Sleepy Hollow as Popular Culture

Sleepy Hollow as Popular Culture

The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, a short story by American author Washington Irving, was actually written while the author lived in England. It was published in 1820 and like Irving's Rip Van Winkle, has been read by generations of students, turned into numerous alternative stories, animated features, and computer games. It was made into a stamp in 1974, has been an inspiration for music, street and town names, and even motion pictures. Two of the characters, Ichabod Crane and The Headless Horseman have become both iconic and archetypal within American popular culture (Burstein, 2007).

Irving's inspiration for Sleepy Hollow appears to have been an old German folktale, told for years as an oral tale and then written by Karl Musaeus. The plot surrounds a lanky and superstitious schoolmaster named Ichabod Crane who competes for the town's prize bride, Katrina Van Tassel. His competition is the town braggart Abraham Van Brunt, also known as "Brom Bones." One of the town's superstitions is that on certain nights the area is haunted by the ghost of a Hessian trooper who had his head shot off during the Revolutionary War. This Headless Horseman rides forth searching for his lost head, and if he finds an unsuspecting sort, lops of their head to use in his collection. One night, Ichabod mysteriously disappears from town, and now Katrina has only one suitor, Brom Bones, who was "to looking exceedingly knowing whenever the story of Ichabod was related." Irving leaves the solution of Ichabod's departure a mystery, but certainly the implication that Brom took matters into his own hands is there.

Irving's intended audience was vast and complex, and a sociological commentary on its own. While in England Irving was desperate to show his continental contemporaries that America had grown intellectually, that there was indeed an American literary tradition, and that like Europe, the American author and poet could find inspiration in the natural world, the interesting cultures, and the complex ideas of the emerging democracy. Of course, he also wished for the American intelligentsia to embrace his stories, he was, after all, an essayist with no end of subject matter. But, as is rather common, it was not necessarily Sleepy Hollow that Irving wished to be known. Certainly his Knickerbocker histories, his biography of Christopher Columbus, and even his cultural reexamination of the Christmas Holiday seemed more important to him at the time than a small story of a lonely man in the night (Von Frank, 1987).

Historical Themes in Sleepy Hollow -- There are numerous themes and interpretations one may glean from Sleepy Hollow. We must first put the story in the context of the historical and cultural aspects of America in the early 1820s -- sometimes referred to as the Jacksonian Era. The United States was moving from a climate of revolutionary fervor and realization of the vast task of self-rule, through a Jeffersonian period in which much of the political and social power gravitated from the northern capitals to the larger, rural estates of the Mid-Atlantic and Southern Regions. Jackson epitomized the idea of a land-baron; wealthy, intelligent, politically astute, patriotic, and ever expansionist. However, for the common person, this was an area of dualism -- the ever western expansion promised greater opportunity and a chance to build a new life, but the idea of settling a vast and untamed wilderness was frightening to others. Similarly, the whole economic structure of the U.S. was dichotomous as well. On one hand we had a wealthy oligarchy of rich planters whose money came from the exploitation of others (slavery). On the other hand we had a capitalist class with visions on vast western lands, transportation networks, and the exportation of natural resources. Some see the era as a slow transition of power from the upper echelons of former British intellectuals (the Founding Fathers) to a more populist culture (Meacham, 2008).

Thus, for a person like Washington Irving, an essayist trained in the colonial northern cities, the period was one of unsettling nature. There was a pining for the days of yore -- nostalgia for a simpler past that was not really better than the present in anything but the mind of some intellectuals. There was, in Europe, a move towards romanticism and revolution, and a rather indecisive self-definition of what exact American culture meant. In broad terms, then, if we think about a major idea in the tale: that of a lanky upstart, more intellectual than brawny (Ichabod) facing the town bully (Brom) we can see how the theme of the little country (America) pushing out the world's bully (Great Britain) might resonate. And when Katrina declines his marriage proposal and Ichabod rides home at night, encountering the Horseman, a creature of darkness, we see that fear and superstition can overcome even the intellectualisms of Ichabod -- who is reduced to fleeing and disappearing in the face of an enemy that is both unknowing and terrifying. The interaction, then, between intelligence and reason and fear and superstition was common during this period of American history. If, as we suspect, it was indeed Brom who was the headless horseman, then simply by changing his appearance and playing into the fear (of the nation), the bully countered all measures of logic (Jones, 2008). Americans were still struggling to overcome the feelings of insecurity which had just recently been exacerbated by the British -- what is the relationship between the intellect and the formation of a new nation when the biggest bully on the block uses might to force right?

Literary Themes in Sleepy Hollow -- One of the most interesting trends in modern literature is the combination of literary realism and the postmodern tradition. Literary realism, of course, focuses on the everyday cultural experience of everyday people who may, within their banal experience, do extraordinary things. Contrasting the American Colonia who is an intellect, but superstitious, with the Dutch Brom and Katrina, hardworking yet simple -- brings the everyday person into the story. The gothic elements however, overshadow any other theme; the weariness of the town, the darkness, the scent/odor of decay, all the elements of a place in which superstition reigns as opposed to logic -- the haunting of an event from the past (the American revolution) that now impacts the peace and serenity of the present (Ringle, 1995).

Table 1 -- Gothic Characteristics of Sleepy Hollow

Characteristic

Example in House of Usher

Setting of large, run down, older homes.

Town of Sleepy Hollow

Atmosphere of mystery and suspense.

Legends abound; the Hessian, the supernatural, the entire moodiness of the area

Omens, foreshadowing.

Nature, fog, the chill -- all are seen as portents of evil

Highly Charged emotional states

Ichabod's superstition vs. his intellect

Unexplainable events, sounds, etc.

Where did Ichabod go? What secrets does the town hold?

Words designed to evoke images of gloom.

Dark tales, creepy allusions

Reason and science abandoned

Ghosts, revenge, life after death

Images of swamp, forests, or overgrowth

The surrounding forest of darkness, the sounds, the air

This emphasis of imagination over reason, a nostalgia, and an attraction to the unexpected firmly places Irving within the literature tradition of his time. Yet the story is far less macabre as Poe, and likely even to audiences of the time, somewhat humorous. We can easily see that there is nothing really nefarious about the situation and that a practical joke is being played on someone who should be too intelligent to fall for such frivolity. Too, the idea that America was vibrant enough to have clear and honored folk traditions with serious iterative benefits also rings true.

The town, Tarrytown was settled by the "ancient and peculiar" Dutch, and was the sight of a "nameless battle" surrounding by "floating facts." The antithesis is an entity that was patriotic enough (or greedy) to fight in the American Revolution, the Hessian, but also a sense of obscurity (headless, nameless battle). Ichabod leaves the city in a "great torrent of migration and improvement," clearly letting us know that there was a certain attitude kept by city dwellers about their rural cousins, and vice versa -- and yet it is the country ways that seem to outmaneuver urbanity because logic is lost. Perhaps, though, we can forgive Ichabod in some ways -- he was in love which, for him, was likely frightening as well. And, for the modern reader, it is more satisfying to think of Brom removing Ichabod in a more permanent way than simply scaring him, that leaves Ichabod as the victim rather than the coward.

Ichabod as Catalyst -- One other way of viewing Sleepy Hollow through a combination of historical and sociological perspective, since most of the story is focused around him, is the way the character becomes a catalyst for a number of actions that surround the nefarious, or evil paradigms, in the story -- eventually necessitating his removal from the community. This, of course, is an anti-hero approach, but also fulfills the manner in which the urban/rural issue was viewed in Irving's time.

First, evil in Sleepy Hollow is more equating with a satirical view that, in this case, evil is a more benign humor, bumbling, caustic in disrupting the town, and, as it was in Ancient Greek and Roman drama, simply more of an irritant than planned destruction. Focusing again on the time period, our first introduction to this theme is one of Dutch New York against Urban New England. The Dutch community is sylvan, nostalgically conceived, changeless, and an Eden for its inhabitants. Ichabod arrives as a Yankee whose spoiling of this Eden simply cannot be tolerated -- and even more, by marrying the daughter of a wealthy and high-ranking community member, becoming part of Eden himself. This simply could not happen to a community that is so "European in nature."

Sleepy Hollow, as a town is clearly Dutch, with Dutch values, culture, and mores, or for riving, "population, manners, and customs, remain fixed." We see a bit of the conflict too when Ichabod proposed to exchange the "middle landscape" of the Van Tassel dowry for a piece of wild land in "Kentucky, Tennessee, or the Lord knows where." The region is more than a conglomeration of Europeans living in harmony with nature. Instead, the town is sheltered, resistant to change, its rather feminine characteristics, and more especially its vulnerability make it symbolic of one of the ideals of European Romanticism.

Indeed, this atmosphere is so central to the theme of the story that Ichabod comments, "It is remarkable that the visionary propensity I have mentioned is not confined to the native inhabitants of the valley, but is unconsciously imbibed by ever one who resides there for a time. However wide awake they may have been before they entered that sleepy region, they are sure, in a little time, to inhale the witching influence of the air, and beginning to grow imaginative -- to dream dreams, and see apparition." Intoxicating as this may be, we begin to wonder what Ichabod's true motivations are.

Certainly, despite his intellectualism, Ichabod suffers from the very human "virtue" of succumbing to the seven deadly sins. For example, our "scarecrow eloped from a cornfield," so far from the folk shows his errant ways on numerous occasions:

Sin

Example

Comments

Envy/Avarice

Ichabod's "large green glassy eyes.

Ichabod's desire for the Van Tassel lands

Part of a physical description and then with moral implications.

As the enraptured Ichabod . . . rolled his great green eyes over the fat meadow lands, the rich fields of wheat, of rye, of buckwheat, and Indian corn, and the orchard burthened with ruddy fruit, which surrounded the warm tenement of Van Tassel, his heart yearned after the damsel who was to inherit these domains, and his imagination expanded with the idea, how they might be readily turned into cash, and the money invested in immense tracts of wild land, and shingle palaces in the wilderness

Sloth

Avoids hard work in favor of light labor

Ichabod will assist "occasionally in the lighter labors of their farms." Bu avoids work by becoming "wonderfully gentle and ingratiating" with the women.

Gluttony/Envy

Coveted food and the idea of becoming a Lord

[Ichabod] was a kind and thankful creature, whose heart dilated in proportion as his skin was filled with good cheer, and whose spirits rose with eating, as some men's do with drink. He could not help, too, rolling his large eyes round him as he ate, and chuckling with the possibility that he might one day be lord of all this scene of almost unimaginable splendor.

Anger

Willingness to flog students

Mean spirited nature about the prospects of the farm

In some ways shows insecurity and the ability to use anger to disassociate

Ichabod, flush with food, contemplates the possibility of being "lord of all this scene." Here the surface parts to reveal how he contends emotionally with the prospect of success: "Then, he thought, how soon he'd turn his back upon the old school house, snap his fingers in the face of Hans Van Ripper, and every other niggardly patron, and kick any itinerant pedagogue out of doors that should dare to call him comrade!"

Lechery

Double entendre indicating sexuality mixed with lust (food or sex?)

Lust

Phallic symbology

After school he would sometimes follow students home "who happened to have pretty sisters, or good housewives for mothers, noted for the comforts of the cupboard."

Ichabod wants the fertile feminine land

Irving suggests that Ichabod's "long snipe nose… that looked like a weathercock" and "there are peculiar quavers still to be heard in that church, and which may even be heard half a mile off, quite to the opposite side of the mill pond, of a still Sunday morning, which are said to be legitimately descended from the nose of Ichabod Crane"

Thus, Ichabod represented many things that Irving wanted his audience to understand about American culture. Tradition must be observed, and above all, a semblance of politeness. One might glean a degree, might change one's ability to become discursive, and one might even deem to teach others. This however, does not envelop virtue or admiration. Sleepy Hollow reinterpreted on the screen, however, ranges from a Halloween ghost story to a study in Gothic Freudian psychology (Tim Burton) yet the character of Ichabod remains oddly similar as a disruptor of the community and the peace of the village.

Speculation continued about Ichabod's sudden departure, some thinking that as a bachelor he had no ties to anyone, was fearful of Hans Van Ripper and the Goblin, and was embarrassed by Katrina's refusal of marriage. But the true heart and soul of the village, that is the old country wives, had a better version. They "maintain to this day that Ichabod was spirited away by supernatural means." And, to emphasize the salvation of their Eden, "the road has been altered of late years, so as to approach the church by the border of the millpond. The schoolhouse being deserted soon fell to decay, and was reported to be haunted by the ghost of the unfortunate pedagogue and the plowboy, loitering homeward…" Perhaps one can retitle the story "Sleepy Hollow -- Population 300 -- Visitors Unwelcome?"