Passage from the text.
"a worthy wight of the name of Ichabod Crane, who sojourned, or, as he expressed it, tarried, in Sleepy Hollow, for the purpose of instructing the children of the vicinity. He was a native of Connecticut, a State which supplies the Union with pioneers for the mind as well as the forest, and sends forth yearly its legions of frontier woodsmen and country schoolmasters. The cognomen of Crane was not inapplicable to his person. He was tall, but exceedingly lank, with narrow shoulders, long arms and legs, hands that dangled a mile out of his sleeves, feet that might have served for shovels, and his whole frame most loosely hung together. His head was small, and flat at top, with huge ears, large green glassy eyes, and a long snipe nose, so that it looked like a weather-cock perched upon his spindle neck to tell which way the wind blew." (
"Among these, the most formidable was a burly, roaring, roystering blade, of the name of Abraham, or, according to the Dutch abbreviation, Brom Van Brunt, the hero of the country round, which rang with his feats of strength and hardihood. He was broad-shouldered and double-jointed, with short curly black hair, and a bluff but not unpleasant countenance, having a mingled air of fun and arrogance. From his Herculean frame and great powers of limb he had received the nickname of Brom Bones, by which he was universally known."
"Among these, the most formidable was a burly, roaring, roystering blade, of the name of Abraham, or, according to the Dutch abbreviation, Brom Van Brunt, the hero of the country round, which rang with his feats of strength and hardihood. He was broad-shouldered and double-jointed, with short curly black hair, and a bluff but not unpleasant countenance, having a mingled air of fun and arrogance. From his Herculean frame and great powers of limb he had received the nickname of Brom Bones, by which he was universally known."
Response to the text.
3) By looking at the cultural and political context of the time that "Sleepy Hollow" was written, it is clear that the author seems to feel very strongly about his characters and what they represented at that time. Washington Irving, who happens to have a very patriotic name, is cited as one of the earliest writers of American fiction and folklore. That being said, the United States was hardly the world power that it is today, and therefore, the word needed to be spread about what fortune could be made in America. After our class discussion over who was intended to be the true protagonist and antagonist, I was able to like these trends to some of the common philosophies of that time. Brom is meant to represent the ideal American male both with his description and his actions. His name is derived from Abraham, a highly regarded biblical figure, and he is described as herculean. Both of these men have hardly any negative connotation to them and the reader is supposed to associate their glory with Brom. Washington Irving also makes it very clear that Brom is a man of Dutch decent. During and before the time of the colonization of the United States, the Dutch were England's greatest economic rival, and the two would fight in multiple wars against one another. The author's focus on a small but prosperous Dutch community in the New World is a direct jab at English pride. Ichabod Crane is the opposite of Brom's incredible brawn and masculinity and is a representative of England in the story. In contrast to the mostly positive description of Brom, Ichabod's description tends to have a mostly negative connotation.