598 Irving, Washington
children from a terrible emotional scene when Garp
discovers Helen’s infidelity, Garp takes his chil-
dren to see a movie. Intoxicated by the weeknight
splurge, the children fumble for “the best view” of
their father’s daredevil return home—what should
be a harmless thrill as the car floats silently down
the driveway and into the garage. Except there is a
car blocking the safe entrance of Garp’s returning
vehicle. The results are horrific. For all of Garp’s
caution, for all his will to safety, for all his plans and
initiative, Garp cannot be careful enough to avoid
the unknowable, the inevitable position of all par-
ents. Even while his children remain in arm’s reach,
they can suffer terribly.
In the world according to Garp, parenthood is an
impossible contradiction: the setting forth of a new
life and the responsibility for its safety. Inextricably
bound with terror and fragility, Jenny Fields, the
Percys, Garp, Mrs. Ralph, and the panoply of char-
acters try to compensate for their incomplete control
of their children’s lives. But like all adults with chil-
dren, parenthood is formed by the character of the
parent, and in turn, the children are cast in the image
of father and mother. Duncan, the monocular result
of the ever-watchful eye, does not have children.
He survives his family ( Jenny Fields, Garp, Helen,
and Roberta) in order to start a family of his own,
but with a transsexual woman. Parenthood is not an
option for Duncan Garp. Garp was too aggressively
careful with his children, as he was too aggressive
with all things, and in the end, his desire for a per-
fect world left it sterile.
Aaron Drucker
irving, WaSHingTon The
Sketchbook of Geoffrey Crayon (1819–1820)
Washington Irving’s The Sketchbook of Geoffrey
Crayon, first published serially between 1819 and
1820, made the author the first American to earn a
successful living through his writing. Indeed, Irving
is considered the inventor of the short story in
America, largely because of this text; however, The
Sketchbook also demonstrates Irving’s mastery of the
travelogue, satire, essay, and folktale.
The best-known stories from Irving—“The Leg-
end of Sleepy Hollow” and “Rip Van Winkle”—are
included in this collection, but its other selections
are equally important. In “The Spectre Bridegroom,”
Irving proves his ability to work with and meld
the genres of the fairy tale and the gothic, while in
essays such as “English Writers on America,” Irving
takes aim at contemporary concerns over English
critiques of American culture. In addition, Irving
includes sketches of events and people that could
easily pass as the field notes of an anthropologist.
Adopting the pseudonym Geoffrey Crayon, as
well as Diedrich Knickerbocker, Irving explores such
themes as nationalism (and a national identity),
gender, responsibility, and the individual and
society. Employing various genres allows the text
to appeal to a variety of readers and engage them
in the debate surrounding issues of the period and
today.
Robin Gray NicksGender in The Sketchbook of Geoffrey Crayon
In Irving’s The Sketchbook of Geoffrey Crayon, he
explores the issue of gender and often ties it to
responsibility. In Irving’s text, men and women have
not only different traits, but also different respon-
sibilities. Stories that illustrate these ideas include
“The Wife” and “Rip Van Winkle.”
One of the earliest stories in the text, “The
Wife,” follows stereotyped roles for men and
women, creating in the heroine a domestic goddess
who perseveres in encouraging her husband even in
the worst economic circumstances. The beginning
paragraph of the text exalts women who maintain
the behaviors of the stereotype: “Nothing can be
more touching than to behold a soft and tender
female, who had been all weakness and depen-
dence . . . suddenly rising in mental force, to be
the comforter and supporter of her husband under
misfortune, and abiding . . . the bitterest blasts of
adversity.” In other words, the story sets up the
perfect wife as dependent upon her husband, while
also able to comfort and support him in the face of
“the bitterest blasts of adversity.”
From their physical characteristics to their
internal dispositions, the wife and husband pos-
sess opposing characteristics that, at the same time,
complement each other. The title character has
“sprightly powers” and a “slender form” in contrast