Washington Irving is considered the "Father of American Literature". His use of symbolism in his stories are tied to the American culture and land. This helps the readers get that sense of relation to where they can relate their own self to his stories. I want to know the where the symbols, characters, descriptions, and ideas came from in The Legend of Sleepy Hollow.

One of Irving's specialties was his descriptiveness. In The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, his descriptions of the characters and landscape are so meticulous that it all seems real even today. Of course as we know from class Irving was able to accomplish this because he drew his inspiration from real places and people as well as other American Literature. The characters for this story came from the experiences he had before he started writing. The names were Dutch-named characters that stemmed from the huge Dutch influence in the New York area. The character of Ichabod Crane was based on the stereotypes of the American Yankee. Also there are some speculations that Ichabod was inspired by a man who taught in a schoolhouse where Irving lived back in 1809. And one of the most obvious descriptions is the town of Sleepy Hollow. Sleepy Hollow was a real town close to Tarrytown, New York. He used real land markers and vivid descriptions of the burial ground that was actually in that town.    http://www.helium.com/items/1176639-the-inspiration-of-the-legend-of-sleepy-hollow-by-washington-irving

The Legend of Sleepy Hollow also has a Gothic side of it. The setting of this story is an untamed forest, which adds to the scariness of the entire story. His use of colors throughout the story are also important. The key colors that are described are black and white. Of course black represents the dreadful, gloomy, and depressing side. It is they symbol of night and all of the secrets that fall in the forest. White is used to describe hope. The church where Ichabod was running to was a "white-washed church" which was his last hope. http://www.americangothic.narod.ru/lsh.htm

 


While I was searching for information I stumbled upon this video on YouTube, someone actually retraced the chase of the headless horseman through Sleepy Hallow on horseback... Enjoy

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P_iP5iQWeUE&feature=player_embedded#!