ALS103 WRITTEN REPORT

MUHAMMAD NASIHIN BIN MOHAMMAD AZIZY

2022770097

The Legend of Sleepy Hollow By Washington Irving

The short story “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow” narrates the narrative of Ichabod
Crane and his bumbling attempt to win Katrina Van Tassel's heart and hand. Ichabod arrives
in Sleepy Hollow, New York, from Connecticut to serve as the village's schoolmaster. Sleepy
Hollow is a small, sleepy town that is rumoured to be cursed. Its people all appear to walk a
little slower, daydream a little more, and have a stronger belief in the supernatural. Sleepy
Hollow has more than its fair share of supernatural happenings, or at least rumours about
them, whether because of this or because its citizens are almost all descended from the
town's initial Dutch immigrants.
The first literary elements in the short story is theme. The main theme that exist in
“The Legend of Sleepy Hollow” is greed. For example, Katrina loves the attention that she
gets when men are arguing over getting her. She does not even care much about them, she
only like their love and devotion that was being shown towards her. It can be said that she is
greedy for the control over these men’s hearts. Ichabod himself is a greedy person as well,
he is brave to show that he wants everything. Sometimes, his greed is exaggerating and
overwhelming at some point of time. Ichabod's greeds extends beyond food and ladies to
the realm of tall tales and ghost stories, which he enthusiastically "swallows"—albeit with his
own form of a stomachache later, when he has consumed so much that the "ghosts" waiting
for him on his return home become terrifying. Finally, Irving's account of Ichabod's hunger
and greed can be understood in the perspective of a larger social setting. Much of the land
remained unexplored in the early post-revolutionary United States. The country continued to
appear to be a vast storehouse of natural resources and abundance waiting to be exploited.
This kind of thinking is implicitly rebuked by Irving's depiction of Ichabod. While economic
consumption were required for a society on the verge of modernity, Ichabod's enormous
greed demonstrates the dangers and health risks of never-ending consumption.

The second literary element that was portrayed in the short story is setting. The post-
Revolutionary War American state is the setting of "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow." The
war's impacts were felt in America for a longer time. It had an impact on the writings of
various authors who depicted the horrors of war. One of them was Irving. In the story, he
presents Sleepy Hollow, a little American village. The bloodshed of war had a profound
effect on the people of Sleepy Hollow. As a result, people will remember it for a long time.
Such mystical tales are interspersed with historical events from the conflict in Irving's work.
The narrator's description of the town of Sleepy Hollow validates its name. The people and
the environment, for example, are in a dreamlike state. They enjoy scary stories, and this
has an impact on the neighbourhood. Baltus Van Tassel's farmstead is another noteworthy
location. Van Tassel is a wealthy farmer who owns lands, birds, animals, fruits, and pulses.
The lengthy depiction of Baltus' wealth, for example, establishes the norm for affluence in
rural America. There are numerous "agricultural jewels" in the area. Baltus is content with his
requirements being met. He has no desire for ostentatious wealth.
 The story is told from the perspective of a third person view of the narrator. There are
multiple layers of narration in this film. The story, for example, is taken from Diedrich
Knickerbocker's manuscripts. Knickerbocker is thus the storyteller. In the postscript,
however, it is revealed that he heard the story from an old man at a business meeting in
New York. The story was published under the alias Geoffrey Crayon in "The Sketch Book of
Geoffrey Crayon, Gent." Like the narrator, the writer is fictive. The short story's true author,
however, is Washington Irving. This jumbled narrative creates a barrier between the story's
events and the audience. It's because the objective narrator doesn't delve too deeply into the
lives of the characters. However, Irving attempts to make the story more realistic by
restricting the narrator's viewpoint. For instance, he is completely unaware of what occurs
between Katrina and Ichabod, which leads him to flee in despair. Similarly, the narrator
makes no mention of Ichabod's fate when he falls from the horse. It's because he's not
physically present and hence unable to manufacture a story.
In conclusions, the literary elements that I have analysed are the main theme, the
setting of the short story and the point of view. In my opinion, “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow”
is an amazing story and I personally like reading and analyzing it. The story talks about the
greed for more gets a horrendous end. I think that the message existed are successfully
delivered flawlessly by the writer and should not be taken for granted to the readers.