The two snapshot that I have chosen from both stories of Rip Van Winkle and The Dead are the problems between Rip and his wife, and the argument  with Gabriel and Miss. Ivors. The snapshot of Rip Van Winkle is at the beginning of page six when the author states ” Rip Van Winkle, however was one of those happy mortals, of foolish, well-oiled dispositions, who take the world easy, eat white bread or brown, whichever can be got with least thought or trouble, and would rather starve on a penny than work for a pound. if left to himself, he would have whistled life, in perfect contentment; but his wife kept continually dinning his ears about his idleness, his carelessness and the ruin he was bringing on the family.” The snapshot of The Dead is at end of page 62 with the conversation of Gabriel and Miss. Ivors starts off  ” O innocent Amy! I have found out that you write for The Daily Express. Now aren’t you ashamed of yourself? Why should I be ashamed of myself? Well I’m ashamed of you, To say you’d write for a paper like that. I didn’t think you were a West Briton. It was true that he wrote a literary column every Wednesday in The Daily Express, for which he was paid fifteen shillings. But that did not make him a West Briton.” In both of these snapshot it show how both Rip and Gabriel are being treated unfairly of the things that love to do by these two ladies. Rip love to be free, love to do what ever he want and love to help people. In his wife eyes she think of him being careless and lazy of the of the work that he has to do at home which is the farm but Rip know that the farm is useless and that their no point working on it. She also think that he doesn’t care about his family and wants nothing to do with them but Rip care for his children but hates his wife. Gabriel, he love to write his literary column every Wednesday, that was his way of show his love for literature but Miss. Ivors just makes funny of him and called a West Briton( is a derogatory term for an Irish person who is perceived as being too anglophilic in matters of culture or politics) in front of everyone at the party and then try to say that she was joking but we all know that she meant it. Gabriel being a nice person that he is doesn’t say anything that would offend her because they are friends but deep down he said “literature was above politics.” So those are the two close comparison that I have chosen for these stories.
2 thoughts on “The Connect Snapshot of Rip Van Winkle and The Dead”
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I do agree with what Brandon had to say when he decided to compare both Rip Van Winkle and The Dead because both snapshots are significant part of the stories. They not only say how the character is but what they had to face and how it conflicts with who they are. Rip wanting to be a free spirited person and Gabriel wanting to do what he loves which is literature. In a way I see how they are being made fun of by 2 women. Different people but same ideas of how the main characters are wasting their time doing things that don’t really matter in life. They should be doing things that actually do count and just by this little bit of sentences we learn a lot about the characters.
While I agree that both snapshots from Rip Van Winkle and The Dead show both characters subject to being treated unfairly for doings the things they do, Rip Van Winkle’s reason is much different and on much greater matter than in The Dead. In The Dead, Gabriel’s mistreatment for his article that he wrote for The Daily Express is because of an opinion from someone he knows, Miss Ivors, and how she views as it as a shameful place that Gabriel wrote for and degrades him for doing so. This is on a lower scale for Rip Van Winkle’s case where Rip Van Winkle is being mistreated is more personal because he does not tend to his family’s needs as much as other people’s needs some of who he barely even knows.