"Rip Van Winkle" is often interpreted as a satire of Americans' obsession with their own independence. The first element of this satire is Dame Van Winkle's tyranny over Rip, which stands in for British tyranny over the United States:
there was one species of despotism under which [Rip] had long groaned, and that was—petticoat government.
It is a sexist joke within the story that the British are represented by a woman. In Irving's day, a household and a kingdom alike were supposed to be headed up by a strong, masculine figure. Although Britain had been led by queens before (most notably Queen Elizabeth I), women were, for the most part, ineligible to head up a household in the eyes of the law. Irving was not the only satirist to feminize the British. It was a running joke, as the American Revolution and other rebellions against imperial Britain succeeded, that they were not "man enough" to keep their house in order. Irving pushes the joke further to make fun of the American colonies for whining about British tyranny. If Rip's household is run by his wife (and the American colonies by the British), Rip and the colonies must be even less "manly" than the "women" they allow to "henpeck" them.
The story does not, however, hold that a grand show of machismo like the American Revolution is what's needed for Rip and the American colonies to claim their independence. Rather, the satire makes the Revolution look like an overblown reaction to the situation. Rip never overpowers Dame Van Winkle, but he manages to live his life in relative freedom by simply avoiding her, either at the village inn or in the mountains. If Rip can turn his wife's tyranny into a non-issue by simply staying out of her way, Irving hints that Americans could probably have done the same by engaging with the British crown only when absolutely necessary.
Irving also satirizes the American belief that self-sufficiency and hard work are the cornerstones of liberty and progress. Rip lives a contented and free life by helping his neighbors and letting his own estate fall into disrepair. He drops out of the daily rhythms of work for 20 years. According to the idea that an American is a self-made man, Rip's long idleness through the years of the Revolution should exclude him and his family from American life when he wakes up. Not so: his children have grown up and had their own children, and
he was now a free citizen of the United States.
Holding the same rights as everyone else, Rip manages to live the rest of his life comfortably in town. The fact that he is easily able to rejoin his community makes Americans' evangelism for hard work and self-sufficiency look, like the Revolution, overblown and foolish. By satirizing the American story about independence and the hard work it takes to maintain it, the story suggests that there might be other, more interesting dramas at the heart of American identity. Regional folklore is one place Irving thinks readers might look for these alternative stories.
