Ichabod Crane vs. Walter White, Humanities Anti-Heroes?

Both Walter White and Ichabod Crane both have similarities that establish their characteristic of being anti-heroes. One similarity that describes how both of them are alike in being an anti-hero is that both of them express their greediness in a negative manner. For one, Ichabod Crane expresses his greed through his gluttony. Throughout the story the narrator continuously makes references to Ichabod's literal and metaphorical appetite. From the short story "The Legends of Sleepy Hollow" the quotes, "not a turkey... but a necklace of savory sausages" explains how Ichabod Crane viewed the farm as he rode to visit Katrina Van Tassel and how Ichabod Crane's hunger is insatiable, he is so greedy that he will never be satisfied with what he has. For Walter White, he shows his greed by desperately trying to seek money from being affiliated in a drug cartel that puts his family and his own life at risk.=

The next similarity that explains how both the anti-heroes are they are both selfish. Through out “The Legends of Sleepy Hollow” the author describes how Ichabod reacts toward Katrina only being the love of his life just because of the money she possesses. Because money equals power in Ichabod’s eyes and he despises working for Baltus on his farm, not only because he dislikes him but because Baltus is holding Ichabod back from being with Katrina, the only thing that Ichabod wants to do is marry Katrina so he can gain Baltus’s wealth. If Ichabod were just greedy he would find another way to get rich, but Ichabod specifically wants what Baltus has. As for Walter White, his only intentions are focused on making money, but he is so desperate for it that he disregards his importance to realize how much of a risk he is putting himself and his family at. Walter knows that what he is doing is dangerous and it could cost him his life for death or his life towards prison. One thing that Walter fails to do is consider his son and his wife’s opinion about how their family living conditions are and if they are actually struggling with money, but the only thing Walter cares about is the money. He sees himself as useless and unreliable to his family, but starting to suffer from cancer made him more doubtful. Walter seeing himself as a middle class working chemistry teacher that can’t support his own family jeopardizes his integrity and forces him to resort to other affairs such as leading an international drug cartel.



The last similarity that both Ichabod Crane and Walter White share is that they are both fearful. Ichabod Crane was mainly afraid of the dark. The reason for that is because after her heard stories about The Headless Horseman from Brom and how The Headless Horseman only comes out at night near the bridge where the church was. This feared him the most since poor Ichabod had to cross the bridge to get home after coming from Katrina Van Tassel’s castle. Eventually Ichabod ended up running into the Headless Horseman and realized the legend was true and was later taken by The Headless Horseman and never too be seen again. As for Walter White, his association with the drug cartel feared him because he was putting his family and himself at high risk of danger. His primary though for being associated with the drug cartel was just to obtain enough money to support his family and to pay for his cancer, once he realized he had it, but after he realized what he was getting in to it was to late to get out and eventually his closest friend was killed.