The Devil And Tom Walker Greed Essay

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

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.

The Devil and Tom Walker is short story written by Washington Irving. Irving was able to combine reason with things of the supernatural world in his work. In the Devil and Tom Walker, Irving was able to achieve this allegorical goal. Tom Walker is the miserly protagonist of this short story who lives with his equally as stingy wife. Their relationship is not close at all since either of them only care about money. He is found one day walking through the woods and encounters a being that is known as “Old Scratch”. Old Scratch is a character who portrays the devil and makes a deal with Tom that essentially puts his life in the hands of the devil. There was a treasure buried in the woods that has been in the ownership of the devil. The first time

Both the short stories “The Devil and Tom Walker” by Washington Irving, also “The Murders in the Rue Morgue” by Edgar Allan Poe, were written in the romantic time period. Romanticism typically contains the ideals of nature worship, nature imagery, as well as nature having an healing effect. Gothic Literature stemmed off of romantic literature which leads to many of the contradictory ideas in both. An example could be that romantics saw imagination while gothic writers saw darkness in the supernatural. Both the authors used very similar elements to make each literary work different but strong in their own way.

“How much Land does a Man Require.” by Leo Tolstoy, is a story of greed. In the story, Pokhom, the main character, unknowingly challenged the Devil by stating that if only he had plenty of land, not even the Devil himself could frighten him. Using his greed against him, the Devil leads him to his own death. Pokhom did not deserve his fate because he worked hard to try and earn money to make his life better, he seized opportunities that were presented to him, and his challenge with the Devil was unintetional.

In Washington Irving’s short story The Devil and Tom Walker, greed is shown to be a terrible trait that comes with many negative affects. Revealed by Irving when he introduced the setting, Tom Walker lived a miserable life isolated with his untrustworthy wife due to his miserly personality, and by this Irving was showing that living a life of greed will ultimately lead to misery. When decisions are being made based on greed and self benefit it will alter one thinking process and help you to make harmful and unintelligent decisions, as shown by Irving represented by greed based decisions both Tom and his wife made. Irvin also illustrated that you can be overwhelmed by greed and it can metaphorically turn

In all the books ever read, there is always one character who has made an important, life-changing choice. In The Devil and Tom Walker, by Washington Irving, Tom Walker was that character. He was a sad man, he was always miserable in his marriage and with his wealth, especially. While walking through the woods one day, Tom encountered the devil and they struck up conversation. The devil proposed to him a deal, Tom may have the treasure buried at an old Indian fort, which will bring him all the money he desired, for only his soul and must become a usurer for the devil. At first, Tom did not take the deal. Howver, when he got home that day he spoke to his wife about the encounter and she insisted he make the deal. His wife went looking for the devil that night to reconcile the deal, but the devil killed her before she got the chance. After

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.

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.”

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

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

convey both the mood and meaning of the narrative. Irving creates a setting that is

The authors of “The Devil and Tom Walker”, “The Black Cat”, and “Prey” all used grotesque or bizarre occurrences as a theme to help get their life lessons across. Moreover, in “The Devil and Tom Walker” the author used grotesqueness to scare people into learning money cannot buy you happiness. Tom Walker’s malevolent wife believed that she would find her utopia if she had money. Tom Walker realized she had never returned home; so one night Tom went out looking for her in the Devil’s woods and “found nothing but a heart and liver tied up…” in an apron perched upon the tree he was looking at (Irving 7). This unsightly scene displays that his wife - who had given up everything to have money - was killed by the Devil and the Devil took her organs and threw them in a tree. Washington Irving’s short anecdote displays the grotesque in order to punctuate his life lesson of money cannot buy you happiness into your brain. In “The Black Cat” the author

Three Thematic Themes In The Devil And Tom Walker Washington Irving wrote the short story The Devil And Tom Walker, which focuses on thematic issues. In this story Tom Walker gives the devil his soul. In the Devil and Tom Walker the writer expounds upon three major themes of Religion, Greed ,And Good VS Evil. The first major theme in this short story is religion. Tom walker went to church every Sunday like most people do.