Hmm. This sounds like a question asked by a teacher; teachers like to force you to define things like "classic" at the same time you define "fulfillment."
In any case, it is a story of fulfillment because Rip gets what he wants, and more than any of us could hope to do. He wants to loaf, and he gets to--he sleeps the years away. However, when he wakes up, he's old enough that he can "do nothing" without penalty. He's skipped all the hard work. What's more, things got better while he slept, not worse as so many of us fear. America had rebelled and was now free--and he didn't have to help!
As far as what makes it classic, I'd say it is the fact that it has appealed to so many people, which is due in turn to the way the author uses a then-modern method of telling the story (the found manuscript) and an ancient, fable-like setting.
Greg
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