Similarities Between The Devil And Tom Walker

“The Devil and Tom Walker”, written by Washington Irving, is about a greedy man who only wants money and who is very selfish. “The Devil and Daniel Webster”, written by Stephen Benet, is about a man who is sluggish and poor. He also is very cheap and his crops are very unlucky so they are dying. Although these men seem very different, they are alike in at least one way.

For a story by an author to be signified as a classic literature piece, it requires a timeless feature which the main passage can echo throughout the ages. Particularly, a relation to society's behavior and values. The characters, created by Washington Irving, most especially Tom Walker, gives us an insight on how his life centered predominantly on wealth up to the point where he is consumed by temptation. Tom Walker’s engagement in a deal with the Devil portrays how money-driven society has become more prominent through the times of the 1700s and today's world.

Wealth and the way it was displayed in the early nineteenth and twentieth centuries were in contradiction each other. During the 1820s, jobs were abundant for the working class such as work in factories and businesses. The economy was on the upswing, industries were booming, and major Protestant movements (such as the Second Great Awakening) were gaining support. “The Devil and Tom Walker” was written during this time. The main character, Tom Walker, starts out in impoverished conditions and is filled with spite.

As time passes after Tom has made his deal with the devil, and he is working as a usurer in Boston, squeezing every last cent out of the unlucky speculators that walked through his door, Tom begins to wonder whether he made the right choice when he dealt with Old Scratch: "He thought with regret on the bargain he had made with his black friend, and set his wits to work to cheat him out of the conditions" (134). Tom's decision to attempt to cheat the devil becomes his downfall. Tom now begins a routine of attending a Church service and praying loudly for everyone to hear, and he outfits himself with two Bibles which he thinks will protect him to the end. In a great irony Irving tells of how Tom will put down his Bible for a few minutes while he forecloses a mortgage of some poor borrower, and the resumes his reading when he is finished. Stevens recognized this irony and noted that "Irving has a keen eye for the ironies and contradictions of human behavior." Irving presents the reader with the difficulty that can arise when intentions are based solely on personal gain. In the story, one sees how Tom Walker's actions contradict each other in their

In Washington Irving's short story "The Devil and Tom Walker," the protagonist, Tom Walker, is described as a "meagre, miserly" fellow who conspires to cheat his wife—who is equally as meagre and miserly as he is! Together, they live in an austere home, where they regularly fight over material things. Tom is also described as not being "troubled with any fears"; his cavalier attitude and arrogance result in him coming face to face with the devil himself, Old Scratch, who offers him great wealth in exchange for his soul. Tom's contrary disposition causes him to decide that he won't sell his soul simply because his wife wants him to do so. Despite this, Tom winds up entering into the bargain, which further illuminates his greed, vanity, and stinginess.

In this story, a greedy, miserly man named Tom Walker strikes up a conversation with a man merely called “Old Scratch”. Old Scratch appears as a woodcutter, cutting down trees that have the names of sinners carved into them and then throwing them into his forge (and the implied fires of hell). Old Scratch offers a deal to Walker: he will give Walker legendary riches hidden in a nearby swamp in exchange for a “great price’’, most likely his soul, although this is never explicitly stated by Irving. Walker becomes very rich but paranoid. He is so miserable that he starves his own horses in an attempt to save even more money, and is so afraid that he constantly carries two Bibles on his person at all times. However, when a man who had borrowed money but cannot repay it asks for a pardon, Walker exclaims, "The Devil take me if I have made a farthing!" Old Scratch appears, and throws Walker onto a black horse that disappears in a lightning bolt. All of his riches disintegrate. Tom Walker was so obsessed with wealth that he let his greed consume his life, and was willing to sell his soul just so that he could be wealthy and give into his

During the early 1700s, a traveler met a man in the Massachusetts forest. However, this was no mortal man, but the devil. “Young Goodman Brown” and “The Devil and Tom Walker,” two short stories, both start out in this way. Washington Irving wrote the latter in 1824, which tells how Tom Walker profited by working for the devil. In 1835, Nathaniel Hawthorne wrote “Young Goodman Brown,” which describes Goodman Brown’s encounter with the devil. The two stories share specific ideas regarding the devil, overpowering minor deviations between each other.

Tom Walker tries to use religion to “cheat himself out of his conditions,” and his “zeal became as notorious as his riches” (Irving, p. 8, 9). Walker’s attempt as compensating for his iniquities with religion is ultimately futile--a major point of this story. His religion was not true faith but merely a safety blanket, and as such, he could not escape from his multitudes of sin. For Walker, there was no saving himself because he was not willing to turn away from his life of greed. On the contrast, Stone is described as “always having been a religious person,” following through with his deal simply because he is a stubborn New Hampshireman who will not go back on his word (Benet, p. 13). However, Stone’s saving grace does not come in the form of religion but rather a man. He enlists Daniel Webster to plead on his behalf, and he ends up winning. This portrays a belief that he did not need a true faith to save himself. Neither story uses religion as a way for the protagonist to save himself from the devil, but each says something different about how a man may be

Imagination Individuals taking a journey from the dirty city into the supernatural countryside Poem/Story/Play Used: The Devil and Tom Walker The Devil and Tom Walker is definitely a great example of an imaginative story. Being a folk tale, this story has a lot of imagination and naturality, which were big parts of the Romantic period. Tom Walker was a usurer, lending money to local people in Massachusetts; some days when he walks home from the city, he generally takes a “shortcut” through the wooded areas of Salem and Boston – through the treacherous, woody, mossy, swampy forest. Nature plays a big role in this short story, ipso facto to Tom talking with the Devil and walking alone in the forest outside of town.

To begin, in the short story “The Devil and Tom Walker”, awe of nature is used to

In the story The Devil and Tom Walker by Washington Irving, hidden evils and greed are exceptionally important themes. Tom Walker loves the money but he starts to feel guilty and wants to change, but he won’t change.”Your are the usurer for my money. In this way he made hand over hand, and became a rich and mighty man.” This quote displays that he made money, but throughout the story Tom’s greed didn’t change. His greediness became

The Devil and Tom Walker Washington Irving Criticized three major things in “The Devil and Tom Walker”. Religion, marriage and morals. These are only three of the many topics Irving ridiculed in his literature. Irving used various situations and concepts to make society look at itself in the mirror. These critiques are still present in our culture today.

Adolescence is a fundamental part of development of characteristics, as youth grow, they indulge immaturity and naivety. Temptation is a primary initial in Irving Washington, The Devil and Tom Walker(1824). The story foreshadowed the “deal with the devil”, it is more of a comparison for what people give up for money, and in exchange for materialism. Adolescents today foretell the themes of the “deal with the devil” and is referenced in modern American life. In The Devil and Tom Walker, Tom agrees to the devil’s deal. But he lives life in misery, unable to fulfill his wealth. He feels grief at the deal with the devil and cowardly seeks to religion to repair his sins before it is belated. And as to be expected, the deal devoured Tom Walker. Elements

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

In this story we can see many interesting facts about the main character Tom Walker such as his relations with other characters and his own beliefs. In the story we can see how Tom doesn’t accept the deal with the Devil at first, but when his wife dies in hands of the Devil, Tom Walker now accepts to do the deal; however he doesn’t accept because he feels like he has lost everything but because now his wife can’t take away any part of the treasure and now he will do the things he wants for his own good and not to please