Washington Irvings Rip Van Winkle Shapes American Culture Essay

Washington Irvings extract caravan Winkle Shapes American Culture Darkness...lowers upon my mind, and the times are so unenviable they sicken my soul, says Washington Irving in a letter to a mavin (Letters 446). This statement reveals Irvings tearing emotional condition, and in many an(prenominal) ways indicates the intense brotherly atmosphere as well as his personal conflicts, during the written report of The Sketch declare. Upon the bankruptcy of his familys fortune, of which he depended on solely for his monetary security, Irving be himself flung into the galling mortifications of independence (Letters 487). In response to this trauma, he sailed to England to regain his stoicism 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, Irvings countenance is quite apparent. Additionally, it helps to reveal the social atmos phere of the time, as well as increase ones knowledge of Rip new wave Winkle as it is represented in The Sketch Book. And this design holds great significance to Washington Irvings development as a person, and to American cultures struggle to define itself in a unique (non-British) way. Around 1817 Irving left wing the United States drained of inspiration, and slid into depression. He wrote of himself to a friend several age 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 textbook 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 crabbedly what is Americas 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 Va n 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 countrys chase for literary independence. Holistically it was Washington Irvings life, his struggles, his talents, and his perfectly-timed existence in the flow of history that helped to spurt and solidify our countrys identity, and immortalize him as an author. Works CitedRubin-Dorsky, Jeffrey. Irvings Sketches of Anxiety. American Literature. Dec 1986 507-509, 517-519. Williams, Stanley T. The animateness of Washington Irving. 2 vols. London Oxford, 1935.