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He grew up to be, as befitted his childhood atmosphere, a political satirist. This satirical nature of Irving’s shines brightly in Rip Van Winkle, as he uses historical allusions and symbolic characters to mockingly compare colonial life under British rule to the democracy of the young United States. The first historical satire occurs attached to the name Peter Stuyvesant, whom is mentioned twice with exaggerated praise. Stuyvesant, a harsh and strongly disliked governor, was in power when the English seized New York. Irving uses a false respect for Stuyvesant to humor the Dutch of New York, who blamed him for the loss of the land to the English. Having set the scene as a Dutch-friendly narrator, Irving introduces Dame Van Winkle, Rip’s stern wife, who maintains contempt for Rip’s laziness and carefree attitude. Dame Van Winkle’s harsh control over her husband represents King George and the English rule of the colonies. Whereas the colonies were mistreated by George, yet felt faithful and attached to the Crown, Rip stood by his demanding wife. The irony lies in Rip’s indifference to Dame Van Winkle. He was chided and bossed, but he was content. Nicholas Vedder, the owner of the inn, who dominated the conversations and opinions of the junto represents the colonial governors appointed by the Crown. While he rarely spoke, his influence was always present. This mirrors the inactive role the governors took in political affairs, and the colonists considerable respect for them. The relationship between the governors and Britain is illustrated perfectly by Irving when Dame Van Winkle comes to the inn to collect her husband. “Nicholas Vedder himself, scared from the daring tongue of this terrible virago, who charged him outright with encouraging her husband in habits of idleness.”(Irving 901) While a characteristically influential 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 and encounters a mysterious band of oddly dressed strangers with foreign customs. These strangers represent the tribes of Indians who dwelled in villages outside the colonial settlements. In the short conscious time Rip spends with them, he takes the time to notice a great deal about their social structure. Throughout their entire party, the group remained completely silent, although they were obviously joyful. This portrays the Indians apprehension to interact with the settlers. Rip also takes note of a leader of the group. This leader wears a large, outlandish headpiece, and is apparently a respected elder of the group. The entire scene where Rip waits on them out of fear, parodies the capturing and enslavement of the settlers by the Indians. However, Rip is not conscious long enough to become their slave, as Irving, in order to transport Rip to a post-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 been formed. Completely unaware of these occurrences, Rip returns to the village conveniently on election day. Irving mocks the values of the new democracy and its bipartisan system, with the first question that is asked of Rip. He is asked what political party he belongs to, Federal, or Democrat. Irving goes on to mock politicians and their elected power in the new government by referring to one statesman as “a knowing self-important old gentlemen [who]... made his way through the crowd, putting them to the right and left with his elbows as he passed...” (Irving 906) The weakness and paranoia of the young system is exposed when Rip is first accused of attempting to start a riot, and then of being a spy for the British. Eventually, after inquiring of his old friends, Rip asks about the whereabouts of his wife, who he is told died from a broken blood vessel in a fit of anger at a merchant in New England. This ironic death represents the British loss of power over the colonies due to their anger becoming more powerful than their care for control over the colonies. However, even more devious is Rip’s reaction upon hearing of his wife’s death. The emotion felt by Rip is described by Irving as “comfort,” paralleling the sigh of relief breathed by the colonies after being released Irving sums up his satirical view of democracy towards the end of the story, after Rip is placed back into society to fully understand and interpret the new government. It is obvious that Irving promotes Rip’s laziness and carefree attitude as the ideal and typical colonist, and he uses this characterization to analyze the young democracy. While Rip understands that there was a war, and that his status of citizenship is changed, yet he still is the same person. Irving is mocking the lack of importance of the dramatic changes to many Americans. The one aspect of his former life that he is glad to have lost however, is what is referred to by Irving as “petticoat government.” (Irving 908) Dame Van Winkle no longer had a tight grip on his affairs, and now he was truly free. In one final satirical blow to the values of his present society, Irving closes the story with a note from the the invented author, Diedrich Knickerbocker. In this note he begins to explain that while the events discussed in the story may seem questionable, he has talked with Rip himself. However, he stops himself, realizing that claiming first-handed experience will not win credulity. Instead he says that a judge signed a certificate saying the story was true, which must convince everybody that the trustworthiness of the tale is no longer an issue. Irving is obviously amused that people won’t believe something someone says, unless a judge decides it is true. Bibliography: Irving Washington. “Rip Van Winkle.” In The Norton Anthology of American Literature (Fourth Edition), edited by Nina Baym et al. New York: Norton and Company, 1994 Word Count: 996
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