Irving takes his time developing Ichabod for the reader. He gives us insight into his everyday routines and idiosyncrasies. We know that he's a stern teacher, that he loves to read, he loves food almost as much, his imagination can get the better of him and often does, and that he has a soft spot in his heart for the opposite sex. By the time the reader meets Katrina can Tassel and Brom Bones we feel somewhat connected to Ichabod's life and his desire to win the heart of Katrina over so he can gain access to her luscious estate. When Katrina actually shows some interest, at least in Ichabod's mind he is extremely jealous and put out when she chooses the bully Brom Bones. These feelings are very much out of character for him. He leave the scene, Irving says, like "one who had been sacking a henroost, rather than a fair lady's heart."He allowed Brom to get to him so much so that he actually believed the headless horseman was in pursuit of him and he ended up leaving the town of Sleepy Hollow that he loved so dearly behind. We see some small developments and changes and being a short story, any round characters will not change drastically throughout so while Ichabod doesn't change in a big way he certainly did a lot that was out of his character because he was provoked by Brom and motivated by Katrina's fine food.
No comments:
Post a Comment