Rip Van Winkle in the Modern Era
One of the first things RIP did after awakening was get the newspaper. There were a lot fewer available and some that used to be very well-known are no longer in existence, according to the vendor1. The vendor mentioned that the "Internet" was responsible; apparently, in the last twenty years computers have become so available and inexpensive that just about everybody now has at least one of them at home2. RIP went immediately to the local library where he received a lesson in using computers and something called "Google" that has become the modern way that people look for information on just about everything3.
Rip discovered that shortly after he went to sleep the Soviet Union collapsed4 and with that, the Cold War era ended5. Seventeen years after the Challenger disaster another space shuttle, Columbia was also lost6, John F. Kennedy II died in 1999 when his private plane crashed7, and Senator Ted Kennedy just died of brain cancer8 shortly before Rip woke up. However, the most startling things that Rip found out were that the United States went to war twice in the Persian Gulf, fist in 1991 to oust Iraqi forces from Kuwait9, and again in 200310.
The second Iraq war was ordered by George W. Bush, who became president eight years after the end of his father's presidency11, and Saddam Hussein was captured by U.S. forces and eventually hanged by an Iraqi court12. The U.S. was attacked by Islamic Terrorists who destroyed the World Trade Center in new York City in 2001 and the U.S. armed forces have been simultaneously engaged in two wars (in Iraq and Afghanistan) practically ever since13. Since then, a new cabinet position of Homeland Security Director was added to the president's cabinet14, in conjunction with ongoing counterterrorism as a national focus15.
Racial issues have improved enough in the last twenty years that an African-American was elected to the presidency in 200816, and the U.S. seems to have made equally impressive strides in other areas of civil rights and equality, judging by the new laws about discrimination and even same-sex marriage in several states17.
He might have received his wish but that wish cost him 20 years. In "Young Goodman Brown," Hawthorne allows us to look at the frail nature of man through Brown's curious nature. He wants to know what is happening in the woods and does not stop to think of the unintended consequences. He does not know what to think when he stumbles upon the scene in the forest. The sight
Melville and Irving The dawn of the American nation brought with it a need for a decidedly American culture, one depicted with careful precision by many of the authors that came to paint the literary landscape of the new magnate across the Atlantic. Washington Irving, the first American great, told the story of the nascent, colonial United States through youthful folklore limned with great detail and attention to the inner workings
" The crumb evidently symbolizes the feeding of hope. The author thus hints that she does not feed her hopes, emphasizing thus her pessimism. In another poem, a Bird Came down the Walk, the protagonist is a real bird. This time, Dickinson does not use the figure of the bird allegorically but rather as a symbol: the bird descends and kills a worm without being aware that somebody is watching
Although his wife was really upset, and very mean to him, his patience with her and about the severity of the situation, makes him a model person. Not many people actually have this attribute, and although many would wish to attain it, very few do. This adds on to the mythic American persona. Rip Van Winkle was liked by everyone. His sweet, nice characteristics made him a likeable person,
Washington Irving uses borrowed material from the Dutch and German's to create stories of his own. Washington Irving was born in the year that America became officially recognized by England as an independent country. He spent much of his life in Europe so it is not surprising that some of his greatest literary work should imitate the people and countries of the continent. Even so, much of his work also
His nagging wife is his only real misery. Everyone else seems to admire Rip for his simple nature and honest character. However his wife cannot see these qualities and this leads to disharmony at home causing Rip Van Winkle to go to a jungle, drink some strange beverage and fall asleep for two decades. When he wakes up the world he left is no longer a domain of George III
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