Rip Van Winkle literature essays are academic essays for citation. He shortly leaves, declaring he must be buried at the cathedral. In a terrible climax, when Irving for once declines to mute the genuine horror, Rip profoundly questions his own identity. Our sincerest thanks for your subscription. Looking closer, the reader discovers copious hints that this is precisely what happened: Rips reluctance to become Rip again until he is sure his wife is dead; the fact that when his neighbors hear the story they wink at each other and put their tongues in their cheeks; the fact that, until he finally established a satisfactory version of the events, he was observed to vary on some points every time he told it. In the concluding footnote, even dim Diedrich Knickerbocker acknowledges the storys doubtfulness but provides as evidence of its truth the fact that he has heard even stranger supernatural stories of the Catskills, and that to authenticate his story Rip signed a certificate in the presence of a justice of the peace. At another opportunity to speak, Von Starkenfaust is about to try again, but the female relatives lead the Barons daughter in, and he becomes so entranced when he sees her that he cannot speak. Again the Dutch spirit triumphs over the Yankee. She seems delighted by him, and the family is convinced that they are in love. Irving here brilliantly anticipated both the essence of Southwestern humor and of James Fenimore Coopers seminal Westerns. After all, the bridegroom proved to be a handsome, dashing cavalier, and the Von Starkenfaust family was very honorable and very, very rich. Sleepy Hollow Comes South: Washington Irvings Influence on Old Southwestern Humor. The Southern Literary Journal 30 (Fall, 1997): 27-42. For his one daughter, the Odenwalder Baron Von Landshort arranges a marriage with the son of the Bavarian Count Von Altenburg. One day the soldiers found the flag and beat Mike Christian severely until he was bleeding bad. Holden takes a seat in a vomit colored chair and recalls memories with Jane. Critical Essays on Washington Irving. First ostracized by the adults, then tormented by the local children, ultimately he dies by starvation, in his last moments forgiving all, a true but misunderstood Christian.