RIP VAN WINKLE

Rip Van Winkle

Rip Van Winkle

Literary Analysis

The tale of Rip Van Winkle does not accurately present the same kind of unique challenges as trying to figure out what happened in a Christopher Nolan film (Memento, Inception) or peeling back the onion layers in James Joyce's Ulysses. "Rip Van Winkle" is the kind of story we read (usually in abbreviated form) to children and we do so with unqualified success. Even children understand the plot--Rip fell asleep. Then he woke up. Everything, including himself, had changed.

Still, it has been a long time since I encountered this old chestnut, and I thought ...