The Legend of Sleepy Hollow读后感

The Legend of Sleepy Hollow“TheLegendofSleepyHollow”isashortstorybyWashingtonIrving,andfirstpublishedin1820.WashingtonIrvingwasoneofthefirstAmericanwriterstoearnaninternationalreputation,andregardedasanearlyRomanticwriterinthemericanliteraryhistoryandFatheroftheAmericanshortstories.WashingtonIrvingwasborninNewYorkCityinawealthyfamily.Fromaveryearlyagehebegantoreadwidelyandwritejuvenilepoems,essays,andplays.Inl798,heconc1udedhiseducationatprivateschoolsandenteredalawoffice,buthelovedwritingmore.IrvinggavehisworksdistinctiveAmericanflavor.RipVanWinkleorTheLegendofSleepyHol1ow,howeverexoticthesestoriesareamongthetreasuresoftheAmericanlanguageandculture.ThesetwostorieseasilytriggeroffAmericanimaginationwiththeirfocusonAmericansubjects,Americanlandscape.HewasfatherofAmericanshortstories.The story is set in 1790 in the countryside around theDutchsettlement ofTarry Town(historicalTarrytown, New York), in a secluded glen called Sleepy Hollow. The most infamous specter in the Hollow is theHeadless Horseman, said to be theghostof aHessian trooperwho had his head shot off by a stray cannonball duringsome nameless battleof theAmerican Revolutionary War, and who rides forth to the scene of battle in nightly quest of his head. The Legend relates the tale ofIchabod Crane, a lean, lanky and extremely superstitious schoolmaster fromConnecticut, who competes with Abraham Brom Bones Van Brunt, the town rowdy, for the hand of 18-year-old Katrina Van Tassel. She is the daughter and sole child of a wealthy farmer, Baltus Van Tassel. On a placid autumn night, the ambitious Crane attends a harvest party at the Van Tassels homestead. He dances, partakes in the feast, and listens to ghostly legends told by Brom and the locals, but his true aim is to propose to Katrina after the guests leave. His intentions, however, are ill-fated. After having failed to secure Katrinas hand, Ichabod rides home heavy-hearted and crestfallen through the woods between Van Tassels farmstead and the Sleepy Hollow settlement. As he passes several purportedly haunted spots, his active imagination is engorged by theghost storiestold at Baltus harvest party. After nervously passing under a lightning-stricken tulip tree purportedly haunted by the ghost of British spyMajor Andr, Ichabod encounters a cloaked rider at an intersection in a menacing swamp. However, to the pedagogues horror, the ghoul clambers over the bridge, rears his horse, and hurls his severed head into Ichabods terrified face. The next morning, Ichabod has mysteriously disappeared from town, leaving Katrina to marry Brom Bones.Ichabod Crane has multiple personalities and the contradictory state of mind. He likes to dream, but is weak and incompetent; he has simple impulse, and also can adjust to changing circumstances. This character is a typical image of a common people in Irving novels. Because of poverty, he like delicious food; because of the single and poor, his desire to marry a rich girl. In the novel, he is welcomed by woman, because he is a literate man, not like their rude husband. However, he is also the object of discriminating and teasing. Under the pen of Erwin, he is funny and pitiful person. He is unrealistic, greedy for others property and beauty, want to become rich by marriage , but in reality it is just a illusion. He was dissatisfied with the social discrimination, but also want to get rich life like other people. After the illusion, what should he do? Then, the horseman he often talked about appeared, at that time he could say nothing , he was so frightened that lost the ability to discern the truth. he didnt know until death that the head in the hands of horseman was just a pumpkin. The headless horseman made his disillusion , he escaped in a fluster.Lets look at the peoples reaction after he disappeared. After “death”, in the place where he lived long time, he is unimportant. He was not from sleepy hollow, so he was eventually driven out of the Peach Garden. But on the other hand, perhaps the horseman pointed out a new way for him, changed the trajectory of his life, or help him escape original town life and perhaps this is the only choice this moment, no longer be ashamed or embarrassed for his poor pleasing and flattering. If he was brave enough, strong enough in a new places, he could start a new life with a new mood, he could have a self reliant life by his wisdom in the new city, didnt think marriage as a profit-making tools anymore. To get a happy life by hard working is also a kind of fortunate. Eventually he found position in New York, he got a lawyers license and became a politician. He joined the election and became a judge.Inshort,romanticwriter