10 Honors English Clarke

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Rip Van Winkle

Washington Irving

Please answer in complete sentences. This assignment is worth 24 points.

Discovering Setting

A story’s setting is the time and location in which the story takes place. A setting is more than just a geographical or historical place: it can give a story atmosphere, both physical and psychological. Setting contributes a great deal to the mood and effect of a story, providing a frame for characters and events.

Understanding Setting

Answer the following questions on setting from “Rip Van Winkle.”

1.) In What physical location does Rip Van Winkle encounter the strange little man?

2.) Around the time of what major historical event does Rip Van Winkle sleep?

3.) Describe the mood created by this excerpt: “a village, whose shining roofs gleam among the trees, just where the blue tints of the upland melt away…”

4.) What is the psychological atmosphere created by the following excerpt? “He found the house gone to decay – the roof fallen in, the windows shatters and the doors off the hinges”

Applying Skills

5.) “Rip Van Winkle” is set in a real part of New York state. How does this geographical reality affect your experience of the story? Does it enhance or decrease the story’s effectiveness? Explain your reasons on a separate sheet of paper?

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Analyzing the Story

6.) Name Rip’s positive character traits. What are his negative traits?

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7.) Describes Rip’s relationship with his wife?

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8.) Compare the appearance and activities of the inn before and after Rip’s sleep.

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9.) As Rip begins to understand what has happened to him, how does he react?

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Interpreting Meaning

10.) In what ways is this a classic story of wish fulfillment?

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11.) Irving was a Romantic, but he was also satirist. What elements of this story – including the narrator’s commentaries – are satirical? Who or what are Irving’s targets?

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12.) Find some of Irving’s descriptions of the setting which you think reflect a Romantic’s view of nature?

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