RIP VAN WINKLE is a famous tale written by Washington Irving, telling about a story in which an old man named Rip Van Winkle, who lived in a little Dutch town in the Hudson Valley. Everyone in the town was fond of him because he would help anyone. The thing he would like to do was go out and fish or go to the town inn and listen to the gossip. However, his wife Dame Van Winkle would get angry at him for being lazy and not caring about the farm and family. One day he decided to get away from his wife’s swear then he took his gun and dog and go into the woods to hunt squirrels. As he returned, he saw a weird man appeared carrying a keg of liquor on his back. Thus, he helped the old man to carry the liquor to an amphitheatre where he saw several weird dressed people playing nine pins. The old man poured liquor for the people to drink and Rip started to drink until he passed out on the ground. The next morning he woke up and returned to the village where he came from, and found everything changed. People talked about revolution and election, and he has no idea of what that mean.

As far as I know, the author made an incredible impact from this short story \form a simple story with deep meaning.

And this tale gives us a definition about what the country became after the revolutionary war and how the British perceive the Americans. There have been many comments on this tale saying that it shows the

author's attitude against the American revolution and his approving of the past. However, when reading it the second time, I found it that Erving only showed his confusion: freeing out of the oppressed life, people were at a loss about what they should do.

First, Rip was not happy long before revolution, and he hated to do labor work on his own business, and he was constantly under the criticism of his wife. Surely Dame was superior to Rip in his family, so the life of Rip could not at all be happy.

Secondly, Rip showed no opposition against the new America. After he had settled down in the village, he even made friends with the young generation, enjoying the idle life he had long been dreamed of. In my opinion, there is strong resemblance between Rip Van Winkle and the American people, Dame Van Winkle and the English government. Before revolution, Rip was a meek man who \rather die on a penny than work for a pound\who had good relationships with the villagers. He lived a peaceful life except for the existence of Dame Van Winkle, his termagant wife who would taught him lessons in every possible way. The American people were also trying to live a peaceful life but the rule of the British government made it impossible. The Americans suffered the oppression for a long time.

The war was over and Rip returned to his village only to find the great change in the small village, which is the sample of the change in America

to some extent. No one in the village recognized him. People talked about hot issues he has no interested in. Dame Van Winkle was gone and he was free now. However, he had no idea what he should do. The past had passed for ever, despotism was gone. No one was going to tell Rip what he should do. No one was going to force him to do anything. The American people are free to choose now, but they have no idea of what to choose. They were leading into a new kind of life and groping in the dark for the way ahead.