Analysis Of The Book Rip Van Winkle And Young...

In Rip Van Winkle by Washington Irving and Young Goodman Brown by Nathaniel Hawthorne, the wilderness is used as a place for the main characters of both stories to have profound supernatural, spiritual experiences. Washington Irving uses the wilderness and nature to add a great sense of romanticism to his writing by creating a peaceful, mystical world. In Rip Van Winkle, Iriving implies that nature’s possessive beauty offers a great escape from the conventions of everyday life and can allow one to find the inner beauty of nature and connect with their spirituality. Nathaniel Hawthorne’s Young Goodman Brown takes somewhat of a different approach to the idea of nature and implies that the supernatural experiences that occur there are spiritual but add a sober sense of reality to everyday life. Hawthorne s use of dark romanticism in his writing implies that there is good, but there is also evil that exists within the natural world. Unlike Rip Van Winkle, Young Goodman Brow n does not enjoy the wilderness. Hawthorne’s dark romanticism makes nature appear evil while Iriving’s romantic approach focuses solely on the beauty of nature. Washington Irving uses nature and the wilderness like a literary device to connect to the romantic world. To the main character Rip Van Winkle, the wilderness was a place of wonder and an escape from many of societies normalities that Rip wanted absolutely nothing to do with. Many times Rip looks to nature as a get away from every day