Answer:
The story “Rip Van Winkle”, by Washington Irving, is a fundamental cog in the creation of American mythology. Being a historic fiction, with exaggerated characters, and a positive message about the American nation, Rip Van Winkle remains memorable to many readers and sets the guidelines of American legend and mythology.
As the medium, an exceptional historic fiction has three roles in literature: presenting memorable moments, exploring newly developed themes, and leaving an undeniable (positive) impact on pop-culture. A prominent example of the medium acting efficiently is in quote, “As he approached the village, he met a number of people, but none whom he knew, which somewhat surprised him, for he had thought himself acquainted with everyone in the country round. Their dress, too, was of a different fashion from that to which he was accustomed. They all stared at him with equal marks of surprise, and whenever they cast their eyes upon him, invariably stroked their chins. The constant recurrence of this gesture, induced Rip, involuntarily, to do the same, when, to his astonishment, he found his beard had grown a foot long!” The moment of realization Rip had been extraordinary, a unique moment in pop-culture. The concept of exploring something off about a familiar place is rare, but intriguing. Rip Van Winkle, being one of the first stories to explore the idea, set the ultimate positive impact by showing a new, creative way to perceive self-realization or uncertain familiarity.
In every story, there’s one strategy to keep their work memorable: that being the exaggeration and/or stereotype of certain characters throughout their journey. Rip Van Winkle demonstrates a solid example of the concept in the passage, “Certain it is, that he was a great favorite among all the good wives of the village, who, as usual with eh amiable sex, took his part in all family squabbles, and never failed, whenever they talked those manners over in their evening gossiping, to lay all the blame on Dame Van Winkle.” It’s not so much the stereotype Rip has, it’s the exaggeration on the respect he has in the village; showing that he’s a good person overall by making the reader think about the exaggeration’s true value.
The last aspect/characteristic to consider that distinguishes legend and myth from story, within a particular country, is the positive message that is left for said nation. America, being a young nation, wasn’t clear as to what defined their citizens. However, Rip Van Winkle successfully set somewhat of a guideline as to what the American citizen stood for in the paragraph, “Rip Van Winkle, however, was none of those happy mortals, of foolish, well-oiled disposition, who take the world easy, eat white bread or brown, whichever can get got with least thought or trouble, and would rather starve on a penny than work for a pound.” This positive message describing the character of a typical American citizen inspires patriotism in the young nation’s life.
As it stands, Rip Van Winkle is one of the most successful early American mythologies. Using the medium of a historic fiction to intrigue the reader and engage his memory, including exaggerated characters to emphasize the true quality of their morality, and messaging the positive aspects in the United States to the reader, Rip Van Winkle remains memorable and sets expectations for other works on art within the genre.
