Rip The Character
Rip the Character
I always thought the story of ?Rip Van Winkle? was a kid?s story teaching the lesson to not be lazy. While in a way it still is a story about not being lazy it also symbolizes so much more than I ever knew. The character of Rip is used to show how the American man is seen from abroad. The foreigners stereotyped the typical American male as being the perfectly jolly over grown child, perpetually ?one of the boys?, and ignorant of his own wife and the whole world of other adult men. Throughout out the following short essay I will discuss and support my topic of Rip as symbolic of the mythic American male.
For example in the very beginning of the story Rip is perceived as a very lazy, yet jolly young man. When he?s introduced he is ducking out of work and avoiding the wife. All Rip wants to do is sit back and relax and let all the good things come to him. Rip himself does just enough to provide for him and his family. Speaking of his family, Rip?s children were very wild and ragged looking.
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