Comparing Devil And Tom Walker

Furthermore, we begin to identify the characteristics of the society in the 1700s, through Tom’s character and his relationships by recognizing how he converses with the Devil. Stumbling across the Devil by taking an unfamiliar shortcut, Tom doesn't see the big deal approaching the devil and appears to be unfazed.“Your grounds, no more your ground than mine, they belong to Deacon Peabody”. In effect, Tom gives a snappy comeback at the devil since he doesn't believe because he says the land belongs to him that it's his to keep. Due, to living in a society where superstitions are believed to be true, Tom is familiar with peculiar situations so much that it takes him a while to realize he stands in front of the Devil, who appears to be nonchalant. Moreover, they then begin discussing Mr. Peabody’s wealth, hence he is well known throughout town with Tom questioning how he obtained such wealth. For the

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.

The Devil and Tom Walker is a short story written by Washington Irving. The story is about a legend of a pirates treasure hidden in a swamp and how a miserly man named Tom Walker finds it on his way home through a swamp. When Tom is in the swamp a dark tall man, Old Scratch, who Tom recognizes as the Devil, offers Tom a deal for the treasure. Tom goes home and tells his wife about the deal the Devil gave him, her greedy made her to take all their valuable possessions and go bargain with the Devil for the treasure. When she didn’t return Tom Walker decided to go look for his wife. When Tom was looking for her, he found her apron, liver, and her heart tied up to a tree. After seeing this Tom decided to make the deal with the Devil. The Devil tells Tom that he must do services to the devil for the treasure. He first tells Tom to become a slaver trader; however Tom refuses to become one. Finally the Devil tells Tom to become a corrupted money-loaner, which he agrees to, so he moves to Boston and becomes a moneylender. While at Boston Tom regrets doing the deal with the Devil and tries going to zealous church in a hope to redeem his soul for what has he done; however it was too late for Tom Walker. One afternoon while Tom’s victims were begging him for a delay, Tom lost his patience and his pity and yelled “The Devil take me… if I have made a farthing!" (Irving, The Devil and Tom Walker). Immediately after this statement Tom hears three knocks on his door and the Devil comes for Tom and rides away with him on his horse. The next day Tom’s house and all his belongings are burnt down, and Tom is never seen ever again.

Not only is greed shown through the characters but it is also revealed through its consequences. Tom’s greed exceeds beyond that of any mortal being on the planet. His wife also exhibits an equal amount of greed. Irving illustrates the the theme of greed by showing Tom’s enthusiasm after the finding of his wife’s dead body. Tom’s wife takes it upon herself to make the deal with Old Scratch and obtain the treasure for herself. Her own greed ended up getting her killed. When Walker gains his great wealth from Old Scratch, he objects to even feed his horses, and does not provide any furnishings for his mansion. After Tom receives his money, Irving points out how Tom’s greed will not have served him well in the future. Walker starts going to church frequently and prays loudly as he tries to scam the devil out of the set terms of the deal that were made. He began to carry a Bible with him and was found reading it habitually. Tom knew he made a deal with the devil, but he did not care for he was blinded by greed. In his old age he finally discerns that his greed produced the fear that began to consume him, but it was too late. His demise was inevitable which was what he did not realize and he thought he was able to cheat out the devil. Once he uttered the words “The devil take me, if I have made a farthing!", he was met by the devil at his door and was taken never to be seen

As people grow up, it is made apparent to them that the Devil is an evil and rather a clever person. The greatest example of the devil in action is when the devil tempts Jesus. As most know, the devil fails to get Jesus to do evil. Jesus is both human and divine while the main character of The Devil and Tom Walker, Tom Walker, is a “meager, miserly fellow”. Unfortunately, Tom Walker is not Jesus so the reader must focus in on Washington Irving’s The Devil and Tom Walker to see just exactly how and when the Devil won his game. Irving portrays to the reader that the devil cannot be beaten at his own game through setting, characters, and plot. As people have seen in sports, the setting of a game (where, when, weather, etc.) can have a big impact on the game. The same goes for The Devil and Tom Walker.

The characterization and setting in “The Devil and Tom Walker” reveals how the characters really are. To begin with, Tom and the devil made a deal, but Tom didn’t want to keep it. The devil trusted Tom with this deal but, after a while into this thing he had going Tom didn’t want to keep it. This reveals how everyone can’t be trusted and how once you get into things its hard to get out of sometimes.

The choice he made was to sell his soul and start a business for the devil if he was rewarded treasure that had been buried. The want to be rich is what provoked Tom to settle this deal. In doing so, he cost many people all of their money. Tom conned people and left them in despair, and he sold his soul so he can be a rich and mighty man. He had been fooled by the evil of money. Therefore, he will pay for his choices and the actions he committed. Towards the end of this story, Tom begins fearing for his life, afraid that the devil was going to collect his soul at any moment. He aimed to become religious, in hopes that will prevent the devil from coming. However, he did not succeed and was taken away by the devil. The theme Washington Irving was conveying is that money is not worth your life. You can be happy and poor, and rich and miserable. If Tom Walker understood that, he would have led a life without the devil on his shoulder and without the fear of the devil coming to collect

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.

Alas, with the money bestowed upon Tom by the devil, he became a broken and gave out myriads of loans while charging interesting on everything. He caused many people to foreclose, draining money from his customers like a sponge. Tom was finally happy for the first time in his life.

The author of “The Devil and Tom Walker”, Washington Irving, became a famed author of 19th century America. He was born in New York and became one of the first America fiction authors to gain international reputation. Irving began his career writing satire essays, and he is specifically known for his works, “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow” and “Rip Van Winkle”. In his work “The Devil and Tom Walker”, he tells the story of a man and woman that lust for greed, to such an extent that they both want and make deals with the devil. The couple will soon find that their selfness and greed will lead them nowhere, but in to the devil’s house. Irving expresses the greed of Tom Walker and his wife throughout the story in the setting, the

I chose “The Devil and Tom Walker” for my fictional story. (The plot is below.) The story begins by showing you the background of the story, and describing how miserly Mr. and Mrs. Walker are. Then it shows Tom talking to “Old Scratch” (The Devil), who then offers Tom all the treasure of Capt. Kidd, for a few conditions. Tom goes home to think about the offer, where his wife tells him to take the offer. After many fights on the subject she goes to make the bargain herself, the devil tells her to return the next night. She goes but doesn’t come back, a day after she goes missing, Tom goes looking for her where he finds her apron with a heart and liver in it. Tom makes the deal with devil next time the meet, conditions and all, one of the conditions is, he has to use the money to start a brokers shop. Years go by, Tom fearing the bargain he made with the devil will catch up with him, tries to be a Christian, he carries a Bible everywhere he goes. However, while arguing with one of his client’s, Tom says in his wrath: “Devil take me if I have made a Farthing.” Next comes three loud knocks on the door where Tom sees the devil again and is taken away by the devil. Lastly, all of Tom’s wealth and assets disappear forever. Such is the plot for “The Devil and Tom Walker.”

He stumbles upon a Black Man, and to peak his interest the Black Man, “told him of great sums of money buried by Kidd the pirate under the oak-trees on the high ridge, not far from the morass”(Irving 156). This shows the offer made by the “Devil”. Later, after Tom’s wife had disappeared in search of the Black Man, Tom went after her noticing she took all the valuables with her. He happened upon the Black Man once more and the devil offered him the treasure in exchange for him using it to become a usurer. The exchange was brief and the deal was closed with a handshake and an ecstatic uttering of the simple word, “Done”(159). Tom got the wealth he wanted. But he knew that he would end up spending the rest of eternity serving the devil so he became a violent churchgoer. One day, Tom was foreclosing a mortgage, and when he grew tiresome of the man stating he made too much money off of him Tom stated, “The devil take me, if I have made a farthing!”(160). Thus Tom got his wish and the devil took him never to be seen again. This shows how the deal ended poorly for Tom and demonstrates the final point of the

He was supposed to extort bonds, foreclose mortgages, and drive merchants to bankruptcy and with a handshake he made a bargain with the devil. “Everyone driven to raise money by desperate means and desperate sacrifices hurried to Tom Walker” (Irving 321). He took advantage of receiving bonds and mortgages by leaving his customers without much or no money leaving the door. After collecting enough money, he saved and spent it on himself. As he was becoming an older man, he regretted his bargain that cheated the black man (the devil). He realized that he manipulated his customers by taking most or all of their money at four percent a month. All of a sudden, he became a “violent churchgoer” in which he prayed noisily (Irving 322). Knowing that the devil would soon get his revenge, he kept a bible at his desk and in his pocket at his hip. He thought he could use the bible to fight off the devil. He was not only led by temptation, he was temptation, a devil’s

When Tom meets the Devil, he makes a deal to be a usurer. When describing the job The Devil asked Tom to do, the narrator says, “He accumulated bonds and mortgages; gradually squeezed his customers closer and closer; and sent them at length; dry as a sponge, from his door. In this way he made money hand over hand . . .” (page 297). This quote shows that Tom Walker would be a bad neighbor due to his love of money and willingness to go to extreme length to take it from people. He could easily trick someone into thinking he could help but instead really make their situation much

So, the main theme would be just because a person is sad and miserable, does not mean that they can let greed blind them. The author of “The Devil and Tom Walker” uses literary devices like characterization, symbolism, and imagery. Characterization is the way that the author introduces the characters and how the characters act. In the passage, Tom Walker was a very miserable person, he was very selfish, and he often cheated on his wife.