Of the Legend of Sleepy Hollow

Plot Summary

The Legend of Sleepy Hollow

by Washington Irving

"The Legend of Sleepy Hollow" tells the story of Ichabod Crane, a greedy and naïve schoolmaster who tries to win the heart and hand of the flirtatious and very wealthy Katrina Van Tassel. The neighbor Brom Bones also loves Katrina. He loves playing pranks, to which Ichabod will soon fall victim. Ichabod is fanatic about ghost stories and witches, and Sleepy Hollow is known for its supernatural activity--especially the ghost, the Headless Horseman.

One night, at a party at the Van Tassels', Katrina rejects Ichabod. On his horseback home Ichabod finds himself joined by a dark figure on a large horse. He wants to shake this unwanted companion but fails. Crane realizes it is the Headless Horseman. He tries to escape, but the ghost throws the "head" at him, knocking him off his horse.

The next day, Ichabod's horse returns to its owner's farm, but there is no sign of Ichabod. A search party finds hoof prints and Ichabod's hat, with a smashed pumpkin left next to it. Ichabod is never heard from again in Sleepy Hollow, although later on it seems that he is alive elsewhere and has told his story. Some of the townspeople believe that Brom Bones pulled off a great prank--which put Brom in the final position to marry Katrina--but the old women and local folklore maintain that he was taken by the Headless Horseman.

The tale thus combines a love story and a ghost story, forming a comic tale. The plot appeals to common sentiments, but the story makes fun of communities so sleepy that they need ghosts and ghost stories to occupy them. It also makes fun of a schoolmaster, supposedly one of the smartest people in town, yet crazy about ghosts and easily spooked and tricked by a practical joke. The man of letters plays second fiddle to the sporty Brom Bones.

Review

"The Legend of Sleepy Hollow" follows the structure of a characteristic folk tale. This short story, written by Washington Irving, contains stereotypical main characters, unbelievable events involving the supernatural, and local color. All these qualities combine to create a believable, or rather an unbelievable, folk tale.

The main character in this story is a Connecticut schoolmaster by the name of Ichabod Crane. "Ichabod Crane is picture as the typical Yankee". It was assumed that the common New Englander was tall and rather clumsy, with a long hooked nose. Certainly the fact that Ichabod "was tall, but exceedingly lank, with ...a long snipe nose," fits this description perfectly. Also, most "Yankees," if they were not already wealthy, were aspiring to such. Ichabod Crane is hardly what one could call financially stable, subsisting on the small revenue he earns by teaching school and singing. So, when he falls in love with Katrina Van Tassel, it is only fitting that she is the daughter "of a substantial Dutch farmer." Ichabod's rival in winning the affections of Katrina is Brom Bones. He is the "caricature of the Southern backwoodsman" and the "figure of the frontiersman". Both these personalities are typically characterized as handsome, brawny, though somewhat crude individuals. Such a person is depicted in "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." This "fun" is seen