Rip Van Winkle

by Washington Irving

Rip Van Winkle: Setting 1 key example

Definition of Setting

Setting is where and when a story or scene takes place. The where can be a real place like the city of New York, or it can be an imagined... read full definition
Setting is where and when a story or scene takes place. The where can be a real place like the city of New York, or... read full definition
Setting is where and when a story or scene takes place. The where can be a real place like the... read full definition
Setting
Explanation and Analysis:

"Rip Van Winkle" takes place in colonial New York, before and after the American Revolution. The story has three primary settings: the Van Winkle farm, the town inn, and the Catskill Mountains. Diedrich Knickerbocker first introduces Rip on the farm he has inherited from his family, which takes more effort than it's worth to maintain, as far as Rip is concerned:

[T]hough his patrimonial estate had dwindled away under his management, acre by acre, until there was little more left than a mere patch of Indian corn and potatoes, yet it was the worst-conditioned farm in the neighborhood.