Washington Irving

any two of the following five questions:

1) Compare bones and crane what ideas about American masculinity can you recognize by comparing these two characters?

2) Consider the character of Rip Van Winkle. Why does the story seem to present him as a hero? Is Rip a hero (per your point of view and your modern sensibilities)? Why or why not)?

3) The word "misogyny" means hatred towards women. Many scholars have noted that early American literature seems to possess characters that are misogynistic. What can you say about these two stories with regard to misogyny? What role do women play in these texts?

4) The word "uncanny" as in the comic book title, The Uncanny X-Men, means both strange and yet familiar at the same time. Look at the story "Rip Van Winkle" and find at least three specific details that present as uncanny details from Rip's point of view (so find 3 things that seem at once familiar yet strange to him). Hint, it may be easier to find these details once rip has awoken from his long nap.Disclaimer: once a student has posted a detail, it is used up and you cannot repost that same detail and get credit.

5) The word doppelgänger can mean evil twin. In folklore, seeing one's own twin or doppelganger is often a sign of a bad outcome. Discuss the use of doppelgangers in either of the stories that we read for today.

Hint: sometimes the doppelganger does not have to literally be a perfect copy or exact twin; the doppelgänger can be a similar echo of a character.