The Legend of Sleepy Hollow: The Meaning of Being Fully Human

Published in 1819, The Legend of Sleepy Hollow by Washington Irving is a tale of human beliefs in superstitious tales. The setting being a town known as Sleepy Hollow in New York, Irving brings forth the argument that there existed a headless horseman who likes riding around the church seemingly searching for his head. The protagonist, Ichabod Crane, encounters this headless horseman who chases him for a reason not clearly explained. The most exciting part is how the story portrays humanity. In its address on how to become fully human, the horseman, Ichabod, Brom, and Katrina.

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Irving categorically implies that being fully human entails believing in superstitions, carrying ahead with tales passed to the current generation through stories. He does this by describing the town, Sleepy Hollow as a small town that had many stories, but one that people majorly believed in was the tale of a headless man who rode his horse at night. The citizens in the town tell the story with so much excitement and appreciation of history from which they identify. The Legend has it that the headless horseman during the American revolutionary wars and his head was shot off, making him ride to his burial place in search of this missing part of the body. Further, when Ichabod disappeared on the night after the party where Katrina turned down his advances, people believed that it was the horseman who took him despite Broom's weird behavior. The ultimate meaning to this is that despite everything, being fully human means believing in legendary tales. It gives people self-identifying thrill to have certain beliefs.

Moreover, Irving describes money and wealth as an essential aspect of being human. Although, as well known, wealth can be a source of all evil, the story emphasizes on it, making it an important issue to humanity. Irving does this by beginning to describe Ichabod as a teacher by profession and insisting that he did not make much money. To help him pay his bills, Ichabod taught young people to sing every Sunday after the church service. It is at the church singing lessons where Ichabod meets Katrina Van Tassel, the daughter of one of the wealthiest Dutch farmers. He became interested in Katrina for this reason, as he wanted to marry her and sell the father's property to amass as much wealth as possible for his selfish desires. However, he did not achieve this as he was not the same social class as the lady, who preferred Brom Van Brunt, the hero to the town's ladies as he won most of the horse racing competition. Therefore, Ichabod's class association ousted the chance of him fulfilling his desire to become wealthy significantly interfering with his human feeling of self-worth leaving him devastated.

Additionally, Irving story emphasizes on religion as a crucial element to being human. Although the novel points out the superstitious beliefs the town people had, it also found the aspect of religion as an essential element to them. They believed that the church was a consoling place for the headless man, showing the value they attached to it, creating importance in religion. Further, Irving describes the church as a place for not only worshipping but where people meet the loves of their lives. Ichabod illustrates this by falling in love with Miss Katrina who was a student in his singing class. This shows that people meet in the church to worship, raising an important value bestowed in religion.

Conclusion

In conclusion, superstitious beliefs, wealth and religion are important aspects that make us fully human according to Irving's story. However, our class in the society interferes with the full enjoyment of these important things, causing us devastation. Ichabod faces a challenge in achieving wealth because his class did not allow him to interact with the girl of his dreams, Katrina. Being a mere teacher was not sufficient in comparison to the suitor Brom who was a village hero for his achievement in the horse race competitions.