The Legend of the Sleepy Hollow was a short tale authored by an American, Irving Washington. It was first printed in 1820 as one of the first American fictional stories with an everlasting admiration. The setting of the story was during the Post-Revolutionary war in America when the story was published. America was still looking up to Europe. It was an era when everything was still new, and a lot of lands was available for settlement which made people migrate westwards. Role players in the story include Crane Ichabod , Brom Van Brunt, Hans Van Ripper, Baltus Van Tassel, and Katrina Van Tassel. Sleepy Hollow was a small town in which Ichabod Crane, an awkward school professor appears (Gale, 2015). In spite of his unattractiveness, he becomes a charm to the ladies in the town, something that irritated Brom. The result of this is a rivalry, in which Crane still has the upper hand. Their situation changed when Brom digs deeper into Crane’s past and through music, he tells a tale of the headless man to scare away the teacher.
In the short story was aimed at reflecting on the situation that was happening during the Post-Revolutionary Era. The story was meant to criticize the case between an Army officer called Crane and a school master known as Merwin, who lived in New York (Parks, 2015). Merwin was Irving’s friend. By all means, Crane disliked the idea of being featured in the story, and he tried to avoid it the best way he could. On the other hand, Merwin enjoyed the fact that his friend included the officer in the tale, plus the role suited his personality. Scary riders are frequent though out the folktales in the world. Hence, in the story, Brom used this knowledge to scare Crane.
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Concerning the human experience, the author narrates the conflicts presented between romantic ideals and education. Educative knowledge is portrayed by the teacher, who despite of his unattractiveness. He attracts the ladies in a romantic way. The author decided to do so because he wanted to insist on the benefits of being knowledgeable. The story was meant to show the readers that every situation in life had its own advantages as long as they followed the flow of the jokes presented by the teller. There was a liaison meant to be drawn from Ichabod’s failing courtship, his artistic nature and later his achievements. For instance, the country school teacher was unsuccessful in winning the heart of the lady but achieved success in politics.
References
Gale, C. L. (2015). A Study Guide for Legend of Sleepy Hollow's Legend of Sleepy Hollow . Gale Cengage Learning.
Parks, L. (2015). Corporeal Mediation and Visibility in Sleepy Hollow. Tim Burton: Essays on the Films , 54.
