...In examining Washington Irving’s “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow” alongside Tim Burton’s filmic adaption of the story, titled “Sleepy Hollow,” a number of fascinating similarities and differences emerge. Though elements of the characters and settings of Burton’s film borrow heavily from Irving’s text, the overall structuring of the film is significantly different, and representations of various elements are crucially re-imagined. Tim Burton’s “Sleepy Hollow” was released on November 19, 1999, a few months before the new millennium. Set in 1799, Burton’s film modifies the 1790 date that Irving’s text is set in, showing an acute concern with living out anxieties surrounding millennial change in the ‘safe’ formats of film and of established folk legend. Irving’s tale, written in 1820, also works with antiquity, but in a different manner: it lives out colonial cultural anxieties of Irving’s present, as he seems to be concerned with constructing archetypes of folk and with placing folk culture in the new American literary landscape. Examining the two versions of the tale, then, provides a fascinating peek into the transformation of concerns and values in America from Irving’s nineteenth century landscape to Burton’s twentieth (on the verge of twenty-first) century. Burton makes several significant moves that modify the basics of Irving’s tale, frequently at the cost of the folk elements of Irving’s version. The frame narrative of Irving’s story—the tale, part of a series titled...
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...BOOK REVIEW OF THE LEGEND OF SLEEPY HOLLOW The story is of a conservative Dutch community in a small town in New York. There is a legend in that town of a headless horseman who rides in the dark and disappears in a flash. The main characters in the story are Ichabod Crane he says that his name is appropriate because of his appearance and the fact that he is a schoolmaster, Katarina Van Tassel who used to be one of Ichabod’s singing students but now is being courted by two men one of them is Ichabod and Abraham Brunt who is the other guy courting Katarina he is described as handsome and big and was given the nickname Broom Bones. The theme that comes into question the most in the story is the supernatural. This can be seen the story of the headless horseman. At the party most people seem to have their different encounters with the horseman. In the case of Ichabod it makes us question whether it was Abraham who was the headless horseman because anytime that story comes up we are told he just laughs about it hinting there is something more that is not being said. Ichabod believed in witchcraft he had books and would sing psalms when he thought they were near him. The theme of war is evident in the whole story. It should be noted that the book was not written not to long after the American Revolution. Love in the book can be seen as war In the book it talks of knightly battle in order to will the girl i.e. Abraham wanted to fight Ichabod for Katarina love but because he could not...
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...The Legend of Sleepy Hollow Nate Holbus Ichabod, the tall, slick, innocent man, anxiously rode his horse through the gloomy forest. Hard splashes of wet dirt throughout the forest produced a nerve racking echoing sound behind them. Ichabod’s muscles tensed up. Up the hill he traveled. The instructor started to become afraid, because he felt that someone, or something, was following him. Suddenly, he heard footsteps behind him, and they were becoming louder, and louder, and louder. Ichabod’s horse started running. Sweat ran down the bodies of Ichabod and the frightened horse. The terrified teacher struggled to position himself correctly as he became unbalanced on the horse. Ichabod then felt a hot, horrifying breath on the bone of his neck....
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...Washington Irving is a well-known author of many short stories that have dynamic themes in them. One example would be “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow.” This particular story includes a character full of imagination and curiosity as he wonders a new city he has recently moved to. Throughout the story, Ichabod makes the mistake of being a captive of his own imagination. His imagination involves mixing tales that others have told with his fears in the dark. The audience is amused by this peculiar story, but they do not notice the similarity between themselves and a few of the fictional characters in the story. “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow” reflects the power any individual could have over another’s mind. The story starts off with an introduction...
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...The legend of Sleepy Hallow was written by Washington Irving, which talks about a character called Ichabod Crane who is new to the Hudson Valley. He was a school teacher and choirmaster and that is where he finds Katrina Van Tassel. Little did he know he would have competition for her love in the Valley with Brom Bones. The text and the movie are fairly accurate in comical depiction of the Hudson Valley and Sleepy Hallow. The movie and text are accurately correct with the reasons of its depiction of the relationship between Ichabod and Katrina, the location of where the story took place, and understand what both the movie and text are trying to capture just in different forms. Ichabod’s profession was that of a choir master which is where he was meet Katrina Van Tassel. In his eyes, she was young; “plump as a partridge;...
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...Washington Irving “Little minds are tamed and subdued by misfortune; but great minds rise above them.” Washington Irving, a well-known short story author in the nineteenth century, spoke these words of wisdom. Washington Irving became famous in America for his fine works from The Specter Bridegroom to Rip Van Winkle to The Legend of Sleepy Hollow. These satirical sketches are all based on the local areas in New York where Irving resided. His adventures through life spread the word of his writings and he became one of the first renowned short story writers in Europe. Washington Irving was born in New York, New York on April 3, 1783. His mother, Sarah, and father, William Irving, Sr., had eleven children including Washington. He was named after the United States first president, George Washington who was sought to be the greatest hero of all time to his parents. “… He attended the first presidential inauguration of his namesake in 1789” (Biography Channel). Irving was privately schooled and later went to study law in New York after his return from travelling Europe. In 1804 he travelled to France and Italy, while writing journals and letters. When he returned in 1805, Irving continued law school but did poorly for he barely passed the bar exam. (Biography Channel). After Irving finished his studies, he went on to write humorous essay with his older brother William Irving, Jr., and James Kirke Paulding. The Salamagundi papers published the essays in 1807 to 1808....
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...Rip Van Winkle Summary: “Rip Van Winkle” is an American masterpiece of the short story. It is based on local history but is rooted in European myth and legend. Irving reportedly wrote it one night in England, in June, 1818, after having spent the whole day talking with relatives about the happy times spent in Sleepy Hollow. The author drew on his memories and experiences of the Hudson River Valley and blended them with Old World contributions. “Rip Van Winkle” is such a well-known tale that almost every child in the United States has read it or heard it narrated at one time or another. Rip is a simple-minded soul who lives in a village by the Catskill Mountains. Beloved by the village, Rip is an easygoing, henpecked husband whose one cross to bear is a shrewish wife who nags him day and night. One day he wanders into the mountains to go hunting, meets and drinks with English explorer Henry Hudson’s legendary crew, and falls into a deep sleep. He awakens twenty years later and returns to his village to discover that everything has changed. The disturbing news of the dislocation is offset by the discovery that his wife is dead. In time, Rip’s daughter, son, and several villagers identify him, and he is accepted by the others. One of Irving’s major points is the tumultuous change occurring over the twenty years that the story encompasses. Rip’s little Dutch village had remained the same for generations and symbolized rural peace and prosperity. On his return, everything has...
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...In "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow" by Washington Irving, the author takes a rather humorous attitude toward the character of Ichabod Crane, a likable yet universal stereotype. Although the story has gained a reputation as a ghost story over the years, Irving shaped it as a comic tale of self-delusion. Much of the humor derives from the contrasts within Crane's own personality. Ichabod Crane was the main character in “ The Legend of Sleepy Hollow”. Ichabod Crane was described as a tall, skinny, gangly, awkward young man whose whole fame was most loosely hung together. He saw himself as a very accomplished, suave man. Women in the rural neighborhood easily sophisticated Crane. Other people seen Crane as an educated and scholarly man by their standards. He was a standard teacher who teaches in a roughly-made, log building that only had one large room in it. The author states “From here the low murmur of...
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