Title: Rip Van Winkle Summary and Analysis
Headings: Rip Van Winkle
Rip Van Winkle
Background of the Story
Contents
Historical Context
Overview
Rip Van Winkle Summary
Rip Van Winkle Characters Analysis
Geoffrey Crayon
Rip Van Winkle
Dame Van Winkle
Derrick Van Bummel
Nicholaus Vedder
Judith Gardenier
Rip Van Winkle, Jr.
Hendrick Hudson
Peter Vanderdonk
Themes in Rip Van Winkle
Freedom and Tyranny
Constancy and Change
History and Fiction
Volunteerism vs Work for Money
Active vs Passive Resistance
Labor vs Productivity
Rip Van Winkle Analysis
Narrative Style
Local History and Mythical Narrative
Self Identity
Overlapping of Time
Rip as an Anti-American
Negative evasiveness of Rip’s Wife
Rip as Negation of Traditional American Hero

Content: He feels dizzy with anger. A woman approaches there that seems to be identical with her daughter Judith. On question, she replies that his father went into the woods with his gun and never returned. Twenty years have now passed since his death. Van Winkle tells everybody that it is only a night for him which makes them crazy. About Dame, he learns that she has recently passed away. Meanwhile an old inhabitant of the village, Peter Vanderdonk comes, attests Van Winkle and tells that there were rumors about the ghosts of Hendrick Hudson, the guardian of this land. It was said that he visited the town with his companion once in twenty years to guard the area. Van Winkle’s experience is closer to that folk tale. From now on, he starts living with his daughter who is married to a generous farmer.