Washington Irving

   Irving's story Rip Van Winkle contained some very strange literature in my opinion. First of all, the exposition and introduction of the story is extremely long. For me it was a little too long and I had begun to lose interest as I awaited the actual plot. I was taught that stories had an introduction, then rising action which lead to the climax which was then followed by falling action and then the conclusion. Irving said the heck with that and just did his own thing in this story. It continued to stay, not boring, but dull to say the least. The main character seemed like a melodramatic, monotone type of guy which personally does not enrich me and bring me into the work. When his wife died it was as if he had no emotion as he described her death as a "drop of comfort". This even makes me a little bit angry not caring for the death of a loved one, or even possessing enough empathy to show the slightest amount of emotion. Maybe its just me who doesn't reflect positively on stories based on normality.