Temptation In The Devil And Tom Walker

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 a man who sold his soul to devil for wealth. As Tom gets older, he starts to think of ways to get out the deal he made with the devil. Part of the deal with the devil was that Tom had to work for the devil his whole life.I believe Tom Walker’s turn to religion was for selfish and greedy reasons.

What is the Tower of Babel? Besides being a big, old building, it is a symbol of the consequence of pride. The plan was to build a tower that could reach the heavens in order to “make a name for ourselves”, but God had different plans. He “scattered them” and “confused the language of the whole world” (Genesis 11). This story is just one of many in the Bible discussing the why the vice pride is regarded as the worst of the Seven Deadly Sins. Both Washington Irving’s “The Devil and Tom Walker” and Herman Melville’s Moby Dick (“The Chase”) contain this theme, and thus provide insight on the disastrous results of pride.

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

The greed and selfishness of one man is what makes the community in the story The Devil and Tom Walker so weak. The Charachter Tom Walker fulfills the job of a mortage collector. What makes him a weak part of the community is his corrupt desire for money and low amount of care for the other people in his community. Tom Walker ends up taking advice from a charachter he meets in a dark swamp/woods who is described as being the devil to increse what he charges for mortage to the people in his

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

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

To begin with, and For example, on how greed was being shown in the story, Tom Walker’s wife takes their valuables secretly and goes to the Devil to make the pact that Tom Walker didn’t want to do. To add on to that, “she had carried off in her apron the silver teapot and spoons, and every portable article of value.” ....” she determined to drive the bargain on her own account, and,

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

“The Devil and Tom Walker” and the “The Devil and Daniel Webster” have many differences along with several similarities. A few examples would be the different depiction of the Devil and the similarities of the role of religion. Some points may be larger than others, but one can see the relationship between both of the books in many different aspects of he was dressed in a “rude, half Indian garb, and had a red belt or sash swathed round his body, but his face was neither black nor copper color, but swarthy and dingy and begrimed with soot, as if he had been accustomed to toil among fires and forges.” (Irving, p. 2-3)

The story presents few notable qualities about Tom Walker, but is often showed that his greed overshadows the rest of his nature and how he interacts with the world around him. “Let us get hold of this property,”(p.182). Tom does not seen negatively affected by his wife’s demise. Rather, he felt extremely fortunate that the value of his goods remained. Feeling elated instead of ashamed and sorrowful,this scene symbolises a form of greed through selfishness in which Tom acknowledges Old Scratch’s (the Devil/ antagonist) action as a favor instead of a crime.

According to Merriam-webster.com, Romanticism is “a style of art, literature, etc., during the late 18th and early 19th centuries that emphasized the imagination and emotions.” Writings such as short stories, folklore, and poems portray Romanticism characteristics. Some common characteristics include emphasis on nature and emotions. Moreover, Romanticism was especially powerful in places such as Britain, Germany, and France, and greatly affected other places such as Italy and Spain. However, Romanticism is not the only type of literature. During the Age of Reason, stress was placed upon reason and common sense rather than imagination. Romantic elements are especially shown throughout “The Raven”, “Dr. Heidegger’s Experiment”, and “The Devil and Tom Walker”. Many different characters in the previously

Tom experiences the Devil by and by and consents to the deal. Tom turns into an unfeeling moneylender.