate and interpret the story in different layers. For children, this could remain a story that amuses with its magical touch. But when analyzed deeply, it may be revealed as possessing many interesting messages to the adult readers, both in America and the world over. It is possible to see it as an essentially polemical narrative, with social, cultural and psychological implications. The analysis of political change presented in the small canvas can also be applicable to the swift changes that alter entire nations in periods even shorter than twenty years. In the modern world, those who refuse to move along with the changes of the time are apt to face worse problems than poor old Rip Van Winkle. The scientific and technological advancements all around the world had been so fast that even an absence from the scenario of just one year will make you out of place altogether. Moreover the changes envisaged by information technology and globalization have in fact changed even the age-old concepts regarding individuals, communities and nations. Though Irving presents a story that depicts the story of changes in a village that took place more than two centuries ago, the ideas related to the passage of time and the limited options left to the individuals in such a situation are applicable even in today’s world. Rip Van Winkle is not just a fairytale character that amuses children, but a symbol of our perennial efforts to remain at the same place in the same time, for we find it perfect as it is. But the story nudges readers to the needs of the hour. Since one cannot step into the same river twice, one needs to realize that we too need to redefine ourselves every moment. We cannot afford to lead our lives in such a fashion that others would think of us as relics, like the villagers who were good enough to preserve Rip Van Winkle as a symbol of the past that has even escaped their memories. Read More