The Sketchbook

2 Pages 562 Words

The Sketchbook

Washington Irving wrote 32 short stories to for The Sketchbook. The Sketchbook is mainly concerned in trying to make America similar to England. Irving writes The Sketchbook in such a unique way that the themes in it have a broad range. Irving’s unique writing style throughout The Sketchbook shows is symbolism, stereotypical characters, and story with a story type o writing.
Through symbolism Irving conveys his patriotism. Throughout The Sketchbook Irving has many symbols that relate to patriotism. One major symbol used by Irving is the “eagle”. It is brought up in stories such as “Christmas Day” and “Spectra Bride”. It represents the reality of America’s new freedom. By Irving’s enphasis on the eagle, it clearly showed his true hope for America to survive its tough times. Another important symbol is the “forest”. The “forest” symbolizes the vast space in America. Irving also symbolizes the Indians ignorance through “sleep”. He mentions “sleep” in stories like “The Angler”, “John Bull”, and others emphasizing strongly that he believes the Indians are ignorant and not aware of anything around them.
In The Sketchbook, Irving is stereotypical with the Indians and the women. In “Traits of Indian Character”’ Irving makes many demeaning statement about the Indians. He uses the word “savage” as one that would make them seem beast-like. “…we too often find the Indians on our frontier to be the more wrecks” clearly showing his disgust with the Indian way of life. Throughout “Traits of Indian Character”, Irving stereotypes the Indians as uncivilized people, but in the end Irving attempts to justify their behavior by focusing on the surroundings they had to endure. In “Rip Van Winkle” Irving stereotypes women as nagging and domineering. Much like “The Devil and Tom Walker”, in which women were looked upon as bad people and t...