- All's Well That Ends Well
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In the early pages of his short story, Washington Irving depicts an ironical "lineage" for Rip Van Winkle and his family. Rip is a lazy guy, and his son is destined to be lazy too. While Irving could be said to criticize Rip and his kid for their habits, his tone is remarkably affectionate and easy-going--he seems to admire Rip for his slow pace and calm way of looking at life, in contrast to the increasingly frantic industriousness of the American ethos surrounding him.
There is, in short, a reassuring familiarity in Irving's description of Rip and his son. We…