Deythologized America In Washington Irving's The Devil And Tom Walker

Washington Irving’s “The Devil and Tom Walker” illustrates how an individual’s corruption results from their ability to resist temptation, the virtue to act generously, and the self-discipline to perform genuinely. Temptation, symbolized by the Devil and characterized by desperation in this prose, is that catalyst that forces Tom’s proverbial ball to roll. First and foremost, Tom chooses a shortcut home out of ease and lack of time that “like most shortcuts... was an ill-chosen route (280);” along his path of “smothering mud (280)” and “half-drowned, half-rotting [hemlocks and pines] (280)” –likely representative of the comeuppances of giving into temptations–Tom confronts the Devil for the first time and eventually ends up selling his soul

He begins with an invocation by alluding to the movie Who Framed Roger Rabbit, presenting his readers with a dystopian American life, where caustic chemicals leak into lakes and rivers and artificial sunsets rise on a daily schedule. Not only that, but he even mentions how the dystopia exists today: “’an encapsulated life, spent more and more either in a motor car or within the cabin or darkness before a television set…’ the megalopolitan mess [that] would completely demoralize mankind and lead to nuclear holocaust” (Kunstler 10). Throughout his reference, he also explains how the evil ‘cartoon’ ethos of American individualism brought about the toxic world. In addition to recounting the story of Judge Doom from “Who Framed Roger Rabbit,” Kunstler begins the narrative of the 300-year-journey of the settlement patterns of America. Within this explanation, he studies the surges of individualism and the obliteration of the elements of community. He starts off with the settlement of the New World, explaining how early people like the Puritans were the first to bend nature to their will. They established crop systems, created methods of access to water, and flourished homes made of wooden logs to help their families survive and make civilization boom. Additionally, the 17th century introduced ideas of property laws, and these brought about “the simplicity of acquisition, the right to exploitation, and the identification of extreme individualism” (26). Consequently, the brunt of anthropogenic influence on the country’s landscape began; the previous fertile lands shifted towards the planned, artificial systems of these early settlers. The respect towards communities and nature were replaced by “’individualism, [which] saps the virtues of public life [and] attacks and destroys all

In the first couple paragraphs it shows how much Irving wants us to get the creepy and scared feeling. “Not far from this village, perhaps about two miles, there is a little valley or rather lap of land among high hills, which is one of the quietest places in the world” (1). This is saying that even around the village it is quiet and still. There is emptiness surrounding the village, lurking and waiting for somebody to pass by.

Washington Irving was a person that was pretty important during the romanticism rime. He wrote a short story “The Devil and Tom Walker”. It is a story that basically criticizes rich and greedy people. Tom and his wife were two very greedy people that would actually take things and hide them from each other. In a way, they were willing to go to all measures to get what they want, even get on the devil's side. That is truly a thing that every human does in their own way. It is part of human nature, just the darker side of

Satire is used in many literature to show the foolishness or humor in human, organizations, or government. Often used to affect politics or social change. Irving, in “The Devil and Tom Walker” talks about religion, the white establishment, and the institution of marriage. This showing how in the book “The Devil and Tom Walker” that in a blank of an eye one sudden move could lead to another, some not what you expect but in the hands of fate. Meaning you should think about the outcomes of your actions, unlike Tom Walker when making a deal with the Devil.

In the 1700’s, the older generation of Americans was dedicated to making young people into moral, upright citizens. Books, magazines, and poetry were written to influence the readers toward morality, often by presenting unfavorable consequences if not obeyed. These kinds of texts were written in response to the growing apprehension Americans had toward anything unfamiliar or new. The Coquette and Wieland: or, The Transformation are two novels that display the worry and fear that plagued America during the time. In The Coquette, Hannah Webster Foster focuses on the fear of promiscuity, especially among women. Wieland by Charles Brockden Brown explores the fear of the alien. Though they focus on different anxieties, each gives important insight into what American life was like and the major issues of the time.

Despite the evidence that Washington Irving uses to show his love for America in his stories, he portrays some characters in the Devil and Tom Walker and The Legend of Sleepy Hollow as greedy. Irving shows concern for America by placing stories in uniquely American moments. In this essay I will prove through passages and quotes from Irving's stories that he shows his love for America in his stories and portrays some characters as greedy in the two stories.

Vice; Humanity’s Ultimate Downfall Many dark romantics, such as Washington Irving, use satire in order to demonstrate the darker side of the world through mockery. Satire is a genre of literature that uses exaggeration, humor, and other methods in order to criticize people’s foolishness and vices. In one of these stories, a man named Tom Walker is tempted by the Devil into making a deal for money; not leaving much to one’s imagination as to the outcome of this deal. Irving characterizes this man in a way that leads him, as well as his wife, to certain doom, and emphasizes certain vices along the way. Washington Irving’s satirical short story, “The Devil and Tom Walker”, attacks the vices of wrath, greed, and gluttony using the caricature

Describing the Valley as a “desolate area of land”, Fitzgerald portrays this grody strip in between the glamourous Eggs and New York City as something one would want to avoid given how even the road “shrink[s] away” from it. This illustration makes it clear to the reader that the Valley isn’t a nice

Washington Irving is a famous writer from the romantic period. In one his most famous works he uses satire to make his story more interesting. Satire is the attempt to ridicule different aspects of society to spark awareness of change. In the story “The Devil and Tom Walker”, the author criticizes marriage by saying that the Walkers are materialistic and greedy, they don’t care about one another, and they refuse to ever please each other.

In this story “The Devil and Tom Walker “by Washington Irving refills the legend of Faust with a tale of his own. The use of Puritans and Quakers, Tom Walker and his wife, throughout this tale, show character traits of how the two constantly fight and don't tell each other about their own fortunes from being so cheap and greedy. The Old Indian Fort is the treacherous swamp Tom dares to cross through to get back home quicker but along the way discovers the remains of an old Indian fortification after kicking a war skull and unexpectedly encounters the devil. This determines how the rest of Tom's life and fortune will go after doing business with the devil better known as “Old Scratch”.

Washington Irving was a legendary American author who began his literary career by submitting a plethora of observational letters to the Morning Chronicle. Irving often used “pen names” in attempts to connect the reader with the style of writing in almost each of his literary successes. His literary work consisted of biographies of George Washington, Oliver Goldsmith, and Muhammad, satires such as “A History of New-York from the Beginning of the World to the End of the Dutch Dynasty” written under the pseudonym Diedrich Knickerbocker, and folktales like “The Devil and Tom Walker”. Washington Irving’s “The Devil and Tom Walker” demonstrates a folktale on the inclusion of the characteristics of stereotypes, unlikely events, and lessons to be

Author Kurt Anderson mostly blames a certain group of people in his book Fantasyland, How America went Haywire. In a nutshell, Protestants are the problem. Anderson spends chapter after chapter, starting with Martin Luther and continuing through American history of how Protestant beliefs have been detrimental to America. In his view which comes across as snide and derisive, they are the bane of American existence because they believe in magic and supernatural things and have left most of reason behind. Anderson practically sneers (many words are in italics for emphasis) when he writes of Protestants. Certainly, some Protestants may be gun nuts, and preppers but not all. Most of my Protestant friends don’t own a gun and they send their children to public school. (Anderson is not a fan of homeschooling or private religious education).

The nature of the Native American stronghold and remarks said here by the devil are interesting examples of how Washington Irving shows he is against the concept of predestination. Predestination is both introduced for the first time in the short story and is

The Norton Anthology of American Literature. 8th ed. Vol. 1. New York: Norton, 1989. Print.