1820-1865: Short Answer Quiz

Washington Irving, “Rip Van Winkle”


  1. Irving’s narrator describes in great detail the town’s “junto” of sages, led by the taciturn Nicholas Vedder and assisted by the learned schoolmaster, Derrick Van Bummel: “they used to sit in the shade, of a long lazy summer’s day, talk listlessly over village gossip, or tell endless sleepy stories about nothing” (p. 956 [full ed.] p. 458 [shorter ed.]). Why does Rip enjoy spending time listening to the junto? Describe Rip’s character in the context of his neighbors’ habits and hobbies.

  1. The narrator describes the Dutch ninepin bowlers dressed in antique clothes that Rip meets in the Kaatskills as follows: “though these folks were evidently amusing themselves, yet they maintained the gravest faces, the most mysterious silence, and were, withal, the most melancholy party of pleasure he had ever witnessed” (p. 958 [full ed.] p. 460 [shorter ed.]). What effect does the seriousness of this group have on Rip, on what happens to him, and on the rest of the story?

  1. When Rip awakes from his nap, his dog is missing and he feels a touch of rheumatism. When he returns to town he finds everything suddenly changed, and only when the villagers point out his long beard does he begin to realize what has happened. Assume that the story follows Rip’s perspective in order to let the reader feel the suddenness of these changes along with him: what seems most different for Rip? What does the story have to say about the changes in America from the beginning to the end of the tale?

  1. By the end of the story Rip seems happier than ever, sitting “once more on the bench, at the inn door” (991) and dispensing the wisdom of his experiences. Imagine you were listening to one of Rip’s yarns at the end of the story: how do you see him interpreting the great changes in America? Which themes and experiences do you think he would emphasize and why?



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