Rip looked and saw an exact mirror image of himself, --[It appears Rip saw an exact mirror image of himself--the way others have always perceived]- - as he climbed the mountain--[He was like this before his "sleep", or journey up the mountain]--: apparently lazy, and certainly just as ragged--[Before meeting the group on the mountain, he was a person casual, rude and lazy]--. The poor guy was now completely confused--[It seems to everyone that Rip Jr. was confused in his thoughts, however, just as Rip Sr. was, he knew exactly what was on his mind--it seemed like he had a plan for everything] --. He doubted his own identity and whether he was himself or another man - [I think Rip had undergone some sort of self-realization and was beginning to realize this change - wondering whether he was the same old Rip, or the new, more aware RIP] --. In the midst of his bewilderment, --[I'm trying to figure out if Rip was just very confused by what was happening upon seeing his son, or if he's still drunk and "dazed."]-- The man in the tricorn hat told him asked who he was and what his name was?" God knows,--[God is the only person right now who knows what/who Rip is. Rip doesn't know, his son doesn't know, no one knows but God himself ]--" he exclaimed, no longer knowing what to do; "I'm not myself-I'm someone else-that's me over there-no-that's someone else, he put himself in my shoes--[You see he passed on his traits to his son, and his son took over as Rip identities and habits. "We grow" in the shoes of others]-- -Tonight I was myself, but I fell asleep on the mountain, and they changed my gun, and everything changed, and I'... center of the paper... is closest to his heart and guides his family, what's left of it, and gives him a direction to go in. He slept for the last twenty years of his life, and most likely -in a certain sense, he slept for many years before climbing the mountain. It's time to wake up and face the problems at hand and correct any mistakes or act on any awakening he may have had that involves his regrets in life is a thing that Rip Van Winkle has to offer us, I think is to pay attention to ourselves As many of us often do, we get caught up in other people's business and don't care about our own lives for the perfection in everyone else's lives and the lack of it. in ours. Rather than sleep for so many years and let time affect us and those we love, we need to act now and be a little more selfish in taking care of ourselves..