Use Of Satire In The Devil And Tom Walker

Washington Irving was an American short story author during the 19th century. Some of his most famous works are “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow” and “A History of New York.” In addition, one of his most influential pieces was “Devil and Tom Walker.” There are three themes portrayed in the short story. The first theme is greed. Tom Walker and his wife often fight about money and possessions. Whenever his wife obtains new things, she hides them from Tom and goes out to search for more. Tom is greedy as well. He made a deal with the devil so that he could obtain a large amount of treasure that was left behind many years ago. In exchange, the devil would get Tom’s soul. The old stories suggest that the devil guards the treasure left by Kidd the pirate.

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.

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

Tom Walker was an innocent man with a deceitful heart, which led him to being a Satanist (follower of Satan). The Devil and Tom Walker, written by Washington Irving, was a short story that exhibited many themes. A satire is a device used to mock people, customs, or institutions meant to improve the society. The author satirizes people who sells their soul in exchange for money. Throughout the satire, Tom Walker displays many themes such as greed, values, religion, temptation, manipulation, and bargaining.

During the early 1700s, a traveler met a man in the Massachusetts forest. However, this was no mortal man, but the devil. “Young Goodman Brown” and “The Devil and Tom Walker,” two short stories, both start out in this way. Washington Irving wrote the latter in 1824, which tells how Tom Walker profited through working for the devil. In 1835, Nathaniel Hawthorne wrote “Young Goodman Brown,” which describes Goodman Brown’s woodland encounter with the Devil. The two stories share specific ideas regarding the devil, overpowering minor deviations between each other.

The author Washington Irving uses satire in his story The Devil and Tom Walker. Satire is used by many authors. Satire is when an author uses humor, irony, and ridicule to criticize other people’s stupidity or vices. The story The Devil and Tom Walker by Washington Irving uses satire. The story took place in Boston Massachusetts and continued to the year of 1727.

Washington Irving, writer of “The Devil and Tom Walker” in this shorts story Irving uses satire to make fun of Tom and his wife’s marriage by talking about their fights, arguments, and keeping of objects and happiness away from each other. One way that Washington uses satire in his story is when he says Tom and his wife fight and argue. “ His face sometimes showed signs that their conflicts were not confined to words” (19) meaning that when they argued about something sometimes it would turn into a physical brawl and Mr. Walker would have scratches and clawings on his face.

As time passes after Tom has made his deal with the devil, and he is working as a usurer in Boston, squeezing every last cent out of the unlucky speculators that walked through his door, Tom begins to wonder whether he made the right choice when he dealt with Old Scratch: "He thought with regret on the bargain he had made with his black friend, and set his wits to work to cheat him out of the conditions" (134). Tom's decision to attempt to cheat the devil becomes his downfall. Tom now begins a routine of attending a Church service and praying loudly for everyone to hear, and he outfits himself with two Bibles which he thinks will protect him to the end. In a great irony Irving tells of how Tom will put down his Bible for a few minutes while he forecloses a mortgage of some poor borrower, and the resumes his reading when he is finished. Stevens recognized this irony and noted that "Irving has a keen eye for the ironies and contradictions of human behavior." Irving presents the reader with the difficulty that can arise when intentions are based solely on personal gain. In the story, one sees how Tom Walker's actions contradict each other in their

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

In Washington Irving's short story "The Fallen angel and Tom Walker," the hero, Tom Walker, is portrayed as a "pitiful, parsimonious" kindred who contrives to cheat his better half—who is similarly as small and tightfisted as he may be! Together, they live in a stark home, where they frequently battle about material things. Tom is likewise portrayed as not being "bothered with any feelings of dread"; his unceremonious disposition and self-importance result in him encountering the villain himself, Old Scratch, who offers him awesome riches in return for his spirit. Tom's opposite mien makes him conclude that he won't offer his spirit essentially in light of the fact that his significant other needs him to do as such. In spite of this, Tom ends

In the story The Devil and Tom Walker, I believe that Irving’s message of warning was not to take shortcuts in life because it will only lead to bad things. For example, in the text Irving says, “Like most shortcuts, it was an ill-chosen route” (Irving 322). This shows that most times a shortcut is taken, more troubles seem to follow. Typically it is actually easier and less trouble some to take the long way. Later in the story, Irving references the devil coming and taking Tom Walker away on his horse and disappearing forever.

Andy Stanley once said, “Greed is not a financial issue. It’s a heart issue,” (Brainyquote). Washington Irving was an american short story writer who wrote many stories. In “The Devil and Tom Walker” Irving tells about a poor man named Tom Walker who is offered the greatest riches in the world if he sells his soul to the devil. Throughout the short story Tom Walker is stuck between a rock and a hard place. This results in him making hard decisions and dealing with the consequences. Irving does an amazing job of writing Tom’s emotions into a very believable character. All that Tom goes through opens up this new type of character that is not usually seen, and helps to show a different worldview. Having the different worldview portrayed even affected how I saw the story and now how I see my life. Irving’s bluntness to how greed can cause people to do terrible things and not think twice about it really helped to change the way I viewed the world. Knowing that greed drives people to crazy lengths was never really something I believed, but seeing it in such a realistic manner really brought to light the truth of that idea.

The author continuously characterizes Tom Walker in a way that makes the readers pity and resent him to not want to follow the example of his life. For example, after Tom's wife takes all their valuables and tries to strike a bargain with the devil when Tom wouldn’t do it himself, he goes looking for her in the woods. Irving shows just how little Tom cared about his wife when he describes his reaction to her disappearance and death. He is more concerned about the safety of his silverware, which she had taken with her. "He leaped with joy; for he recognized his wife's apron, and supposed it to contain the household valuables.” That shows that he is really greedy and ruthless. However, Tom shows no remorse for his dead wife and has evidence that shows that his wife had beaten up even the

Washington Irving also shows the theme of greed by how Tom Walker was a very cheap and greedy moneylender. During the time of this setting in “The Devil and Tom Walker,” people tried to do anything to make money. Joyce states, “while many had a keen sense of business, pothers were unethical in their dogged pursuit of riches (102).” This statement illustrates Tom Walker very. When Tom was discussing the terms of the deal with the devil, Tom wanted to make his interest rate even higher then what the devil origianally planned. Then devil said, “ You shall

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