International Journal of Culture and History, Vol. 4, No. 4, December 2018

Feudal Aristocracy‟s Escape: A Marxist Approach to“Rip Van Winkle”

Liu Liu and Yu Sun

revolution, and communism.” [2] The Marxist critics focusAbstract—“Rip Van Winkle”, published in 1819, is a short

story by American writer Washington Irving. The story is set inNew York’s Catskill. Main character of the short story is RipVan Winkle, a Dutch-American villager living around the timeof the American Revolutionary War. The relation between RipVan Winkle and his cantankerous wife is quite unusual. Thispaper aims to analyze the short story from the perspective ofMarxism, and the theory of economic determinism andsymbolism will be applied in the analysis. From the Marxistperspective, some characters and plots all have their symbolicmeanings related to class struggles. Through this Marxistanalysis, a better understanding of Rip Van Winkle’s familyrelations and the social circumstances of that time can bereached.

Index Terms—“Rip Van Winkle”, Marxism, economicdeterminism, class conflict.

I. INTRODUCTION

Washington Irving (1783 – 1859) is an American shortstory writer born in the early 19th century. “Rip Van Winkle”is one of his best-known short stories. The story is set aroundthe time of the American Revolutionary War in the state ofNew York‟s Catskill Mountains. Before the AmericanRevolutionary War, which lasted from 1775 to 1783, Americawas still under the colonial domination of England. Americawas also a patriarchal society at that time, in which the malerather than the female has the dominant power both in thefamily and in society. The main reason is that the male hasmuch more advantages in producing activities than thefemale,and most females at that time had not gained their economicindependence. However, in Rip Van Winkle‟s family, thingsare quite different from the common family situation of thattime. Rip Van Winkle is at a much lower position than hiswife, and he is quite afraid of her. His wife often scolds him:“his wife kept continually dinning in his ears about hisidleness, his carelessness, and the ruin he was bringing on hisfamily.” [1]

Marxism is regarded both as “a political science and aliterary approach.” [2] “The classical Marxist flourishedchiefly in a period from Marx and Engels to the SecondWorld War. It characterizes itself by an insistence on at leastthe following basic tenets: materialism, economicdeterminism, class struggle, surplus value, reification,proletarian

Manuscript received September 25, 2018; revised December 1, 2018.This work was sponsored by the Seed Foundation of Innovation andCreation for Graduate Students in Northwestern Polytechnical Universityunder Grant ZZ2018244.

Liu Liu and Yu Sun are with School of Foreign Studies, NorthwesternPolytechnical University, Xi‟an 710072, PR China (e-mail:

[email protected] [email protected]).

doi: 10.18178/ijch.2018.4.4.136 133more on the content of literature than its form, for “contentwas much more ideologically charged.” [2] With the Marxisttheories, an ideological criticism to “Rip Van Winkle” can beachieved. Some Marxists believe that “the features of acultural text were strictly determined by or interpreted interms of the economic and social conditions of its productionand by the class status of its author.” [2]

II. RIP VAN WINKLE AS A REPRESENTATIVE OF THE FEUDALARISTOCRACY

The short story was published in 1819. At the beginning ofthe 19th century, the American Industrial Revolution began.The traditional agricultural civilization was struck by theemerging industrial civilization. The author Washing Irvinghimself has witnessed this revolution. Washing Irving is notonly a writer, but also a statesman who could be verysensitive to social changes. Irving had served as the U.S.ambassador to Spain. From this perspective, the ongoingsocial upheaval may influence his creative work. If “Rip VanWinkle” is interpreted with its social background, manyimplicit clues and symbolism can be found.

A. Rip Van Winkle’s Lifestyle

Rip Van Winkle is a farmer in a village near the CatskillMountains. Irving describes Rip Van Winkle‟s dispositionlike this, “the great error in Rip‟s composition was aninsuperable aversion to all kinds of profitable labor.” [1] Hewastes his assiduity and perseverance on some unnecessarytrifles, like fishing, hunting, and helping neighbors. AsWinkle refuses to do the farm work and housework for thefamily, the burden is on his wife‟s shoulders. Winkle has abad relation with his wife, who often curses at him. He oftengoes to a club in the village when driven from home. Theclub is composed of “sages, philosophers, and other idlepersonages of the village.” [1] “Here they used to sit in theshade through a long lazy summer‟s day, talking listlesslyover village gossip, or telling endless sleepy stories aboutnothing.” [1] Nicholas Vedder is the leader of this junto, whois also the patriarch of the village. The author describesNicholas Vedder‟s life with a sarcastic tone: “at the door ofwhich he took his seat from morning till night, just movingsufficiently to avoid the sun and keep in the shade of a largetree; so that the neighbors could tell the hour by hismovements as accurately as by a sun dial.” [1] It can bedrawn from the text that Winkle is not a particular case in histime, there is a group of people who live a similar life to Rip.In other words, Rip Van Winkle represents a group of peoplein the agricultural society, and he is the most typical one. Rip

International Journal of Culture and History, Vol. 4, No. 4, December 2018

Van Winkle and his fellows try to escape the family burden,and live a carefree life. “The production of ideas, conceptsand consciousness is first of all directly interwoven with thematerial intercourse of man, the language of real life.Conceiving, thinking, the spiritual intercourse of men, appearhere as the direct efflux of men‟s material behaviour…” [3]Rip and his fellows‟ lifestyle and life concept are reflectionsof their laggard production mode — the agriculturalproduction method. All in all, the idle lifestyle of Rip and hisfellows is determined by their backward production mode.

“Lazy” is not the only feature of Rip Van Winkle and hisfellows‟ lifestyle. They live a life behind their time.Sometimes they have “profound discussions” when “bychance an old newspaper fell into their hands from somepassing traveller.” [1] “How sagely they would deliberateupon public events some months after they had taken place.”[1] The way they get information about the outside world isthrough passing traveller, and the news they discuss heatedlyabout is already out-of-date. It seems that they have beenabandoned by the fast-developing world. It is quite ironic toput “profound discussions” and “old newspaper” together. Itis completely meaningless to discuss profoundly about oldnews. From this ridiculous contrast, we can see that the smallvillage of Rip is ignorant and uninformed, which is thetypical feature of the agricultural society. The village is leftbehind by the outside world.

B. Rip Van Winkle’s Family Status

The family status of Rip symbolizes the status of thefeudal aristocracy. The family status of Rip Van Winkle isvery low. He is an “obedient hen-pecked husband” to hisshrewish wife. “Morning, noon, and night, her tongue wasincessantly going, and everything he said or did was sure toproduce a torrent of household eloquence.” [1] Besides,Winkle is often driven out of home by his wife. His wife‟sbad temper is not the only reason for this situation. Winklegives up his dignity along with his duty. His farm is “themost pestilent little piece of ground in the whole country.”[1] Due to Winkle‟s laziness, “his patrimonial estate haddwindled away under his management, acre by acre, untilthere was little more left than a mere patch of Indian cornand potatoes, yet it was the worst conditioned farm in theneighborhood.” [1] Winkle‟s children also suffered from hislaziness, “his children, too, were as ragged and wild as ifthey belonged to nobody.” [1]

The decline of the agricultural society is reflected throughthe situation of Rip. Rip‟s ancestors were once honorable, “hewas a descendant of the Van Winkles who figured so gallantlyin the chivalrous days of Peter Stuyvesant, and accompaniedhim to the siege of Fort Christina.” [1] But the honor does notlast to Rip‟s days, “he inherited, however, but little of thematerial character of his ancestors.” [1] It symbolizes that theprosperity of the traditional agricultural society has gone, andpeople who cannot adapt to the changes of the society likeRip, will be left behind by the time.

III. THE CONFLICT BETWEEN FEUDAL ARISTOCRACY ANDTHE CAPITALIST

The reason for the unusual family relations of Rip VanWinkle is his family‟s economic situation. In Rip Van

134Winkle‟s family, his wife but not him is the breadwinner, and

Rip Van Winkle does not take the responsibility of workingand earning money. According to Marx, the superstructure isdetermined by the economic base. So, the family positions ofRip Van Winkle and his wife are determined by theireconomic positions. As the bred-winner in the family, DameVan Winkle has more right of speech than Rip Van Winkle.

The story is written during the American IndustrialRevolution. The industrial society is beginning to strike theagricultural society, and will replace it later. According toMarx, “The economic structure of capitalist society has grownout of the economic structure of feudal society. Thedissolution of the latter set free the elements of the former.”[4]From the perspective of Marxists, “literature grows out of andreflects real material/historical conditions.” [5] Take a look atthe character of Rip Van Winkle and his wife with thishistorical background, it is not difficult to find that Rip VanWinkle and his wife Dame Van Winkle actually representstwo social classes. Rip Van Winkle represents the feudalaristocracy, while his wife represents the capitalist class. Andthe conflicts between Rip Van Winkle and his wife can beseen as the conflicts between the two social classes.

The feudal aristocracy does not join producing activities,but to exploit the capitalist class and peasantry. In the story,Rip Van Winkle does the same thing. He depends on his wifefor a living instead of working by himself, and he hatesworking, “The great error in Rip‟s composition was aninsuperable aversion to all kinds of profitable labor.” [1] Thefeudal aristocracy exploits the other classes by its remainingfeudal influence, and Rip Van Winkle exploits his wife by theremaining patriarchal power. Besides, like the feudal

aristocracy, he hates working and leads a life of pleasure, “Ifleft to himself, he would have whistled life away in perfectcontentment;” [1], “Here they used to sit in the shade througha long lazy summer‟s day, talking listlessly over villagegossip, or telling endless sleepy stories about nothing.” [1]The lifestyle of Rip Van Winkle is the idyllic life, which isvery typical in the traditional feudal society. With the risingof modern industry, the power of the feudal aristocracy aredeclining. Similarly, Rip Van Winkle‟s economic condition isworsening and his life quality is falling, “His fences werecontinually falling to pieces; his cow would either go astray,or get among the cabbages; weeds were sure to grow quickerin his fields than anywhere else; the rain always made a pointof setting in just as he had some out-door work to do.” [1] Hiscondition in family assembles the feudal aristocracy‟s socialcondition. Rip Van Winkle is mild-tempered, polite, and gladto help the women in the village, which is like the well-bredand genteel feudal aristocracy.

As for Dame Van Winkle, she works hard to earn food andmoney, just like what the capitalist class do during theaccumulation of capital. And she has to provide for her lazyand incompetent husband, which assembles the capitalistclass that has been exploited by the feudal aristocracy. Andher lifestyle is much more practical than Rip Van Winkle. Shemanages the whole family without the help of Winkle, so it‟snot difficult to see that Dame Van Winkle is quite competentand has little time to have entertainment. As Winkle‟s familyposition keeps falling, “Times grew worse and worse withRip Van Winkle as years of matrimony rolled on; a tarttemper

International Journal of Culture and History, Vol. 4, No. 4, December 2018

never mellows with age, and a sharp tongue is the only edgedtool that grows keener with constant use.” [1], Dame VanWinkle‟s family position is rising, which assembles thecapitalist class‟s rising social position. Dame Van Winkle is acantankerous woman. The author uses words like“termagant” and “virago” to describe her. Similarly, thecapitalist class are used to be criticized as a vulgar class.

The conflicts between Rip Van Winkle and Dame VanWinkle symbolize the combat for economic and politicalhegemony between the feudal aristocracy and the capitalistclass. In this combat, the capitalist class are beginning tohave the upper hand. But the capitalist class still has tocompromise with the feudal aristocracy. For example, theystill have to put up with the feudal aristocracy‟s exploitation.In the story, Rip Van Winkle cannot bear his wife‟s curseand runs into the mountain to find himself some comfort.Then he drinks the beverage of an old man and falls asleep.When he wakes up, twenty years have passed, andeverything has changed. Actually, Winkle uses a long sleepto escape his wife. When he wakes up, his wife is alreadydead, “Rip had but one question more to ask; but he put itwith a faltering voice: „Where‟s your mother?‟ „Oh, she toohad died but a short time since; she broke a blood-vessel in afit of passion at a New-England peddler.‟” [1]

Winkle‟s long sleep symbolizes feudal aristocracy‟sescape in the combat against the capitalist class. At the endof the story, Winkle‟s wife is dead, but everything in thevillage has changed. “The very village was altered; it waslarger and more populous. There were rows of houses whichhe had never seen before.” [1] That is the outcome of theindustrialization. The village scales up and develops. Rip‟sfamiliar haunts has disappeared, and his old acquaintances

all passed away or left. It symbolizes the disassembly of thetraditional agricultural society. The industrialization haschanged the village and the way people lives. The villagerscares about the election now. Winkle‟s son, who is a copy ofhim, has to abandon his old lifestyle for the time haschanged, “As to Rip‟s son and heir, who was the ditto ofhimself, seen leaning against the tree, he was employed towork on the farm; but evinced an hereditary disposition toattend to anything else but his business.” [1] At last, thecapitalist class wins by changing the society with someprices and compromises. The ending of the story can be seenas a compromise of feudal aristocracy and the capitalistclass.

IV. CONCLUSION

All in all, family positions and social positions aredetermined by economic positions. Rip Van Winklerepresents the feudal aristocracy with backward productiveforces and traditional idyllic lifestyle in the agriculturalsociety; while, his wife Dame Van Winkle stands for thecapitalist class with advanced productive forces and practicallifestyle in the industrial society. In their combat foreconomic and political hegemony, the feudal aristocracychooses to

135escape under a disadvantaged condition. Finally, thecapitalist class wins for they represent advanced productive

forces and are in a much better economic condition. But, thesocial changes are a gradual process. It is not possible forthe capital class to defeat the feudal aristocracy completelyduring the Industrial Revolution, and there are still somecompromises for the capitalist class to make.

ACKNOWLEDGMENT

We would like to express our gratitude to the School ofForeign studies and the Graduate School of NorthwesternPolytechnical University for the support.

Liu Liu also thanks her supervisor Prof. Yu Sun for hergenerous guidance and consistent encouragement.

REFERENCES

[1] W. Irving, The Sketch Book of Geoffrey Crayon, Gent, New York:Penguin Books, 1988, pp. 29-40.

[2] G. Zhu, Twentieth Century Western Critical Theories, Shanghai:Shanghai Foreign Language Education Press, 2001, pp. 58-59. [3] K. Marxand F. Engels, The German Ideology, New York: Martino Fine Books,2011, p. 6.[4] K. Marx, Capital Vol.1, New York: Kessinger Publishing, 2010, p. 322.[5] L. Tyson, Critical Theory Today: A User-friendly Guide, New York:

Routledge Taylor & Francis Group, 2006, p. 66.

Liu Liu was born in Baoding, China, in August, 1993.She received her bachelor degree of arts in English,

Northwestern Polytechnical University, Xi‟an, China,in 2016.

She is pursing the master degree of arts inNorthwestern Polytechnical University in Xi‟an, China,

in British and American literature. Her researchinterests are 20th century American novels and spatial

narrative theories.She has participated the 2017 International Conference on English &

American Literature in Shanghai, China, the 2017 3rd InternationalConference on Culture, Languages and Literature in Penang, Malaysia, andthe international conference of “Memories and Visions: China‟s Ties withthe Outside World through the Belt and Road Initiative” in Xi‟an, China.She has published a paper “An Interpretation of the Symbolism in TheHouse on Mango Street in Terms of Ideational Function” on InternationalJournal of Languages, Literature and Linguistics (IJLLL), 2017.12. Vol.3.She directs the research project “A Study of the Female Space in 20thCentury Chinese and American Wartime Literature.” This project issponsored by the Seed Foundation of Innovation and Creation for GraduateStudents in Northwestern Polytechnical University.

Yu Sun was born in Wuhan, China, in June 1971. Sheis a visiting scholar of University of Maryland,

America since 2014. She received her master of arts inEnglish language and literature from Northwestern

Polytechnical University, Xi‟an, China, 2000.She is the director in the Arts Education Centre of

Northwestern Polytechnical University and also thegraduate advisor on literature and translation.

Prof. Sun is also a member of TranslatorsAssociation of China and the reviewer of China Scholarship Council.