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Rip Van Winkle

 

In reference to the way that Irving was able to relate to the reader the sentimental feelings of the characters, Alfred H. Welsh says, "but behind all, under all, pervading all is the deeper charm of the genial and sensitive soul in sympathy with the human heart" (142-143). .
             The second occasion that Rip experiences nostalgia for the past is when he discovers that the places he used to go to with his friends are either gone or replaced with different businesses. .
             A large, rickety wooden building stood in its place, with great gaping windows, some of them broken, and mended with old hats and petticoats, and over the door was printed "The Union Hotel, by Jonathan Doolittle" (Irving 161). .
             This change is very significant because the village inn was a familiar place for Rip to go and relax without worrying about his wife's nagging remarks. Rip and his fellow lazy cronies always sat under the tree next to the inn to escape from the daily monotonous work on the farm, but now there is a group of unfamiliar men debating an issue unknown to Rip. Daniel Hoffman says, "So Rip's return from the blessed otherworld of the irretrievable past is to a new, busy, bustling nation he can neither understand nor enter" (456). The changes brought on by the Revolution, which are being discussed quite passionately, are inconceivable to Rip because of his absence through political and social advancements. Despite this lack of knowledge of what has happened and where he is exactly, Rip feels the desire for the days of lounging around the village and the carefree loyalty to King George III as opposed to an man he has never heard anything about, and who, in his thinking, has become popular and treasonous overnight.
             As Rip continues to learn about the circumstances under which his whole life has changed, he has a discussion with the men in the Union Hotel. Confused about the whereabouts of any familiar people, Rip inquires about three old friends.


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