Washington Irvings Rip Van Winkle Shapes American Culture Essay

Washington Irving's Rip Van Winkle Shapes American Culture "Darkness...lowers upon my mind, and the times are so hard they sicken my soul," says Washington Irving in a letter to a friend (Letters 446). This statement reveals Irving's intense emotional condition, and in many ways indicates the intense social atmosphere as well as his personal conflicts, during the composition of The Sketch Book. Upon the bankruptcy of his family's fortune, of which he depended on solely for his monetary security, Irving found himself flung into the "galling mortifications of independence" (Letters 487). In response to this trauma, he sailed to England to regain his composure and hopefully secure his stake as a writer so he could provide for himself that which would keep him from "being cast homeless and pennyless on the world" (Letters 486). Within statements like these, Irving's countenance is quite apparent. Additionally, it helps to reveal the social atmosphere of the time, as well as increase one's knowledge of "Rip Van Winkle" as it is represent ed in The Sketch Book. And this representation holds great significance to Washington Irving's development as a person, and to American culture's struggle to define itself in a unique (non-British) way. Around 1817 Irving left the United States drained of inspiration, and slid into depression. He wrote of himself to a friend several years later, "I felt cast down,abased,I had lost my cast,I had always been proud of Spirit, and in my country had been, as it were a being of the air,I felt the force of the text 'a wounded spirit who can bear?' " (Letters 743). However, the idea of The Sketch Book which came before he left relieved him to some extent. In many ways, though, hi... ...sponsibilities are. And more particularly what is America's responsibility in trying to create a nation that is unique and separate from its parentage. This is the issue that defines the importance of "Rip Van Winkle," and more particularly The Sketch Book, in the social development of our country. It seems that the particular social and political climate found its summation in our country's search for literary independence. Holistically it was Washington Irving's life, his struggles, his talents, and his perfectly-timed existence in the flow of history that helped to shape and solidify our country's identity, and immortalize him as an author. Works Cited Rubin-Dorsky, Jeffrey. "Irving's Sketches of Anxiety." American Literature. Dec 1986: 507-509, 517-519. Williams, Stanley T. The Life of Washington Irving. 2 vols. London: Oxford, 1935.