A Happy Surprise

I was a little surprised that we were reading something other than a poem or sermon or anything else where it has the "lecture" feel to it. Washington Irving was a pleasant interruption to some of the previous readings. I have heard of "Rip Van Winkle" before, but I had no concept of what the story was going to be about. In many ways, I was reminded of a fairytale (a bit more twisted perhaps). Irving has included a childlike sense of magic embedded with humor and an overall moral of the story.

I can see why the story is liked by children because I felt like a child when reading it. There was a point where I had to remind myself that this is just a story and very much made up. I think as children, we tend to get so involved in a story that we forget it is in fact just that, a story. Clearly one does not just randomly wake up and find themself awake years later. It just isn't possible. However, I do think there were many truths to Irving's story.

Even though we can't time travel, I do believe in the notion that one can wake up one day and realize that their whole life has passed right by them. There are times when i have this feeling. I can get so caught up in the moment and stress of life that I forget to really live. Eventually I look back and wonder why I spent so much of my time worrying about one little thing. For me, this is a constant struggle.

I also liked Irving's critique on political life and how the Revolution did not change much about typical life for the typical person. He did a nice job tying this into the story without being abrupt about it. Irving's humor also entertained me. I can't help but laugh when I think about the comments made about his wife. I can just picture an Rip Van Winkle sighing from relief when hearing of his wife's death. For some reason, this image just cracks me up. Irving definitely knew how to keep the audience involved and knew when humor would be useful.

This reading was a very happy surprise, and I hope to read more stories like "Rip Van Winkle."