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Symbolism in “Rip Van Winkle” by Washington Irving

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Symbolism in “Rip Van Winkle” by Washington Irving PEOPLE’S DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF ALGERIA Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research University of Tlemcen Faculty of Letters and Foreign Languages Department of Foreign Languages Section of English Symbolism in “Rip Van Winkle” by Washington Irving Dissertation Submitted to the Department of English as a partial Fulfillment for the Degree of “Master” in Literature and Civilization Presented by Supervised by Miss. Fatima Zahra BERROUKECHE Dr. Wassila MOURO Mrs. Souad BERBER Academic Year 2015/2016 Dedication I dedicate this work to my precious mother, the source of kindness and tenderness, my father, and dearest friends. I Acknowledgements My extreme appreciation and gratitude are addressed to my respectable teachers and supervisors Dr. Wassila MOURO who was abundantly helpful and supplied priceless support and to Mrs Souad BERBER for her patience, advice and guidance without which I could not have accomplished this task of research. My deepest thanks go to the respectful members of the jury who offered me the honor of evaluating this work. I would like to express my sincere and warm thanks to Mr. Mustapha OUSSAR who granted me his help and advice, additionally, I would like to express my appreciation to my dearest Amel RAHMOUNI who supported me and never hesitated to stand by my side. Furthermore, I have to acknowledge all my friends for the nice times that we spent together helping each other. II Abstract In American literature, Washington Irving’s “Rip Van Winkle” (1819) is an interesting symbolic tale, in which symbolism has been touched in every single corner in it. The objective of this work is to examine symbols in this short story that are used to interpret significant historical events in the American history, which were the American society’s conditions before and after gaining its independence. This work intends to answer the following research question: to what extent did Washington Irving succeed to portray the American’s situation before and after the Revolutionary War using symbols? And to approach the veiled corner of this question, pen is put on paper the following hypothesis that the interpretation of different symbols pictured through “Rip Van Winkle” may enhance an accurate comprehension of the story by decoding them and identifying diverse interpretations that they stand for. To fulfill this task, an analytical approach has been followed; it is utilized to analyze each aspect of the story to extract its symbolic meaning. III Table of Contents Dedication ………………………………………………………………….........I Acknowledgements …………………………………………………………..…II Abstract ……………………………………………………………..……...…..III Table of Contents…………………………………………….………………...IV General Introduction………..………………………………………………….1 Chapter One: American Romanticism and Symbolism....………….………..4 1.1. Introduction…………………………………………………………….…5 1.2. American Romanticism Movement………………………………………5 1.2.1. The Notion of Romanticism and its Extension from Europe to America……………………………………………………………...5 1.2.2. American Romanticism’sCharacteristics……..……………….…….8 1.2.3. The Light and the Dark Romanticism………….....……………....…9 1.3. Symbolism in Literature…………………………………………..…..…10 1.3.1. Definition of Symbolism ……………………………..……………11 1.3.2. Some Literary Works of Symbolism…………………...……….…15 1.4. Washington Irving’s Biography …………...………………………...…19 1.4.1. Washington Irving as a Literary Man…………………………..….20 1.4.2. Washington Irving’s Private Life……………………………...…...22 1.4.3. The Last Years from Washington Irving’s Path…………………...23 1.5. Conclusion……………………………………………………………….24 Chapter Two: The Study of Symbolism in “Rip Van Winkle” ……..……..25 IV Table of Contents 2.1. Introduction……………..……………………………………………….26 2.2. A General Analysis of “Rip Van Winkle”…………………………...…26 2.2.1. Plot Summary…………………………………………………..26 2.2.2. Setting…………...…………………………..…………………28 2.2.3. The Characters of The Story………………………………..….28 2.2.4. Symbolic Themes……….…………………………………..….31 2.2.4.1. Tyranny Verses Freedom…………………...…31 2.2.4.2. Active Verses Passive Resistance………….….32 2.2.4.3. Labor Verses Productivity…………………….32 2.2.4.4. Change Verses Stasis…………..……………...33 2.2.4.5. Change with Continuity and Preservation of Tradition………………………………………33 2.3. The Analysis of Symbols in “Rip Van Winkle”…………….…………..34 2.3.1. Rip Van Winkle…………………….………………………….34 2.3.2. Dame Van Winkle…………………………………..………….35 2.3.3. The Inn…………………………………………….…..……….37 2.3.4. The Union Hotel …………………….………………………....37 2.3.5. The Flagon of Drink……………………………………………38 2.4. Symbolic American Identity in “Rip Van Winkle”……………………..38 2.5. Conclusion……………………………………………………………….39 General Conclusion………………………………………………………..….42 The Bibliography……………………………………………………….………45 V General Introduction General Introduction Literature can be described as a broad world where the writer can expose his beliefs, ideas and emotions. In other words, it is the means in which the writer shares his outer and inner struggles and transforms them into literary pieces. Literature reflects social, political, economical and cultural values of any community. It seeks to depict any problem that society is faced with, and tries to suggest solutions if not solve the problem itself. Literary content differs from one nation to another and from one era to another. American literature is a treasure container of many authors who create and shed light on several subjects in sequent periods of time that the American society passed through. American literature went by distinct literary movements such as Enlightenment, Romanticism, Realism and Naturalism. These waves came to build the American identity stone by stone. Romanticism is considered as an important movement that contributed in the development of American literature thanks to its brilliant authors. The first appearance of Romanticism was in Europe i.e. Germany, France and England; then it reached the United States around 1820. By the beginning of the nineteenth century, the Americans had got their independence, but they had not yet gained their own cultural identity. So the Romantic writers took the first giant step in that concern. Thus, notable changes have been brought about the way that Americans view themselves and their assertion on nature as a guiding and elevated force. The Romantic writers aimed to rebel against the Age of Reason or as it is known by the Enlightenment. The Romantics dealt with imagination as a critical power which permitted freedom from classical notions like reason, calculation and deduction. American Romanticism emphasized on the common man , childhood, strong senses, emotion, feeling, awe of nature, celebration of individuals, intuition and imagination. Washington Irving is one of the brilliant American Romantics who shined in that period; he attempted to adopt in his literary pieces the main features of Romanticism like the excess use of imagination, symbolism and the centering on 2 General Introduction nature. “Rip Van Winkle” is a great example of symbolic short stories in American literature; it narrates fiction events about a modest American man named Rip Van Winkle who goes into a long slumber in the Catskill Mountain, and when he wakes up, he finds everything has changed. In fact, Irving’s aim is not a mere fiction story with imaginative episodes, but his target goes further. This story is full of symbols in which the reader should deeply dig inside it to grasp the hidden message. In literature, symbolism is a craft used to convey the message in an indirect way to create a certain mood. It states something and represents something else, like a concrete object represents an abstract thing. This research paper will examine the literary device symbolism in the short story “Rip Van Winkle”, and explores the real meaning that Irving wanted to deliver. Thus each character, action and object in the story refers to a given state, event, place and feeling. This research work will explore the following research question: To what extent did Washington Irving succeed to reflect the American society’s changes through the use of symbolism in “Rip Van Winkle”? For the purpose of answering the aforementioned question, the researcher follows the analytical approach to dive deeper in the words of this tale and find the connection between the symbols and their significances. This essay is divided into two chapters; the first one offers a broad background about the American Romanticism movement, the literary device ‘symbolism’, it gives some examples of symbolic literary works and an overview about Washington Irving who belongs to this wave. As for the second chapter, it gives a general analysis of “Rip Van Winkle”, examines symbolic themes and their interpretation, then it gives an analysis of the most prominent symbols, and finally it tackles the issue of symbolic American identity. 3 Chapter One American Romanticism and Symbolism Chapter One: American Romanticism and Symbolism 1.1. Introduction 1.2. American Romanticism Movement 1.2.1. The Notion of Romanticism and its Extension from Europe to America 1.2.2. American Romanticism’s Characteristics 1.2.3. The Light and the Dark Romanticism 1.3. Symbolism in Literature 1.3.1. Definition of Symbolism 1.3.2. Some Literary Works of Symbolism 1.4. Washington Irving’s Biography 1.4.1. Washington Irving as a Literary Man 1.4.2. Washington Irving’s Private Life 1.4.3. The Last Years from Washington Irving’s Path 1.5. Conclusion Chapter One American Romanticism and Symbolism 1.1. Introduction This chapter is devoted to talk about the concept of Romanticism in broad and the American one in particular. It also deals with the issue of symbolism as a literary device, and tries to give some examples of symbolism in some literary works. Furthermore, this part introduces Washington Irving as one of the most influential American Romantic authors. 1.2. American Romanticism Movement Romanticism is a prominent movement that affected literature around the world as a whole and the American one as particular. 1.2.1. The Notion of Romanticism and its Extension from Europe to America Romanticism is originated from the word ‘Romance’, this term existed from the Middle Ages(1200-1500) and took the meaning of tales with knighthood, chivalric and king’s legends that are full of risks and adventures.
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