Rip Van Winkle and the American Elements

The American Revolution was an eruption of enlightenment thinking. After hundreds of years of reserved Calvinistic attitudes, the pleasures and benefits of creativity, originality, and independent thought blossomed. The creative institutions made popular within the revolutionary period were great leaps of advancements in American writing. Fiction, particularly the short story form, invigorated the American spirit by pronouncing a sense of creativity previously unknown to the rest of the world. Folklore set readers’ minds ablaze with idealistic imagination that continues to influence American judgment to this day. Satire, requiring keen wit and insight, assisted in projecting the image of an enlightened and intelligent society along with the short story form. Together, these three elements worked to enhance the positives of the American image and solidified the literary credentials of its people. Washington Irving’s “Rip Van Winkle” personifies all three defining characteristics, allowing following generations to refer to Irving’s most well known work as a foundation for the American style.