Labor vs. Productivity Theme Analysis

“Rip Van Winkle” distinguishes between labor on its own and productive labor, or that which is profitable. Rip is the most obvious example of someone who labors without profit. He is happy to help in gardens and farms that are not his own—while his own land becomes severely run-down. He will hunt squirrels or fish all day, even if he knows he will have very little to show for it. Though he is busy, he is not productive. Additionally, Derrick Van Bummel, the highly intelligent schoolmaster who has earnest discussions about long out-of-date newspapers with others at the old inn, is notably occupying himself with an ultimately irrelevant exercise. (Van Bummel’s later work in the American congress suggests he eventually reforms himself into a productive laborer.) Knickerbocker himself, it is suggested, is also guilty of laboring without productivity. He slaves over his historical accounts though they are believed by most to be—however thorough and accurate—basically inconsequential.

In the early 1800’s America was an increasingly industrious, mercantile, and profit-driven culture. The cultural emphasis on productivity was ever-present. The idea that Americans—like Knickerbocker or Rip Van Winkle—might labor not out of a desire to advance and be productive, but rather out of generosity, interest, or the simple pursuit of joy was perhaps refreshing to Irving and his readers, who would have felt the increasing pressure of their growth-obsessed culture. This idea, of resisting industrialization and hyper-productivity, is something that would only intensify in certain strains of literature over the course of the century as the Industrial Revolution spread across Europe and the US.