Washington Irving

                                             

Washington Irving Biography

Washington Irving was an American short story writer, essayist, biographer, historian, and diplomat of the early 19th century. Wikipedia

Born: April 3, 1783, New York City, New York, United States

Died: November 28, 1859, Tarrytown, New York, United States

Resting place: Sleepy Hollow Cemetery, New York

Literary movement: Romanticism

Movies: Sleepy Hollow, The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad, and MORE.

The Legend of Sleepy Hollow

Washington Irving

This story takes place in a small town in New York State. It is a folktale. The "legend" of sleepy hollow is that there is a headless horseman who rides around and disappears in a flash of fire. There is a cartoon movie that is based on this story that they always play around Halloween.

MAIN CHARACTERS

Ichabod Crane: He is the main dude of the story. He is this weak, ugly schoolteacher. He is well read.

Katrina Van Tassel: A voluptuous 18 yr. old chick. She is one of Ichabod's students.

Abraham "Brom Bones" Brunt: Katrina's boyfriend. He is big and handsome. He is nicknamed "Brom Bones" because he is a hulk.

PLOT

The story starts off with this guy named Ichabod coming from Connecticut to Sleepy Hollow, NY to teach. The only skill he has is teaching. He moves around from neighborhood to neighborhood tutoring kids and staying in people's houses. He keeps all of his belongings in a big handkerchief. Then he gets a student named Katrina Van Tassel. Her family is very rich. Ichabod wants to marry her so he can get to her family's money. He has one big problem, because she has a boyfriend (Brom Bones). Brom Bones knows Ichabod is hitting on his woman so he plays a lot of pranks on Ichabod. Then Ichabod is invited to a party at Katrina's house. He goes there to try and get Katrina. Ichabod gets to dance with her and Brom Bones gets really jealous. After the party, Ichabod finds out that the only reason she danced with him was to make Brom Bones jealous.

Ichabod gets mad and rides away. When he is riding, the headless horseman rides up to him and throws his head at Ichabod. The next day the people find Ichabod's horse but can't find Ichabod. They spread rumors about him. Some say he is dead, some say he is afraid to come back to Sleepy Hollow. Whenever Brom Bones hear people talk about the headless horseman and Ichabod, he smiles.