Question

Rip van winkle's devoted dog is named "wolf." what's interesting, or even ironic, about this dog's name? how might the dog be symbolic of a deeper message?

Answer 1

Wolf's name offers a few ironies. One is that wolves are considered to be fierce creatures. Wolf, however, was just as afraid of Dame Van Winkle as his master, and he slunk when he was around her. Even though he feared her, Wolf remitted to spend his life waiting for Rip to return in the Dame's company, flying brooms and shifty-eyed glanced considered. Closer to the case might be that wolves are wild. They are the wild relatives of domestic dogs, a symbol of freedom and savagery; yet Wolf was the one thing that kept Rip tied to society, to a domestic life. Were it not for Wolf, Rip might have gone off to the woods years earlier. If a deeper message might be gleaned, it might be that those who work too hard to be free of society might never come back.