The two American Values that I noticed in the story of Rip Van Winkle were pleasure and freedom. Rip is a lot like today's Americans in regards to pleasure. He had an "aversion to all kinds of profitable labor," and although he was a hard worker, the only time he got things done was when he was supposed to be doing something else. This reminds me a lot of the modern habit of "productive procrastinating."For example, I have a tendency of reorganizing my closet whenever I have a big school project to do. Americans also get a lot of pleasure out of sleeping (particularly sleeping IN), and can probably relate to Rip's confusion after sleeping for far too long (I'm sure everyone has, at some point in his or her life, woken up at 4pm and wondered where the heck the day went).
The American value of freedom is covered in two ways in Rip Van Winkle. First, Rip is the victim of a wife who is bordering on verbally abusive. After waking up and realizing he can actually do what he wants without being criticized, he almost doesn't know what to do with himself. His freedom from the scrutiny of his wife parallels with the Americans' release from the British government, both of which happen while Rip is fast asleep.
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