Rip Van Winkle - Washington Irving

Rip Van Winkle - Washington Irving

1. Rip Van Winkle

   • Does everything in the village except his own work.
   • Characterized as extremely lazy and idle, but willing and eager to help others with errands, sports, or any other need seen throughout the neighborhood.
   • Cherished by the entire neighborhood, but consistently "nagged" by his wife, Dame Van Winkle.
     • Rip always has a mob of children following him, being taught sports, or how to make things.
   • He declared his farm unworkable, and always has complications with it. He ended up disregarding it completely.
   • His children hold true to his rugged appearance and idleness.
   • Wolf (Rip's dog) was the only loyal companion he had.

2. Dame Van Winkle

   • Portrayed as the "nagging wife", always harassing Rip about his unfruitful labor and uselessness.
   • Rip "would have whistled life away in perfect contentment; but his wife kept continually dinning in his ears about his idleness, his carelessness, and the ruin he was bringing on his family.

3. Rip participated in a "junto" made up of similarly idle individuals that surprisingly had meaningful conversation and an impeccable vocabulary.

4. To escape the pressure Rip was put under by his wife, he grabs his gun and walks through the mountains with his dog.

   • He lost track of time and believed he would never get home in time before dark.
     • He hears a cry, Wolf goes towards the edge, and having never before seen the individual but was intent on helping, climbed down and was led to an opening in the mountains in which he entered and found dwarves playing "nine-pins".
       • Rip is enticed by the liquor he sees and tries it. Eventually, one sip turns to two, and two turns two many. Rip wakes up twenty years later without his gun or Wolf.
         • With a heavy heart, Rip returns to his village unaware of the time change. He runs into politicians and an election and is utterly dumbfounded at the difference from "the night before". Essentially, everything that had troubled him now didn't exist. Eventually, he asks about his neighbors, sees his daughter and son, and gets accustomed to his new life.

5. Idleness does not benefit the individual, and eventually the world catches up to you and takes you by surprise.