How Does The Devil And Tom Walker Use Satire

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.

In “The Devil and Tom Walker” they use literary archetypes that represents universal patterns of human behavior or commonly-held beliefs. This story takes place in 1727 in Boston Massachusetts. There are three main characters who are very similar but a little different. Tom Walker is small, greedy, overly confident, and miserly. Tom Walker’s wife Mrs. Walker is selfish, verbally abusive towards Tom, and she is known as a termagant because she nags and complains all of the time. Last but not least old scratch has many other names that have been given to him by his personality, but he is the devil.

Benjamin Franklin used his wit and wisdom to attack the political and social issues during his time. Franklin targeted the issues the America colonists faced with his use of satire. Many writers during his time used rhetorical devices to convey their message to their audience. In “Rules by Which a Great Empire May Be Reduced to a Small One”, Benjamin Franklin used satire and sarcasm to express the theme of inequity towards the American people with an underlying expectation. Franklin used satire as a rhetorical device to portray to his audience what the American colonists faced because of the British government.

The book Tom starts discussing is called ‘The Rise of the Colored Empires” and is about the Aryan race being corrupted. The thing that makes Tom look ignorant is when he says “Well, it’s a fine book, and everybody ought to read it. The idea is if we don’t look out the white race will be - will be utterly submerged. It’s all scientific stuff; it’s been proved” (Fitzgerald 13). He then goes on and persistently defends it, claiming that it has been scientifically proven. There is another moment in the story when Tom shows how foolish he is. After Nick and Tom arrived in the Valley of Ashes and finished talking to Wilson, they walked to the subway station. While they are walking Tom comment on Wilson and says “he thinks she goes to see her sister in New York. He’s so dumb he doesn’t know he’s alive” (Gatsby 26). Tom assumed Wilson was somehow handicapped in some way due to the way he acts. This would be proven false by the end of the story when Wilson looks for Myrtle’s killer. The point being proven is that Tom acts very ignorant due to his wealth. His wealth allows him to remain ignorant without any

Satire describes the literary technique that combines dark humor and irony to criticize and expose humanity's stupidity. The purpose is to entertain readers with perverted humor while illustrating the horrors of war that Vonnegut consistently describes, “anyone who seeks glory and heroism in war is deluded” (Vonnegut 26).

Nick describe Tom Buchanan in chapter 1 as a sort of bigoted and racist. This is due to his interest in a book that supports racist, white-supremacist attitudes that Tom finds “convincing”. Tom is a described as if being a cheater due to his so called lover in New York.

A satire is a piece of work that is designed to ridicule or tease a group or organization, generally for the purpose of being humorous. “The Importance of Being Earnest,” a play by Oscar Wilde, is a satire, ridiculing class, gender, and marriage. This essay will describe some points from each of these sections, as well as give a brief synopsis of the play these examples come from.

A satire is defined as the use of irony, sarcasm, ridicule, or the like, in exposing, denouncing, or deriding vice, folly, etc. In the novel The Princess Bride, the author, William Goldman, uses satirical remarks for humor. Goldman’s style is very sarcastic and helps the storyline from becoming boring. A few of the most prominent satires in this novel are brand names, the importance of beauty, and children making their own decisions. Goldman’s remarks on these topics remain relevant in today’s society.

Satire can be defined as the use of humor, irony, exaggeration, or ridicule to expose and criticize people 's stupidity or vices, particularly in the context of contemporary politics and other topical issues (theodysseyonline.com). There are two different types of satire: Horatian and Juvenalian. Horatian satire is more witty, childlike, funny, and is meant to maintain a positive and upbeat crowd. Juvenalian satire, on the other hand, is more abrasive, daring, meaningful and meant to carry a variety of messages through the comedy.

In the story, “The Devil and Tom Walker,” there is a humorous way of looking at serious topics. Washington Irving shows his thoughts on these topics through the characters in this story. He attacks ways of living and social ideas that he thinks people should live without. In this story, Irving criticizes violence, greed, and false piety.

A satire, by definition, is a way of using humor that shows the weakness or bad qualities of person, government, or society (Merriam-Webster). Satires are used in everyday life to make fun of someone or a society. We see it used in newspapers, magazines, and on television shows. This element is used in literature, as well. Many authors have used this element in their books, such as Mark Twain in his classic novel The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.

The language several characters used revealed many instances of satire. Tom Buchanan speaks for one type of satire Fitzgerald displayed. Tom found a way in every and any conversation to tear down a woman or insert racial jokes. On page twelve, Tom asks if anyone had ever read The Rise of the Colored Empires. Then, he states “The idea is if we don’t look out the white race will be utterly submerged.” Then he claims this has been scientifically proven. This speaks to his lack of knowledge due to his smothering arrogance. Later on in the novel, Tom would refer to women as “its” and pronouns instead of addressing them by their names. Fitzgerald had Tom display this manly patriarchal role to make subtle hints of what a typical, upper class, white man thought during the historical context of when this book occurs.

In the story, “The Devil and Tom Walker” by Washington Irving, the artist ridicules elements of human nature and society. This is called satire and is used commonly throughout the story. Irving criticizes three aspects of society in the story. The three aspects are religious types, the white establishment, and the institution of marriage.

“the use of humour, irony, exaggeration, or ridicule to expose and criticize people’s stupidity or vices.”

During the Age of Enlightenment, people began believing in and relying upon rational thought instead of religious dogma to explain the world. This newfound emphasis on rationality promoted a breadth of freedom in speech that was previously unknown, a fact which was utilized by philosophers such as John Locke, Rousseau, and Sir Isaac Newton. In addition, the Age of Enlightenment produced famous writers who didn’t agree with the irrational politics and old traditions of their respective countries, and instead relied upon wit and satire to expose the corruption and poor human condition existing around them. These Enlightenment writers use irony in their satires to get their interpretations regarding the human condition across.