Rip Van Winkle: A Study of a Man without a History
by Robert W. Watson
(21 March 1999)

The critical essays of Allen Tate are among the best in American letters. While attending Vanderbilt University, Tate developed a close relationship with the Fugitives including John Crowe Ransom and Donald Davidson. However, beginning in 1924, Tate lived in New York for six years, which later proved to be a prolific period for the poet and critic. It was at this time that Tate writes his biographies, Stonewall Jackson: The Good Soldier and Jefferson Davis: His Rise and Fall. Also, his agrarianism began to emerge more philosophically. Tate was convinced that the Southern way of life was superior to the alienation created by American industrialism. His best known poem that reflects this theme is "Ode to the Confederate Dead." His novel, The Fathers, also reveals his belief in the superiority of a tradition that is whole and complete as opposed to that which is incoherent and forced.

The character of Rip Van Winkle has transcended the pages of literature and has become a folk legend. Rip is universality known as the fellow who fell asleep, only to awaken twenty years later and to find his world quite topsy-turvy. Even though Washington Irving borrowed the material for "Rip Van Winkle" from German folklore, the theme of sleep and awaking, and symbolically--death and resurrection--is common in all cultures. Cartwright's quotation at the beginning of the story hints at this theme "in which I creep into / My sepulchre--." Obviously, Irving has written a story about Time, that great thief that slowly steals the most precious possession of all: life. What becomes ambiguous about "Rip Van Winkle" is the interpretation as to the specific meaning of Time in this particular case. Some critics observe that Rip is just an overgrown boy who refuses to grow up. Yet, this interpretation is too narrow, focusing only on the character himself. Indeed, Irving is more concerned with the greater issue of the maturity of a new republic making its mark in the world. Therefore, the personal confusion of Rip Van Winkle symbolises the greater ambivalence of the new federal republic as it denies the past by blindly accepting merely the present; yet while doing so, it deprives itself of a future.

Unfortunately, the only remedy for Rip to escape the past is to divorce his past. The past ought to prompt the sensitive soul to pity the oppressed, to glory in the noble, and to correct the misguided. In short, this is the office of history. Whether one can boast of a noble or ignoble past, history will cease to exist if it is suppressed and denied. In the case of Rip, his past was replete with "domestic tribulation." By minding everyone's business but his own, Rip avoided for the most part the incessant nagging of his wife. Yet this nagging created the patience and the "well-oiled dispositions" that Rip possessed. He would not have cared about his being hen-pecked except for the fact that "a tart temper never mellows with age, and a sharp tongue is the only edged tool that grows keener with constant use." His jaunt in the woods and his subsequent falling asleep result in his becoming separated from his past. One day he is a subject of the king of England; next he is a participate in a republic. One day he is married; next he is released from matrimony. One day he is young; next he is old. The world was suddenly different, and Rip had little to connect the past with his present.

The American War for Independence was not quite so drastic a severing of the past with the present. After all, the colonies did have nearly 150 years of self-government, and all of the institutions such as constitutions, churches, and colleges were already in place for the new republic. The trouble was how to treat the past, which was so woven together with English heritage and roots. Should everything English be rejected, or should parts of the English tradition be accepted? Unfortunately, imitation often copies the worst traits of that being emulated. Arguably, this is what the new republic did when it adopted common law based on human reason and property law centred in the feudal tradition. Yet the complete rejection of the past will leave the soul of any people void of purpose and of hope. For this reason, conquerors suppress and destroy the history of the conquered. Even worse are the few instances when a people wilfully denied their past, and by doing so, committed self-inflicted genocide like the Jews who became Babylonians during their captivity. Even though his past was vexing, Rip no longer had the stuff to give him hope for the future. Without his past, Rip Van Winkle became a nobody.

In addition to the above, the easiest way for Rip to live in the present is to accept the current myths. To be sure, Rip's appearing in town caused no small stir. Dressed in rags of vintage fashion while sporting an obsolete weapon were only the external evidence that Rip was out of place. Of course, when the poor fellow declares that he is "a loyal subject of the king," Rip learns that politics is about warfare, and no doubt would have been hanged had "the self-important man" not restored order. The only thing that saves Rip is the villagers' belief in the myth of Hendrick Hudson. Peter Vanderdonk spoke with authority, because "it was a fact, handed down from his ancestor the historian." Since Rip and the others were unable to account for his past, the myth about the Half-moon with the ghostly crew playing nine-pins sufficed, and "the company broke up, and returned to the more important concerns of the election."

Myths are useful only for suppressing the truth. This is especially true when the myth-making is controlled by oppressors. Yet when a historian overthrows an accepted myth with irrefutable evidence, he is accused of revisionism. Instead of denying the myth and accepting the truth, most folks choose the easier road, because debunking an official myth takes a great deal of courage. Of course, this is true whenever Truth is defended. Rip accepted not only the Hudson myth, but also the new myth that "he was now a free citizen of the United States." Regarding politics, there are only rulers and subjects. Regardless whether one can participate in choosing his rulers, this does not negate his being subject to the will of the chosen few. Irving prophetically reveals that the prevailing attitude of most "free citizens" would be apathy: "Rip, in fact, was no politician; the changes of states and empires made but little impression on him." Indeed, so long as Rip was free of the tyranny of "petticoat government," he was happy. So it is with the present: so long as the "free citizens" enjoy bread and circuses, "the changes of states and empires" are consigned to the mundane.

With his rejection the past and his acceptance of the current myths, the only role for Rip to play in the future is to be a quaint relic of the forgotten past. The value of the past with its history is to provide not only a continuity with the present, but a guide for the future as well. The best that ol' Rip could do was to tell his story to all who would listen. But the consensus of the villagers was that poor Rip was "out of his head" and "flighty," yet harmless, like an aged war veteran or any member of a non-political memorial society. The war vet or the membership of the "Glorious Whatever" is no threat to the political well-being of the entrenched. While it is true that "Rip now resumed his old walks and habits," he had no influence whatsoever in his community, because he had nothing to offer. Of course he was revered as a patriarch like any old-timer, who spends his day in front of a store. But like the old-timer, Rip must simply remain passive while his culture and way of life are destroyed for lack of an anchor. Such is the fate of those without a history.

And such has been the fate of the now-defunct American federal republic. With their rejection of the principles espoused by the founding fathers and the accepting of the myth of "Manifest Destiny," Americans have passively submitted to a subtle slavery while pretending they are the freest people on earth. The change from a federal republic to a centralised empire occurred with the invasion and the conquering of the Confederate States of America. Since that time, unscrupulous men, who profit from constant war, convince the Rip Van Winkles in every generation that there is no past, but only the bright future, spearheaded by progress. Unfortunately, progress has no destination; in other words, no one has a clue as to when progress is to stop. Rip could be safely ignored, because having no past as an objective standard, Rip could not possibly guide his neighbours toward enlightenment or a fulfilling purpose. In fact, the future was hopeless.

It required his living in Europe for Washington Irving to understand the importance of having a history. A people need a past in order to have a direction in which to travel. The loss of a people's history is the loss of its soul, and the loss of its soul is the certain road to slavery. As he discovered, Rip Van Winkle found no particular destination. His culture, his roots, and his way of life were considered later to be irrelevant as he settled passively in the "progressive" new society. "Rip Van Winkle" reveals a timely message for those who have ears to hear: no society can long endure if it is sustained by myths alone. A great people will discover and value truth in order to transmit this truth to the next generation. Only then will a nation not perish from the face of the earth.