ct her husband. Nicholas Vedder himself,scared from the daring tongue of this terrible virago, who charged him outright withencouraging her husband in habits of idleness.(Irving 901) While a characteristicallyinfluential man, Nicholas is no match for the intimidation of Dame Van Winkle. The turning point of the story occurs when Rip walks deep into the woods andencounters a mysterious band of oddly dressed strangers with foreign customs. Thesestrangers represent the tribes of Indians who dwelled in villages outside the colonialsettlements. In the short conscious time Rip spends with them, he takes the time tonotice a great deal about their social structure. Throughout their entire party, the groupremained completely silent, although they were obviously joyful. This portrays theIndians apprehension to interact with the settlers. Rip also takes note of a leader of thegroup. This leader wears a large, outlandish headpiece, and is apparently a respectedelder of the group. The entire scene where Rip waits on them out of fear, parodies thecapturing and enslavement of the settlers by the Indians. However, Rip is not consciouslong enough to become their slave, as Irving, in order to transport Rip to apost-Revolution society, has him drink too much liquor and sleep for 20 years.By the time Rip awakens, a war has been fought, and a new government has beenformed. Completely unaware of these occurrences, Rip returns to the villageconveniently on election day. Irving mocks the values of the new democracy and itsbipartisan system, with the first question that is asked of Rip. He is asked what politicalparty he belongs to, Federal, or Democrat. Irving goes on to mock politicians and theirelected power in the new government by referring to one statesman as a knowingself-important old gentlemen [who]... made his way through the crowd, putting them tothe right and left with his elbows as he passed... (Irving 906) The weakness andparanoia ...
