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Washington
Irving Photograph courtesy of the Library of Congress
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Subject Areas |
Art and Culture
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Folklore |
History and Social Studies
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U.S. History - Other |
Literature and Language Arts
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American |
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Fiction |
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Time Required |
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Four to five class periods
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Skills |
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information gathering and research
chronological thinking
historical analysis
critical thinking
visual presentation of information
exposition
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The Legend of Sleepy Hollow
Introduction
Washington Irving's tale of the Headless Horseman has become a Halloween classic,
although few Americans celebrated that holiday when the story was new. In this
unit, students explore the artistry that helped make Irving our nation's first
literary master and ponder the mystery that now haunts every Halloween -- What
happened to Ichabod Crane?
Learning Objectives
After completing this lesson, students will be able to:
- Summarize the plot of "The Legend of Sleepy
Hollow."
- Adapt passages of "The Legend of Sleepy
Hollow" for a contemporary audience.
- Analyze
the characterization of Ichabod Crane and Brom Bones in "The Legend of Sleepy
Hollow."
- Offer an imaginative response to the
conclusion of "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow."
Guiding Question:
How does "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow" still capture the imagination
of readers today?
Preparing to Teach this Lesson
1 This lesson plan consists of four learning activities that you can use
together as a unit or adapt separately to your curricular needs.
2 Review the suggested activities, then download
and duplicate any online materials you will need. If desired, you can bookmark
specific web pages so that students can access relevant online materials directly.
(See Selected EDSITEment Links for
a guide to locating online materials.)
3 For
background on Washington Irving and additional teaching resources on "The Legend
of Sleepy Hollow," visit these websites accessible through The
Center for Liberal Arts on EDSITEment:
Suggested Activities
4 Ask students to share
what they already know about Washington Irving's "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow,"
which may be familiar to them from the film adaptation by Tim Burton or the animated
version by Walt Disney. Then have students read the story, first published in
1820. Ask students to compare Irving's short story (one of the first examples of this genre) with the tale that has become part of American folklore. Consider, for example:
- The proportions of humor and terror in Irving's telling.
The "Legend" has gained a reputation as a ghost story over the years, but Irving
shaped it as a comic tale of self-delusion leading to its own downfall. Ask students
to point out "the scary parts" of the story. How scary are they in Irving's hands?
- The prominence of the Headless Horseman in the
original story.
Hollywood has made this frightening apparition the signature
image of the tale, yet Irving presents him as a creature of hearsay and foolish
superstition who remains indistinct even when he finally appears. Ask students
to point out descriptions of the Headless Horseman and evaluate his impact on
the narrative.
- The underlying dynamics of Irving's
plot.
At its core, the "Legend" is a fabliaux-like tale of rival suitors,
with a suggestion that their affections are being manipulated by the lovely whom
they both desire. And as in a fabliaux, appetite is the driving force behind the
plot, in this case the appetites of Ichabod Crane -- for food, wealth, admiration,
and romance. Ask students to summarize the story's plot from this point of view,
as a chain of events set in motion by the ambitions of Ichabod Crane. Then examine
the part suspense plays in the narrative. To what extent does this indispensable
ingredient for a mystery advance the plot?
5 Though the story Irving
tells in "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow" will be familiar to most students, many
of the words he uses will likely puzzle them. In the first paragraph, for example,
words like cove, denominate, implore, inveterate, propensity,
vouch, advert, and repose may frustrate
young readers. Take advantage of the print-out format that online texts make possible
by having students underline unfamiliar words as they read "The Legend of Sleepy
Hollow." Then divide the class into small groups, assigning a section of the story
to each group, and have students use context clues and dictionaries to produce
an annotated edition of the tale. - When
students have shared and compared definitions, explore the contribution of hard
and far-fetched words to Irving's style by having students re-write short passages
of the story in the simpler, more direct manner a writer might use today. Talk
about what is lost and gained in these transformations. To what extent does Irving's
use of unusual terms serve to characterize the narrator of his story, creating
an impression of voice and personality? To what extent does his style serve to
keep readers at a distance from the story, inviting us to watch it unfold as informed
observers rather than become emotionally involved?
6 The two main characters
of "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow," Ichabod Crane and his nemesis, Brom Bones, are
often assumed to be figures of American folklore, although they are in fact Irving's
original creations. Have students examine the techniques Irving uses to create
the impression that these characters have a life of their own outside his story.
- Compare Irving's descriptions of the two characters'
physical appearance (Crane in paragraph 8, Brom Bones in paragraph 26). Call students'
attention to the way Irving assembles a picture of Ichabod Crane out of separate
elements, enhancing his ungainliness, while he presents Brom Bones in broader
strokes, conveying an impression of energy and strength. Ask students to illustrate
these passages to help them analyze Irving's literary technique, which produces
a sharply drawn portrait on the one hand and a catalog of personal qualities on
the other.
- Compare the social frame Irving sets
around his two main characters when they are introduced into the story. We see
Ichabod Crane lording it over his pupils, accommodating the rustic families that
take him in, showing off his singing talents and education for impressionable
ladies, and trading superstitious tales with the local gossips (paragraphs 9-19).
By contrast, Brom Bones comes into the story as the chief candidate for Katrina's
love, the dominating figure in the community, and the leader of a pack of fun-loving
friends (paragraph 26). Ask students how these associations play on our prejudices
and color our opinions about the two characters.
- Explore
the contrasting values these two characters represent. Students might recognize
them as those arch-rivals of youth culture, the nerd and the jock, but Ichabod
and Brom can also be interpreted in terms of city culture and country life, the
virtues of art and the vitality of nature, imagination and reality, wish and will,
brains and brawn, or the outsider and the native son. Have students generate further
points of contrast between these two characters in order to see how Irving has
set them up as almost archetypal opposites across a range of value systems.
- Finally, explore the students' response to these two
characters. Point out that to some degree "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow" is the
story of an underdog who goes up against the local hero. Do we pull for the underdog
in this contest or enjoy the spectacle of his defeat? Do we side with the local
hero or find ourselves drawn to the comical figure who will be his victim? Talk
about the ways Irving manipulates our sympathies in his story, shading from ridicule
of Ichabod toward a more affectionate point of view by letting us see more and
more of the story through his eyes (for example, in paragraph 22, paragraphs 38
and 56, and at the story's climax in paragraphs 61-65).
7 Irving ends "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow" with an air of
mystery, leaving us to wonder if the Headless Horseman really did carry away Ichabod
Crane. Few students, however, will doubt that the Headless Horseman was Brom Bones
in disguise, and might consider Irving's conclusion an exercise in empty atmospherics.
Yet there is a real mystery left unsolved at the end of the story: What happened
to Ichabod Crane? - After we see him knocked
from his horse by a flying pumpkin, Ichabod vanishes without a trace, though Irving
gives us a rumor that he went on to become a lawyer and eventually a judge (paragraph
69). To sharpen students' analysis of IchabodÕs character, ask them to evaluate
this rumor: How plausible is it? How well does it square with what they know about
Ichabod Crane?
- Have students brainstorm their
own solutions to Irving's mystery, imagining what could have happened to a character
like Crane. Point out that his story is set "some thirty years" before its publication
in 1820 (paragraph 8). What was happening in the United States at that time? What
famous Americans might he have encountered? What historic events might he have
witnessed? Encourage students to speculate boldly on the later career of this
literary character, then have each student write a story about some episode in
Ichabod Crane's life after "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow" or an imaginary obituary
summing up what he made of himself after his fateful encounter with his own worst
fears.
Extending the Lesson
Critics consider Washington Irving a pioneer of American
humor, the first to capture the democratic spirit of ridicule that we later find
in the work of Mark Twain. You can explore this aspect of American literature
further with the EDSITEment lesson plan, "Mark
Twain and American Humor," which focuses on Twain's story, "The Notorious
Jumping Frog of Calaveras County," another tale of the outsider outsmarted by
native wit, as well as stories by George Washington Harris and Nathaniel Hawthorne.
Selected EDSITEment Websites
- Center for
the Liberal Arts
- English
Literature on the Web
Other Information
Standards Alignment
- CIVICED (5-8) I.B
What are the essential characteristics of limited and unlimited government?
- CIVICED (5-8) II.A
What is the American idea of constitutional government?
- CIVICED (5-8) II.B
What are the distinctive characteristics of American society?
- CIVICED (5-8) II.C
What is American political culture?
- CIVICED (5-8) II.D
What values and principles are basic to American constitutional democracy?
- CIVICED (5-8) V.D
What dispositions or traits of character are important to the preservation and improvement of American constitutional democracy?
- CIVICED (5-8) V.E
How can citizens take part in civic life?
- NCTE/IRA-1
Students read a wide range of print and nonprint texts to build an understanding of texts, of themselves, and of the cultures of the United States and the world; to acquire new information; to respond to the needs and demands of society and the workplace; and for personal fulfillment. Among these texts are fiction and nonfiction, classic and contemporary works. more
- NCTE/IRA-11
Students participate as knowledgeable, reflective, creative, and critical members of a variety of literacy communities.
- NCTE/IRA-12
Students use spoken, written, and visual language to accomplish their own purposes (e.g., for learning, enjoyment, persuasion, and the exchange of information). more
- NCTE/IRA-3
Students adjust their use of spoken, written, and visual language (e.g., conventions, style, vocabulary) to communicate effectively with a variety of audiences and for different purposes. more
- NCTE/IRA-4
Students adjust their use of spoken, written, and visual language (e.g., conventions, style, vocabulary) to communicate effectively with a variety of audiences and for different purposes. more
- NCTE/IRA-5
Students employ a wide range of strategies as they write and use different writing process elements appropriately to communicate with different audiences for a variety of purposes. more
- NCTE/IRA-6
Students apply knowledge of language structure, language conventions (e.g., spelling and punctuation), media techniques, figurative language, and genre to create, critique, and discuss print and nonprint texts. more
- NCTE/IRA-7
Students conduct research on issues and interests by generating ideas and questions, and by posing problems. They gather, evaluate, and synthesize data from a variety of sources (e.g., print and nonprint texts, artifacts, people) to communicate their discoveries in ways that suit their purpose and audience. more
- NCTE/IRA-8
Students use a variety of technological and information resources (e.g., libraries, databases, computer networks, video) to gather and synthesize information and to create and communicate knowledge. more
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