Poem In The Devil And Tom Walker, By Washington Irving

Nathaniel Hawthorne and Washington Irving are two of the most prolific and successful writers of their era. Hawthorne’s, “Young Goodman Brown” is a story about a man, Goodman Brown who happens to set out on a trip for an evil purpose. On the way he meets a man who offers him his staff, saying that it might help him walk faster, but Goodman Brown refuses and wishes to return back to his village for the sake of his wife, Faith. On the other hand, Irving’s, “The Devil and Tom Walker” is about an individual who lets his greed and selfishness take charge of him. Tom Walker, a greedy man, attempts to make a deal with a devil. Tom seeks wealth and in return the devil asks for his soul. In both stories, the authors express their feelings and views about staying away from indulgence and sin. In spite of all the difference among Hawthorne’s, “Young Goodman Brown” and Irving’s, “The Devil and Tom Walker,” they share salient similarities such as setting, symbolism, and author’s purpose.

Tom Walker is an archetype of greedy husband. “There lived near this place a meagre miserly fellow of the name of Tom Walker” (Irving).

The stories have two different themes but they go together hand and hand. The card player shows “... the extent of information obtained, lies not so much in the validity of the inference as in the quality of the observation”(Poe). Poe is trying to say that sometimes things are beyond what they seem from the outside, but that more information is available with more in depth observation. He shows this by comparing the chess player who just looks at the pieces with the card player. Tom Walker’s wife shows “All her avarice was awakened at the mention of hidden gold, and she urged her husband to comply with the black man’s terms, and secure what would make them wealthy for life”(Irving). Tom and his wife both wanted to be wealthy and they did not care what they had to do in order to achieve the wealth. They end up giving up both their lives in order to receive the money from the black man. Both close observation and greed are similar because with one the other would most likely not occur.

The story ‘‘The Devil and Tom Walker’’ presents the idea that greed is something which can lead to great loss in a person’s life. Washington Irving book’’ The Devil and Tom Walker’’ tells about a man name Tom Walker who is facing challenges with the devil. Tom Walker is a sinner and a hypocrite who is living life with his crazy wife, and being under leadership with the devil. Tom Walker is miserly, brave, parsimony. In the story Tom becomes friends with the devil. Tom Walker is stingy with his belongings. Tom is brave going through the darkest treacherous routes.

Tom Walker lived in Puritan, New England, a place that is very religious and criticizes wrong doings. Tom Walker worked for the devil, which in Puritan, New England is against their religion. If the people in the town found out that Tom worked for the devil they would have him killed or sent away. Because of these reasons and because the people of the town are quick to judge, Tom worked very secluded. So, in The Devil and Tom Walker, Washington Irving uses detail to portray that Tom is not who others make him out to be, reveal that Tom is gullible, and to convey that Tom worked for the Devil.

When someone “makes a deal with the devil”, it always leads to the corruption of the dealer and their fate of inevitable damnation. The story takes place during in the early 1800s, and Tom Walker agrees to a bargain with the Devil who he encounters while walking through a swamp on his way home. The deal directs him to Boston where he becomes a cheaty usurer and gets very wealthy. Overpowered by greed, Tom even attempts to cheat the Devil, and in doing, so he eventually pays the price. In the short story, “The Devil and Tom Walker”, author Washington Irving uses the symbolism of the swamp, silverware, starved horses, empty mansion, hypocrisy of religion, and covered Bibles to show how greed and selfishness corrupts Tom Walker.

Throughout this story Irving condemns greed. In the beginning of the story, Tom is characterized as a greedy man. One way this is shown is when his wife is killed by the devil. She brought many valuable goods to try and make a deal with the devil and she got into a fight and lost. When Tom found out about his wife he was more concerned about the loss of the valuable goods that his wife. Another

The authors of “The Devil and Tom Walker”, “The Black Cat”, and “Prey” all used grotesque or bizarre occurrences as a theme to help get their life lessons across. Moreover, in “The Devil and Tom Walker” the author used grotesqueness to scare people into learning money cannot buy you happiness. Tom Walker’s malevolent wife believed that she would find her utopia if she had money. Tom Walker realized she had never returned home; so one night Tom went out looking for her in the Devil’s woods and “found nothing but a heart and liver tied up…” in an apron perched upon the tree he was looking at (Irving 7). This unsightly scene displays that his wife - who had given up everything to have money - was killed by the Devil and the Devil took her organs and threw them in a tree. Washington Irving’s short anecdote displays the grotesque in order to punctuate his life lesson of money cannot buy you happiness into your brain. In “The Black Cat” the author

Expressions such as these only distance Tom from benign human tendencies, leaving him less worthy of receiving any compassion from his audience. By creating a character like Tom, Fitzgerald leaves the reader with the impression that one born into and consumed by wealth will become the most unappealing and bland character of all. In this way the author leaves a sense of emptiness associated with Tom and continues to sew the thread of emptiness in all other characters consumed by wealth in his story.

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The author continuously characterizes Tom Walker in a way that makes the readers pity and resent him to not want to follow the example of his life. For example, after Tom's wife takes all their valuables and tries to strike a bargain with the devil when Tom wouldn’t do it himself, he goes looking for her in the woods. Irving shows just how little Tom cared about his wife when he describes his reaction to her disappearance and death. He is more concerned about the safety of his silverware, which she had taken with her. "He leaped with joy; for he recognized his wife's apron, and supposed it to contain the household valuables.” That shows that he is really greedy and ruthless. However, Tom shows no remorse for his dead wife and has evidence that shows that his wife had beaten up even the

Washington Irving also shows the theme of greed by how Tom Walker was a very cheap and greedy moneylender. During the time of this setting in “The Devil and Tom Walker,” people tried to do anything to make money. Joyce states, “while many had a keen sense of business, pothers were unethical in their dogged pursuit of riches (102).” This statement illustrates Tom Walker very. When Tom was discussing the terms of the deal with the devil, Tom wanted to make his interest rate even higher then what the devil origianally planned. Then devil said, “ You shall

After the American Revolution there were many of the American people who were lost as to whom they were now. There were two definite groups that had been created, those that were for the revolution and those that were against. At the same time, there were some that had just ridden along for the ride. When the revolution came to an end, there were people who were stuck in the middle confused as to who they were and what being an American specifically meant. Washington Irving shows this fear in his short story called “Rip Van Winkle”. In this short story, he brings to life the common fear and confusion that was among the people. Few were sure of who they were and who was considered their friends or their enemies. I want to show how George

In Washington Irving’s short story The Devil and Tom Walker, greed is shown to be a terrible trait that comes with many negative affects. Revealed by Irving when he introduced the setting, Tom Walker lived a miserable life isolated with his untrustworthy wife due to his miserly personality, and by this Irving was showing that living a life of greed will ultimately lead to misery. When decisions are being made based on greed and self benefit it will alter one thinking process and help you to make harmful and unintelligent decisions, as shown by Irving represented by greed based decisions both Tom and his wife made. Irvin also illustrated that you can be overwhelmed by greed and it can metaphorically turn

In the play Hamlet by William Shakespeare and the novel The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald, the objective is to divulge the quintessence of humanity. Although the protagonists in both works of literature have drastically different journeys that lead to climactic endings, the use of plot is to demonstrate that the essence of mankind is ultimately a tragedy if great care is not taken. Both Hamlet and Jay Gatsby are unable to focus on the reality of the situation, and rather waste valuable time focusing on simply the appearance of things. However, Hamlet is a character completely consumed by despair and ultimately believes that life is futile. In contrast, Gatsby is a character who is rather obsessive of achieving the American Dream,