Question

Irving was a romantic, but he was also a satirist. what elements of this storyâincluding the narratorâs commentariesâare satirical? who or what are irvingâs targets?

Answer 1

In “Rip Van Winkle”, one could find many elements of satire used by Irving to add irony or humor and sometimes to criticize people’s opinions. An example of this might be at the beginning, when he describes the author of the story and ends up telling the reader that what he wrote was not true. It could be said that Irving uses satire among other literary devices to portray an image of the American Revolution. It the tail of Rip on Americans political struggle, he seems to reveal the role of England as a colonising society.