Introduction
The Legend of Sleepy Hollow was written by Washington Irving while his stay in Birmingham, England. In 1820, Washington Irving’s ‘The Legend of The Sleepy Hollow’ was first published. This legend is a part of 34 essays and various other short stories which was then compiled in The Sketch Book of Geoffrey Crayon well known as The Sketch Book. It is a Gothic fictional Story which is quite popular amongst people, especially during the Halloween time because of a fictional character that is a headless horseman who is believed to be decapitated by a cannonball during the war (Encyclopedia.com, 2019).
This research paper is going to discuss all the aspects involving the ‘legend’ the Author, the background of the book, critically analyzing each aspect involved, the books Washington Irving wrote later wrote or even previously wrote and as such.
“Certain it is, the place still continues under the sway of some witching power that holds a spell over the minds of the good people, causing them to walk in a continual reverie. They are given to all kinds of marvelous beliefs, are subject to trances and visions, and frequently see strange sights, and hear music and voices in the air” – Washington Irving, The Legend of Sleepy Hollow (Irving W. , The legend of sleepy hollow and other stories, 2012).
Irving with his writing skills tries to bring the typical American Character by using the Comic Mythology and the regular Common Tradition. In the Legend of Sleeping Hollow, the whole idea of the American Literature and success behind Irving’s work relies on the shoulders of two very important characters of the story, Brom and Ichabod Crane. The story incorporates elaboration about the natural beauty of the surrounding area of Hudson River Valley in the 1790’s, where the story is set in. This area known as the Sleepy Hollow is quite famous for its ghosts or the supernatural beings that the residents believe in. Another most famous character of this story is the Headless Horseman, who is believed to be decapitated by the cannonball during the war.
As per the story, Ichabod Crane lanky and lean schoolmaster from Connecticut moved to Sleepy Hollow. Ichabod competes with another character who is Brom Bones, a muscular and well-known man, for the hand of Katrina Van Tassel, who is 18 years old in the story. Ichabod pursues Katrina with malice in his thoughts to become rich instantly by procuring Van Tassel’s wealth someday. When all three of the characters are at a party at Van Tassel’s house, Ichabod plans on proposing to Katrina before which, Brom tries to prank Ichabod and shares many ghost stories, as Ichabod is quite superstitious, he gets scared. Even after that, Ichabod proposes Katrina and gets rejected.
While returning home passing through the forest alone and sad due to rejection, superstitious Ichabod starts feeling scared after wandering in the forest for a while and then has an encounter with the Headless Horseman. Where Ichabod is chased by the Headless Horseman for a while and after that, Ichabod is attacked by Headless Horseman as he throws a pumpkin head at Ichabod. The next day, Ichabod is nowhere to be found and only a few remains of his clothes and also a few other pieces of the pumpkin can be found. The cliff-hanger of the story is when people in the village talk about the schoolmaster, Brom laughs it off and behaves in such a manner that the reader feels there is something suspicious about it and it is a high possibility that the Headless Horseman was Brom trying to scare Ichabod (Irving W. , 2019).
Purpose of the Study
The purpose of this study is to examine the scholarly literature as specified by Irving in his writing of ‘The legend of Sleepy Hollows’ in the book The Sketch Book as well as related works and collections. Irving was quite popular amongst the Americans as he kept them engaged at all times by adding together many kinds of elements such as legend, myth, few folklores and also drama sometimes. Irving introduced symbolism that helped people understand his narratives better and promote imagination. He also introduced imagery that helped to improve the natural literature in the narrative. His two major works that have been considered very important and highly appreciable are “The legend of Sleepy Hollow” and “Rip Van Winkle” (Rubin-Dorsky, 1985), both of these brilliant stories portrayed the raw American ideals that inspired people in different ways.
The concern here is the idea behind each and every character in the ‘Legend’. Every character has its own individual theme according to which they act. As when the story starts, there is a clear description regarding the beauty of the place this story is set in, the natural beauty this place beholds. Irving has considered and has elaborated upon each and every aspect of the story including, the place and the characters. Irving has also played with the mind of the reader in this story by leaving a few threads to lose for the reader to conclude based upon the reader’s mind. The readers could easily conclude on the basis of slight information about the oncoming scenarios and be convinced of the certain quality of the village that causes the village to be a bit spooky due to the existence of some curse caused due to a spell that has been cast upon it. This particular story consists of many superstitions, legends that build up the story and some odd events, these hooks the attention of the reader.
Research Questions
Now the major discussion points as per the story that shall be mentioned in this research paper include;
Question1: Who is the author, what is the history behind the idea of the story and what is its importance?
Question 2: What are the similar works by the author, what they entail and how are they different from “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow”?
Question 3: What kinds of versions of the ‘The Legend of Sleepy Hollow’ currently listed on Worldcat?
Importance of the Study
The information mentioned in this research paper will yield out many conclusions that will not only help students learn about the history behind the story but also help the scholars and librarians to improve on their work and background behind their art. It is necessary to articulate the conclusions based upon these above-mentioned issues so as to gain an in-depth knowledge of the writing style and thoughts of the author related to it. Scholars and writers improve based upon this data that entails positive and negative aspects, to create a much improved scholarly work. Analyzing the different styles used and the different themes opted by the author, written in such a manner that hook the reader to the said work makes the work famous or commendable. The below-mentioned research shall help the reader articulate and derive conclusions based upon the date specified.
Literature Review
The different characters with their unique habits and different thought process arose from the descendants of the specific Dutch settlers, helped the long-forgotten glen be named Sleepy Hollow, which is why all the country people from the village were well known throughout the neighbouring countries and states as the Sleepy Hollow Boys. The village was said to be haunted and was considered to have a dreamy and drowsy influence over the readers due to the author’s created atmosphere. According to the folklore, the place was said to be cursed by a High German Doctor.
The people or the residents have their own commendable beliefs and sayings and often experience visions and bizarre sights. They also are prone to hearing unusual voices and music due to their superstitious thought process. The whole village has throughout the years listened to the elders speak about local twilight superstitions, haunted tales, and ghostly spots that are frequently discussed amongst the neighbourhood. The meteors and shooting stars are quite frequent in this part of the country and the folks living there also have quite a faith in them. This influences the build-up of new stories and haunted events that they say they face. The controlling spirit that hangout this superstitious region and seems to become a commander in chief of all the abilities of the air, is the illusion of a structure on horseback, with a severed head.
As per the stories of the people living in Sleepy Hollow, the spirit haunting the region was that of a Hessian trooper, the head of whom was said to be destroyed by the cannon-ball, in some anonymous fight amid the Revolutionary War, and there are frequent sightings or visions of him by the nation people rushing along in the misery through night, as though it has the wings of the breeze. This ghost is not only limited to the sleepy hollow valley, but also often reaches out now and again to the nearby streets, and particularly to the region associated with the church, which is not at much distance.
This is a general indication of the abovementioned superstition, this has outfitted materials for some few wild stories in that locale of shadows; also the illusion is known throughout the entire nation’s homes widely by the name of Sleepy Hollow’s Headless Horseman. It is exceptional that the visionary inclination that has been referenced isn’t constrained to the local occupants of the village; however, it is unwittingly guzzled by each one who lives there for a period.
There are widely known adaptations throughout the world of the old fictional gothic horror story “The Legend of the Sleepy Hollow”. One of which is, The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad is a 1949 American enlivened bundle film delivered by Walt Disney Productions and released by RKO Radio Pictures. It has been segmented into two parts—the first of which comprises of excerpts from the 1908 children’s novel The Wind in the Willows by Scottish author Kenneth Grahame, and another part is based upon the crux of the 1820 short story “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow”, called Ichabod Crane in the film, by American author Washington Irving (Algar, Geronimi, & Kinney, 1949). Another adaptation of “Legend” that is widely known is Chopper which is a Mini horror comic book published in 2011 by Asylum Press and authored by Martin Shapiro. This comic represents the modern-day reinterpretation of the villain from “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow”, which is the Headless Horse Rider (UCLA, 2012). It has its basis in Florida, the famous Daytona Beach, while the Bike Week is on. Headless Horseman the movie is another adaptation of the “Legend’s villain-the Headless Horseman” which was aired on 27th October 2007 on the Sci-Fi Channel. This director of this movie was Anthony C. Ferrante and the cast includes, Billy Aaron Brown and Richard Moll. This movie is said to be taken from a real story while Washington Irving’s story is considered the ‘white-washed’ version. There have been many other adaptations made throughout the years since 1820 (Ferrante, 2007).
In any case, the idea of a headless horse rider did not just come up randomly out of nowhere to Irving but, there have been similar stories from middle ages published or told before that included a character quite similar to the character created by the author in the American Literature, examples of such stories include the ones that are well known Irish legend the “Dullahan” or “Gan Ceann,” and also the Brothers Grimm and the Dutch, where a rider who looks like a Grim-Reaper moves his head around in his hand (Chalakoski, 2018 ). A Historian, working at Historic Hudson Valley, Elizabeth Bradley talks about some opinions she has regarding the probable hotspot for the horseman by Irving, which can be spotted in the infamous The Chase, 1796 by Sir Walter Scott, it is said to be upon the basis of another German Sonnet by Gottfried Bürger which is likely to be based upon the Norse Folklore well known as The Wild Huntsman.
This story by Irving incorporates in Sleepy Hollow, a small town in New York, in Westchester County where a very thin person, named Ichabod Crane, a schoolmaster tries wooing Katrina van Tassel, a youthful beneficiary who is also being pursued by the infamous the Dutchman Brom Bones. Ichabod then tries to reapproach the lady, Katrina, at a gathering at the Van Tassel farm, where, many ghost related horror stories are shared. That night upon returning home, the protagonist is followed by a headless horse rider (who might be his adversary) who with full force heaves a pumpkin at Ichabod, tossing him from his steed. Then the next day, people realise that the schoolmaster is missing.
There is another theory where Washington Irving also may have drawn motivation for the story while he was an adolescent living in the Tarrytown area. Irving moved to this side of the country in 1798, in order to escape an outburst of yellow fever in the city of New York, as cited by the Historical Society of the New-York. Irving, “would have been introduced to local ghost stories and lore at an impressionable age,” as per the historian. ” He cleverly weaves together factual locations—the Old Dutch Church and churchyard, ‘Major Andre’s Tree,’ some actual family names, including van Tassel and Ichabod Crane—and a little bit of Revolutionary War history with pure imagination and fantasy,” Bradley also mentions. “It’s a melting pot of a story, and thus totally American.”
“It inspires people because it reminds them that there are still some American mysteries, some half-truths that may never be fully known—and that’s the whole point,” as per Bradley. “The ‘Legend’ lends itself to any interpretation, and it continues to fascinate and terrify us in the best possible way” (Kennedy, 2019).
Methodology
The Legend of Sleepy Hollow is quite famous and is mostly recalled at the celebrations of Halloween. The story of an actual weird town known as the Sleepy Hollow by Washington Irving written around 1820’s, is considered as America’s one of the scariest and one of the first haunted story that has a Headless Horseman (Historic Hudson Valley, 2019).
Washington Irving is one of the most renowned authors in American history. His major works include the “Legend of the Sleeping Hollow”, “A history of New York” (Irving W. , A History of New-York from the Beginning of the World to the End of the Dutch Dyna, 2015), “Bracebridge Hall” (Baker, 2017), “Tales of a Traveller” (Lammers, 2015), “The Life and Voyages of Christopher Columbus” (Wingate, 2017) and “The Rip Van and Winkle” (Gale, 2015).
The so-called information that has been derived in the above-mentioned research paper is mostly secondary information from websites, journals, and other academic sources. The writing style of the author has been analyzed and the whole idea behind building the story has been scrutinized.
Particular versions and adaptations throughout the world have resulted in the reader to interpret the story according to their inhibitions and thought process. Each character in the story has their own unique ideology and works according to their own ideas. Such an example is the character Ichabod: Several contrasts amongst the men of Sleepy Hollow and Ichabod one of the main characters of the story is being specified in the story. This main character, Ichabod is basically from Connecticut Stock, is also a New Englander and an educated man as per the locals of the Sleepy Hollow Village. Ichabod does not follow the rituals and ideas and ditches the ideal scenario created by the men of Dutch Heritage and tries to impress the women around by his activities. Ichabod is just a representation of the bigger picture of the America that loiters outside the specified spaces of the village Sleepy Hollow; it is a specific figure that denotes the need for obtaining and comprehending with all the concerned elements of the country in its reach to Manifest Destiny for the so-called growth of United States. As it is often in the cases of oral history, the local people are endorsed and the intruder is annihilated. The story also talks in detail about the malicious intent that Ichabod has for approaching Katrina and the greediness that makes Ichabod blind to see the tricks that are being played with his mind. Also, the discussion based on the superstitious beliefs of the residents plays a very important role in Ichabod’s character construction (Hoffman, 1953).
In the Journal, Creation of Characters and Literary Works, an article was published in 2007 by the title of A Comment on Washington Irving’s The Legend of Sleepy Hollow by G Qingxuan, especially describe the two main characters of the story Ichabod Crane and the Brom Bones. It analyses the need for the story and the requirement of such characters (Qingxuan, 2007).
Another such secondary source of information that helped to analyse the story better is a book written by Siân Silyn Roberts, regarding the Gothic Subjects: The Transformation of Individualism in American Fiction, 1790–1861. This book elaborates upon the interest developed amongst the youth of North America concerning gothic writing and the development of people’s interest in the horror genre beginning from the 1790s (Roberts, 2014).
A different story that built the appetite of Americans to consume more of the horror genre and not just consume but explore it as well as other genres have been widely known and being read to children as well as taught in junior classes. Versions of the same book that have been published by various other people year by year can be easily found on the WorldCat website (WorldCat, 2019). The crux of the story remains the same while a few character changes or just a few superficial changes are made to make the story appealable to the targeted age group or group of people just due to sales reasons.
Results
Question 1: Who is the author, what is the history behind the idea of the story and what is its importance?
The Author, of the infamous short story, “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow” (1820) and another popular small tale “Rip Van Winkle” (1819), Washington Irving, was born on April 3, 1783. He was not just a short story author but also had interests such as, he enjoyed writing essays, was also a Historian, and people might not know but he also represented Spain in the mid – nineteenth century. His two most popular works are compiled in the The Sketch Book of Geoffrey Crayon, Gent as his another pen name was Geoffrey Grant.
The short story “Rip Van Winkle” was created just in a matter of a night when Irving was visiting his sister Sarah and her companion, this spot proved as a motivation point for Irving’s other works as well. While, William the brother of Irving then in October 1818, presented Irving with a post of a chief clerk for the Navy of United States, hence arising the need for Irving to return home, to which Irving refused the idea down, picking to remain in England to seek after his long term goal of being an author.
Also, in the later years, Irving requested his brother Ebenezer in New York to compile a few of his short writing pieces into a book called The Sketch Book of Geoffrey Crayon, Gent. The main portion, that had “Rip Van Winkle”, was a tremendous achievement, and had high hopes then that the remainder of the work would be similarly effective; it was published in 1819–1820, where seven portions in New York, and also was converted into two specific volumes to be published in London – the one including the infamous “The Legend Of Sleepy Hollow”.
Question 2: What are the similar works by the author, what they entail and how are they different from “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow”?
Devil and Tom Walker is one such horror story that has been inspired by the genre of “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow”. According to this story, the protagonist makes a deal with the Devil to provide him with riches, and in exchange of that he faces repercussions (Story of the Week by Library of America, 2010). These two stories are not alike but refer to a similar moral of being punished for having greed. In the “Legend” the protagonist Ichabod was greedy to gain succession to Van Tassle’s riches and business; hence Ichabod pursued Katrina, the daughter of Van Tassle. In “Devil and Tom Walker” also, the greed of the protagonist Tom Walker forces Tom to make a deal with the Devil himself known as the Old Scratch/The Black Man in the story, this later drags Tom to the path of hell and ultimately kill him.
Question 3: What kinds of versions of the ‘The Legend of Sleepy Hollow’ currently listed on Worldcat?
The current Versions of “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow” on WorldCat, entail few changes in the original story. Some of them are e-Books, print books, and even e-videos have a bit of change in the outline of the story, while the crux remains the same. Amongst these e sources, some sources have referred to the original legend of sleepy hollow; some have given co authorship to the renowned Washington Irving, while others have just re-published the same version again and again in different forms. These versions also include comics as they approach a wide group of people, the adults, kids, adolescents and even the aged sometimes (Guttmann, 1964).
What are the other famous works by Washington Irving and what are the themes behind those?
Washington Irving wrote not just about gothic or horror stories but explored other genres too. He wrote on the basis of the themes such as history and satire as specified in A History of New York, 1809 (Irving W. , Knickerbocker’s History of New York 1809, 2017). He was a huge supporter of Romanticism as well. Since people have their own different adaptations of every story, many have been published some have a similar story line, while some are just based upon the gist of the story by a single individual. Here are a few of the many similar stories have been published that in some sense seem to be ones of the similar theme or idea attached behind, “The Legend of the Sleepy Hollow”, the Edgar Allan Poe’s, The Works of Edgar Allan Poe, Volume 4 (Britannica, 2019), one another short story by Wasington Irving, The Devil and Tom Walker is also one of its kind which is a part of Tales of a Traveller (Irving W. , “The Devil and Tom Walker”, 1824), even The Looking Glass written by Anton Chekhov and Mrs. Zant and the Ghost by Wilkie Collins also have a somewhat similar theme that consists of spirits and as such.
Conclusion
In modern days, people do affectionately recall the stories from past times to get inspired and also for entertainment. Mainly that happens because stories like these provide comfort to reader as they are famous for their mix of diversions, dreams, sentiments, tensions, and secrets, and these old stories like the infamous “Legend of Sleepy Hollow” appears to talk profoundly to individuals who originate from communities with eccentric characters – opposed to modernization. Irving observed a very backward thought process of the people living in Sleepy hollow. Superstitious practices were quite prevalent and he also observed the way few people behaved and their unique characteristics in this place. In order to fight with the traditional thinking and conservative mentality of people living in Sleepy Hollow, he created this short story in order to help people overcome their fears and empower them. Inspiration to look forward and not be bound along thoughts of people from past was the only idea behind Irving’s writings. In fact, Sleepy Hollow agrees to the kind of change that does not much affect the mentality or challenge the working of the village in wide aspect. Ichabod is at first acknowledged alongside his brilliant stories of fraud science and New England superstitions, and the youngsters wear city styles without oversight from their good old however agreeable guardians.
When this story was written or the idea arose in Washington Irving’s mind, New York was witnessing its tenth Yellow fever epidemic. Irving being in the area later fled to another city where he wrote the book. He supposedly heard rumours about a decapitated soldier being buried in the land nearby Church, who supposedly haunted the place. Theories like these influenced the mind of the famous writer so as to write about a headless horseman who haunts the village sleepy hollow.
Irving’s short story “The Legend of Sleeping Hollows” tells about the conflicts amongst the romantic and enlightenment related paradigm is elaborated. The story told by Irving is an elongated example of feud between these two above-mentioned scenarios. Irving by his thoughts and writing tries to influence the readers by the way each character is set and morals are being used in order to enlighten them. The way in which each aspect related is explained gives away the fact that the author wishes the people to be much aware about the surroundings and be cautious before creating stories about the other. When a reader goes through the story, it is not easy to see the other influential factors; it’s mostly about reading and understanding the story. While, when a reader tries reading it several times, they uncover a vast area that needs to be explored and read. Irving being one of the most renowned American Authors was quite clear about what he wanted or wished to write as he had clear understanding of conservative people around. Irving also creates such an aesthetic that it turns out to be the gothic aura that governs the whole story line, hence the use of “Legends” as a story to be related to the Halloween and it is so traditional to use this story as an example for the aesthetic atmosphere that will dominate the story, which is the atmosphere of the Gothic. This builds up the mysterious aura surrounding the story.
This story not only gives morals to the younger generation or the children, but also sets an example for every generation to follow the path of positive deeds and intentions without much worrying about the shortcuts people take or superstitious beliefs people have. The themes that are behind the Legend of Sleepy Hollow that Irving wishes to focus upon throughout the story are Greed, Supernatural powers and fear.
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