Van Winkle - Seeing Fiction in a Different Light

            One of the many powerful components of Rip Van Winkle is the way in which the story perfectly paints a picture of the world where Rip lives. It is wonderful how much freedom Washington Irving exercises in this work of fiction. However, while the place Irving depicts is beautiful, picturesque, and to a degree, almost magical, it is not reality. This fact is no secret and while many fiction lovers read fiction because it can take them to the reaches of their imagination, there is one piece that often goes missing. Fiction often lacks the ability to relate to people’s lives to the point where one can picture them experiencing it. In Rip Van Winkle, when Rip returns after 20 years, his experience is without doubt amazing, however, due to the foreign setting and the fact that Rip Van Winkle is in fact fiction, it is difficult to picture oneself in his position. This is why reading “birdie’s” blog post, which describes a present day Rip Van Winkle scenario, is so important to read after reading Rip Van Winkle. While “The Rip Van Winkle Project” obviously cannot compare to Rip Van Winkle in terms of literary importance, “The Rip Van Winkle Project” is able to make one think about the importance of knowledge and how hard it would be to lose all sense of current events by creating a present day Rip Van Winkle scenario. Rather than comparing Washington’s Irving’s timeless and masterful “Rip Van Winkle” to a blog post, it is important to read both to get the fully appreciate the story.