Rip Van Winkle

In Washington Irving’s Rip Van Winkle, Rip as a character is a lazy man when it comes to anything having to do with work. His workless lifestyle is displayed when his most important activities include shooting squirrels with his gun, and spending countless hours fishing without even the inkling of a bite. “The great error in Rip’s composition was an insuperable aversion to all kinds of profitable labor. It could not be from the want of assiduity or perseverance; for he would sit on a wet rock, with a rod as long and heavy as a Tartar’s lance, and fish all day without a murmur, even though he should not be encouraged by a single nibble”(565). This display of his character portrays an American quality of an individual who is lazy, unmotivated, and disinterested in the growth and unity of a nation. During this pre-revolutionary time, this attitude is written about in numerous works of Englis...