Masculinity of Ichabod Crane and Brom Bones
Ichabod is characterized as gentle school teacher who likes to spend his time with the women of Sleepy
Hollow. Daigrepont points out that Ichabod was considered a a man of lettersonly in the eyes of his female admirers (para 8). Besides being a school teacher, his other activities included having tea among the female circle, looking after children, gossiping and exchanging ghost stories with Dutch wives. All these activities are clearly feminine in nature. Ichabod was better read than most of the other inhabitants of the village who the considered the cost of schooling a grievous burden. In the twenty first century, his gentle behavior would be seen the result of his learning which tends to make people more sober. But in the early nineteenth century, such a behavior for men was not acceptable.
Although it is not expressly mentioned in the story, but within the village, Ichabod may have been subject of much ridicule. The various practical jokes played by Brom on Ichabod are said to be Broms way of settling the rivalry over Katrina. However, it is also possible, that being a young and idle youth, and being full of mischief, Brom and his friends played practical jokes on Ichabod because he was seen as an oddity in the small village. Because of his feminine interests, he would have been the butt of jokes among the men of the village and especially the young men who tend to be much less forgiving. It is unlikely that Brom saw Ichabod as a real rival as far as his interest in Katrina was concerned. Ichabod was a poor school teacher with a lanky frame which may even be seen as ugly by some. As such, even if Brom was aware of Ichabods dreams of marrying Katrina, it would have been dismissed as the stupid dreams of a feminine man. The practical jokes played by Brom on Ichabod were mainly because Ichabods strange, feminine behavior made him a soft target.
Another issue with Ichabod was his habit of punishing the students who did not obey him. In using his authority as a school master to inflict punishment on the more obstinate of his pupils, he seemed to compensate for his feminine nature in other manners. Most men of his times would have preferred to settle an outstanding issue with another man in a face to face fight. But Ichabod was too much of a coward to challenge Brom, or any other men, directly. This frustration is likely to have built up and led to him punishing the school kids in a kind of misdirected anger. Punishing his pupils may have been the only way he could express his masculinity. Ichabods non-confrontational nature may be seen by the people of the nineteenth century as feminine.
While the men in Sleepy HollowHHhhjkljdflwshl Hollow told each stories of War which they would dress up to make themselves the hero of every exploit, the women exchanged tales of ghosts and goblins, and haunted fields, and haunted brooks, and haunted bridges, and haunted houses. Even when the men did exchange ghost stories, as they did at Van Tassels farm, they embellished these stories so that they were seen as the hero who dared the challenge the ghosts. Listening to these stories, it is obvious that the man did not really believe in the resident ghosts of Sleepy Hollow such as the headless horsemen. For the men, these ghost stories were nothing more than a source of pleasurable past time. On the other hand, the feminine in Ichabod is his unmanly, superstitious, trembling, and gullible side (Plummer and Nelson, 175). He actually believed in the ghost stories, enough to be scared to death. It is safe to assume that the headless rider that Ichabod encounters was Brom. Obviously, he did not believe in the ghost stories about the headless rider and even if he did, he was not scared of it. This allowed him to pose as the headless rider to scare the gullible Ichabod. As seen in his telling the story of his encounter with the Headless Rider, for Brom, these ghost stories was nothing more than a source of amusement. But Ichabod, who actually believed in them, it actually resulted either in his death or in his decision to flee Sleepy Hollow. Besides, the school teachers interest in witchcraft may also be seen as another proof of his feminine nature since witchcraft was often associated with women. Even his profession of a school teacher may be considered somewhat feminine since as pointed out by Daigrepont, this was one of the few positions that in his time could be filled by a woman as well as a man (para 6). So in his occupation, his favored past times, his interests and his gullibility, Ichabod comes across as an extremely feminine person.
Although set in 1790, The Legend of Sleepy Hollow was written in 1819, a time when America was going through financial crisis as a result of the introduction of paper money. According to David Anthony, this was a time when a persons sense of masculinity was increasingly shifting from a belief in interior for of self-possession and inner being (115) to an external and elusive form called reputation. In these times, to become insolvent could be considered comparable to becoming unmanned or feminized. If we accept this argument than Ichabod is clearly feminized having barely any possessions and all his worldly effects can be tied up in a cotton handkerchief. Ichabod was essentially living on the villagers charity. In Irvings times, this fact in itself would be enough to strip him of his masculinity and render him feminine.
We must note that although he comes across as an extremely feminine person, his thoughts continue to have some degree of masculinity about them. His desire to marry the heiress of rich farmer and then sell of his estate and go on to discover new lands and colonize them, is distinctly a masculine aspiration. On the other hand, marrying for money would have made him subservient to a woman, which would have meant further stripping of his masculinity. If Ichabod had indeed succeeded in courting Katrina, it is highly unlikely to he would have straightaway inherited Van Tassels farm. Since he did not have any possessions of his own, he would have been forced to live in his father-in-laws home. Such a situation would have been considered extremely derogatory for a man in the nineteenth century and only someone who was not in conflict with his masculinity could have accepted the arrangement. Despite Ichabods grand masculine plans to liquidate Katrinas property post marriage, in practical terms this would not have been possible. Although the narrator does not mention it, Ichabod had to be aware of the dangers of marrying for money. Yet his lack of concerns about having to live in his father-in-laws house until he inherited the estate shows that he did not really care about how he was perceived by others. It can be argued here that at a time when a persons masculinity was judged by external factors and how he was judged by other men, Ichabods relative ease with feminine matter and his willingness to be subservient to a woman means that internally he was in no conflict with his masculinity and did not perceive his penury or his spending time with women and children as in any conflict with his masculinity. This argument, however, does not hold ground since Ichabods preference for female company was clearly a result of his not being accepted among the men who saw him as a feminine person. There is no doubt Ichabod was extremely feminine and by being harsh on his students and in his dreams of marrying Katrina, he was only deluding himself of his manliness.
Katrinas refusal to marry Ichabod would have been the final blow to his masculinity. As mentioned, Ichabod was only deluding himself when he thought that he could actually win Katrina. Once he had made his feelings known, it would have been but a matter of time before the whole village learned about incident. While Ichabod could accept being made fun of over his feminine past times, once he was beaten in the one area where he internally perceived himself as man, spending any more time Sleepy Hollow was not possible. Although the story suggests that Brom was responsible for frightening Ichabod away from Sleepy Hollow or even murdering him, it is entirely possible that Ichabod left the village of his own accord. According to David Graven, Ichabod was done in by his infatuation for Katrina, who turned him down. Graven believes that the occult references to ghosts, goblins, and witches situate Woman as an uncanny intrusion in the otherwise routine, untroubled existence of men (87). It is possible that after being rejected Katrina, Ichabod felt that he had failed because of his in-ability to perform successfully in the game of heterosexual conquest and male rivalry and may have fled in recognition of his own male lack (Graven, 90).
If Ichabod is clearly feminine, Brom comes across as the epitome of manly health and exuberance. He was Broad-shouldered and double-jointed with Herculean frame and great powers of limb and was famed for great knowledge and skill in horsemanship. He spent his time in races and cock fights, predominantly manly pursuits. In addition, he also had a substantial fan following with three or four boon companions, who regarded him as their model. He was also the self-appointed umpire in all disputes Besides, as a young man with no responsibilities, he spends his time having fun, sometimes at other peoples expense. He also has absolutely no trouble in winning Katrina. There can be absolutely no question about his masculinity. However, Graven suggests that in frightening away Ichabod as the headless rider, he may be acting on Katrinas behest. If we assume this to be true, it may cast some doubt on Broms masculinity as the masculine standards in early nineteenth century did not allow men to act on a womans command. However, when we realize that Ichabod was trying to win Katrina, he may have decided to get rid Ichabod to impress Katrina and come across as a heroic suitor for her. In this sense, even if Brom was acting on Katrinas behest, it was not an act of subservience but a manly deed to protect his lady love from an unworthy person.
The Legend of Sleepy Hollow is not a ghostly tale but a humorous one. The stark contrast in the masculinity of the lead male characters serves to make the story an interesting study in human nature, especially male nature in the early nineteenth century America. Katrinas rejection of the feminine Ichabod while easy acceptance of the heroic and masculine Brom Bones shows the prevailing acceptable standards for men at the time. Although a man of letter, he does not find any favor with Katrina even though he impresses other housewives. It is obvious that Ichabods easy acceptance among the housewives is not because of his education but because if his willingness to carry out feminine duties, thus lending the much overworked housewives a helping hand. While such a man would be acceptable as an occasional visitor, a young, rich and beautiful girl like Katrina was unlikely to take any notice of him, accept in order to ridicule him. In the end, it was the fear of this ridicule once his rejected proposal became better known that prompted him to leave the town. As Arnold David points out, in the 1999 movie version of the story, Ichabod instead of Brom Bones, who comes across as a hyper-masculine and shallow person, finds favor with Katrina. In The Legend of the Sleepy Hollow, Ichabod may have had better luck with Katrina if he were a little more masculine. His feminine nature and credulity, in the end, did him in, while Brom Bones succeeded because his hyper-masculinity was the accepted norm in the sleepy village of the nineteenth century America.
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