An Analysis of the Themes of Safety and Peaceful Place in Rip Van Winkle

This story took place in a simple town, surrounded by, as the text said: “the magical hues and shapes of these mountains”, the Kaatskill mountains. It seemed to be a peaceful and safe place for anyone who lived there. But it was not for the main character, Rip Van Winkle, who found this place at the end of his journey. He did not expect what he found, moreover, he was not even searching for that place.

Throughout the story, it can be inferred that Rip Van Winkle was seeking something, probably comfort in his own home, but he did not find it.

Everything around him was perfect, the village, the weather, his neighbors, his dog, except his wife. Some quotes indicated that “he was… an obedient, hen-pecked husband”, but he had an enormous problem, “the great error in Rip’s composition was an insuperable aversion to all kinds of profitable labor.” This was not his only difficulty, he had another major one, his wife. To him, she seemed to be a curse, “…his wife kept continually dinning in his ears about his idleness, his carelessness, and the ruin he was bringing on his family”. All these matters showed that Rip’s house was the worst place for him to live. In fact, the text said that he felt comfortable only outside of the house.

Continuing through the story, the inn seemed to be the dream place. The inn was “… a kind of perpetual club of the sages, philosophers, and other idle personages of the village; which held its sessions on a bench before a small inn, designated by a rubicund portrait of His Majesty George the Third.”. But in reality, it was not. This place was merely an escape from his house and his wife.

But why a comfortable place? Did it indeed need to be a place? A different labor brought him relief, some peace came from his dog, and also from “…a fowling-piece, he carried on his shoulder for hours together, trudging through woods and swamps, and up hill and down dale, to shoot a few squirrels or wild pigeons.” It was this serenity, this pleasant labor which left him in a terrible situation, one that until the end of this narration, led him to find that peaceful and safe place.

How strange was the situation; that strange man he found in his path, the keg full of liquor (though it was somewhat of an unknown content), the place out of a deep ravine, the other people there, and finally that deep sleep, all of it left Rip Van Winkle in a new town (although it was the same, but in a different period of time); a place where “everything was strange”. Poor man, he was utterly terrified, he was in his village but it was not the one he remembered. During a period of recognition, walking around the town, he realized that he was now alone; he had a daughter, but for him, she was just someone who could care for him, someone he did not have to worry about. Despite this unfortunate matter, he could feel the tranquility in the air, a tranquility that brought him peace.

“Having nothing to do at home, and having arrived at that happy age when a man can be idle with impunity, he took his place once more on the bench at the inn door, and was revered as one of the patriarchs of the village – a chronicle of the old times ‘before the war.’ Surely, it can be said that his town had always been a comfortable place, but time had made it worse. As the text mentions, ‘Happily that was at an end; he had got his neck out of the yoke of matrimony, and could go in and out whenever he pleased, without dreading the tyranny of Dame Van Winkle.’ Whenever her name was mentioned, however, he shook his head, shrugged his shoulders, and cast up his eyes; this could be interpreted either as an expression of resignation to his fate, or joy at his deliverance. All his troubles, it seems, were always his wife’s fault. His dream location was one where his wife did not exist.

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