A Century of Change
In Washington Irving’s Rip Van Winkle, the title character is shown a world that he does not know – one that has seemingly changed completely overnight. As any society does, the small village that was Rip’s home has made progressions and changes with the times. Everything from houses he sees to the type of government in place has become something else. A person, having fallen asleep at the dawn of the twentieth century and waking up in today’s America would be in complete cultural and political shock upon observing his newfound surroundings.
The first staggering sight for a Rip Van Winkle of this time would be a lack of familiarity. Cities, buildings, and people have all both disappeared as well as risen up. Upon walking into his village, Rip immediately noticed that “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 every one in the country round” (962). One major cultural difference between the America of today and that of the early 1900s is how society is structured in general. One would be surprised to discover children of every race going to school together and receiving the same education or to see interracial couples walk hand-in-hand down the street. Another cultural change in the last century is what is considered “American culture” itself. Like Rip Van Winkle, a newly awakened “old-timer” would probably be confused (and quite possibly concerned) about the condition in which he found people as he observed this new America: “Their dress, too, was of a different fashion from that to which he was accustomed” (962). The styles of twenty-first century youth – hip-hop, grunge, Emo, and prep – are surely polar opposites of the more classic looks of a century ago.
The political change in America would indeed stop someone from 1909 in their tracks. Like Rip Van Winkle announcing his British loyalty (“’Alas! gentlemen,’ cried Rip, somewhat dismayed, ‘I am a poor quiet man, a native of the place, and a loyal subject of the king, God bless him!’” (963)), a native of the twentieth century might proudly boast being a Republican. Whereas being in the party of Lincoln may have been popular one hundred years ago, it is probably safer to boast being a Democrat in today’s political society. More so than he would witnessing racial equality in America, an old stranger would be blown away to find a respected black man holding the office of President. Certainly, if this old stranger were himself an African American, he would be relieved to no longer be under the tyranny of racism and its politics. Irving writes that Rip Van Winkle learned that “instead of being a subject of his Majesty, George III, he was now a free citizen of the United States” (964). Likewise, an African American native stranger would find that is now a free citizen, no longer a subject to hatred, discrimination and Jim Crow laws.
If a person living in America in 1909 were to have fallen asleep and woken again today, he would probably think he had woken up in a different country altogether or maybe even a different world. With advances in technology, healthcare, and social equality, this person would definitely feel like a stranger in twenty-first century America. Change is something that has become a necessary goal in the United States; something that Americans look forward to and view as inevitable. In thinking about the changes that have occurred in the past century, one can’t help but to wonder what it would be like to fall asleep today and wake up one hundred years from now.
In Washington Irving’s Rip Van Winkle, the title character is shown a world that he does not know – one that has seemingly changed completely overnight. As any society does, the small village that was Rip’s home has made progressions and changes with the times. Everything from houses he sees to the type of government in place has become something else. A person, having fallen asleep at the dawn of the twentieth century and waking up in today’s America would be in complete cultural and political shock upon observing his newfound surroundings.
The first staggering sight for a Rip Van Winkle of this time would be a lack of familiarity. Cities, buildings, and people have all both disappeared as well as risen up. Upon walking into his village, Rip immediately noticed that “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 every one in the country round” (962). One major cultural difference between the America of today and that of the early 1900s is how society is structured in general. One would be surprised to discover children of every race going to school together and receiving the same education or to see interracial couples walk hand-in-hand down the street. Another cultural change in the last century is what is considered “American culture” itself. Like Rip Van Winkle, a newly awakened “old-timer” would probably be confused (and quite possibly concerned) about the condition in which he found people as he observed this new America: “Their dress, too, was of a different fashion from that to which he was accustomed” (962). The styles of twenty-first century youth – hip-hop, grunge, Emo, and prep – are surely polar opposites of the more classic looks of a century ago.
The political change in America would indeed stop someone from 1909 in their tracks. Like Rip Van Winkle announcing his British loyalty (“’Alas! gentlemen,’ cried Rip, somewhat dismayed, ‘I am a poor quiet man, a native of the place, and a loyal subject of the king, God bless him!’” (963)), a native of the twentieth century might proudly boast being a Republican. Whereas being in the party of Lincoln may have been popular one hundred years ago, it is probably safer to boast being a Democrat in today’s political society. More so than he would witnessing racial equality in America, an old stranger would be blown away to find a respected black man holding the office of President. Certainly, if this old stranger were himself an African American, he would be relieved to no longer be under the tyranny of racism and its politics. Irving writes that Rip Van Winkle learned that “instead of being a subject of his Majesty, George III, he was now a free citizen of the United States” (964). Likewise, an African American native stranger would find that is now a free citizen, no longer a subject to hatred, discrimination and Jim Crow laws.
If a person living in America in 1909 were to have fallen asleep and woken again today, he would probably think he had woken up in a different country altogether or maybe even a different world. With advances in technology, healthcare, and social equality, this person would definitely feel like a stranger in twenty-first century America. Change is something that has become a necessary goal in the United States; something that Americans look forward to and view as inevitable. In thinking about the changes that have occurred in the past century, one can’t help but to wonder what it would be like to fall asleep today and wake up one hundred years from now.
Work Cited
Irving, Washington. Rip Van Winkle. The Norton Anthology of American Literature. Ed. Nina Bayum. 7th ed. Vol. A New York: Norton, 2007. 951-965.
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