Rip Van Winkle and the Nation’s Mythology

Washington Irving’s “Rip Van Winkle” is a typical story that makes up America’s
mythology as it is characterized by the key features of a nation’s mythology. The three main
ones are the story’s settings in places and times that are remote or exciting, the story’s characters
being exaggerated, strange, or remarkable, and, lastly, having events or consequences that are
mysterious, magical, heroic, or incredible. “Rip Van Winkle” incorporates all of these features to
make it one of the most celebrated nation mythology stories in the United States.
First, the story is set in a small village at the foot of the Catskill Mountains. These
mountains are part of the mighty Appalachian Mountains. It is in the remote woods of these
mountains that the bulk of the story occurs. Additionally, the story starts when the USA is still a
mere province of Great Britain as the line introducing the main character reveals: “there lived,
while the country was still a province of Great Britain, a simple and good-natured fellow” Irving
(10). Thus, in terms of time and place, the story’s settings are remote.
The second characteristic of a nation’s mythology that is shared in the “Rip Van Winkle”
story is its exaggerated and strange characters. Rip Van Winkle’s wife, Dame Van Winkle, is
characterized as being so nagging that her husband decided to go to the Catskill mountains just to
escape her. This characterization of Dame is certainly an exaggeration. Additionally, when Rip

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Van Winkle goes to the mountains’ woodlands, he is called out by name by a group of strange
creatures, later on described as ghosts. The fact that these creatures do not appear in the story
again only adds to the mystery surrounding them.
Third, the story contains mysterious events that it shares with a typical nation’s
mythology story. In a story replete with many mysteries, none comes close to Rip Van Winkle
sleeping for two decades after taking a drink from the equally mysterious dwarfish creatures he
encounters in the woodlands of Catskill mountains. It is also quite incredible that Rip Van
Winkle cannot remember anyone once he awakens from his years-long slumber. Granted, twenty
years is a long time to be absent from a place. However, it is highly unlikely that one would
forget all faces that they were familiar with before. This mystery of magical and incredible
events makes the story a great nation’s mythology story.
What makes the story of “Rip Van Winkle” effective to a reader is that it combines myth
with reality thus making it powerful in symbolizing the key ethos of the American nation. While
some of the events in the story can easily be dismissed as fantastic, the Great Britain’s rule of
America and the American Revolutionary War are actual historical events. According to
Schneider-Wettstein (31) this ability to seamlessly combine reality and myth has made “Rip Van
Winkle” a powerful symbol of American identity.
The analysis of “Rip Van Winkle” story that has been presented in this paper clearly
shows that it shares some of the key features that are typical in nation mythology stories. The
remoteness of its setting both in terms of place and time, the exaggeration and strangeness of its
characters, and the mystery of its events are what make “Rip Van Winkle” a great mythology
story of the American nation.

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Works Cited

Irving, Washington. Rip Van Winkle and Other Stories. Courier Dover Publications, 2018.
Schneider-Wettstein, Michaela. “Identity and the Fantastic: Criticism of the Early Republic in
Washington Irving’s Rip Van Winkle and The Legend of Sleepy Hollow.” (2019).