Examples Of Satire In The Devil And Tom Walker

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.

“Worldly wealth is the devil's bait; and those whose minds feed upon riches recede, in general, from real happiness, in proportion as their stores increase, as the moon, when she is fullest, is farthest from the sun.” This quote, written Robert Burton, relates to the folktale that Washington Irving wrote. Irving’s story, “The Devil and Tom Walker”, is about a poor man who sold his soul to the devil to gain wealth over night. Thus, the story “The Devil and Tom Walker” illustrates a folktale with the inclusion of the folktale characteristics stereotypes, unlikely events, and lessons to be learned.

The stories analyze the devil’s connection with the fallenness of humankind. Both in “The Devil and Tom Walker” and “Young Goodman Brown,” the devil snatches the protagonists’ soul, though the victim first decides whether to turn to him, because the devil cannot force himself upon the unfortunate. Yet, their depravity causes Tom Walker and Goodman Brown to succumb to the

Imagery is used to help create a more imaginative and well developed story. These stories started to become more popular during the time of the Romantic and Transcendentalist. Washington Irving was an extremely popular author during this time, who was also an author that stretched and tested the limits of past authors’ styles, as well as creating his own new style. Washington Irving’s short story “The Devil and Tom Walker” is a retelling of a Germanic Faust legend. In the story Tom Walker finds himself in a deep in the forest and comes face to face with the Devil. The Devil tries to make an agreement with Tom, this agreement will make Tom extremely rich. Tom ruminates over the choice he is given. His wife avidly wants him to accept the proposal

A main theme in the short story is greed and its consequences. Tom, a miserable man, is approached by the Devil, also called “Old Scratch”, and he is offered wealth and riches beyond his wildest dreams. In return for this he sells his soul to the Devil. All characters in the story have flaws and none of them are necessarily “good” as each of them are greedy and will go to great lengths to benefit themselves. Tom's desire for wealth is his ultimate catalyst throughout the story and it is what eventually draws the Devil to him. The Devil called to Tom promising “great sums of money buried by Kidd the pirate... All these were under his command, and protected by his power."(pg 9) knowing this would interest him. Through this you can see the Devil tempting Tom with the wealth he craves so much. His own greed being his damnation when he tells a customer "The devil take me...if i have made a farthing!"(p22). Because as soon as he says this the devil comes to collect his dues.Tom's desire for wealth led to the murder of his wife, the selling of his soul, and ultimately his own death. The Devil and Tom Walker is a textbook example of why the temptation of greed should be avoided. Showing how though it may benefit you in the present eventually its consequences will catch up to

In conclusion, Tom Walker is a man known as miserly, brave, parsimony. Tom Walker character describes him as a hypocrite man with a clapper clawing wife. He shows his actual personality by following the footsteps of the devil. Furthermore, Tom is a man who greed for something that is not great. ‘’ The Devil and Tom Walker’’ by Washington Irving proves what kind of unfaithful man he is from the challenges and obstacles that was face. This story mainly tells about many actions that brought forces upon

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.

Tom Walker is satrical on the grounds that Washington Irving is ridiculing Tom and his wide to be so avaricious for

Throughout “The Scarlet Letter” by Nathaniel Hawthorne and “The Devil and Tom Walker” by Washington Irving, the topics of sin and religion are addressed. Both stories share the similar idea of how sin and religion are present in their Puritan societies. Throughout The Scarlet Letter we interpret the ideas of sin and how it relates to to the concept of religion surrounding the community. In The Devil and Tom Walker we are left to analyze the actions and beliefs of a complex character, and how it relates to sin and religion. Overall, both stories are comprable because of their topics of sin and religion and how they relate to specific characters beliefs, actions, and behavior.

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.

A Faustian legend is a story in which a character trades something of great personal value to the devil in order to receive personal gain. Since this type of literature originated in the Fourth Century it has spread throughout the world. Two relatively recent versions of this legend are “The Devil and Tom Walker” by Washington Irving and “The Devil and Daniel Webster” by Vincent Benét. These stories show many similarities as well as a few differences. While both Benét and Irving present similar themes in setting of the tales and motivation in the Faustian character, they do differ in the nature of that character and their visual presentation of the Devil.

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

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.

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.

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