A few miles from Boston, in Massachusetts, there is a deep inlet winding several miles into the interior of the country from Charles Bay, and terminating in a thickly wooded swamp, or morass. On one side of this inlet is a beautiful dark grove; on the opposite side the land rises abruptly from the water's edge, into a high ridge on which grow a few scattered oaks of great age and immense size. Under one of these gigantic trees, according to old stories, there was a great amount of treasure buried by Kidd the pirate. The inlet allowed a facility to bring the money in a boat secretly and at night to the very foot of the hill. The elevation of the place permitted a good look out to be kept that no one was at hand, while the remarkable trees formed good landmarks by which the place might easily be found again.…
3. What agreement does Tom Walker ultimately make with the Devil? As the story progresses, why do you think Tom begins to go to church and carry a Bible with him at all times?…
Selling one’s soul to the devil is an archetypal theme as old as time itself. In the story The Devil and Tom Walker as well as in the movie Snow White and the Huntsman, Tom Walker and Queen Raveena are motivated by greed.…
Tom Walker was a greedy, terrible person that was never satisfied with what he had. For example, he sold his soul to the devil in exchange for riches. Tom Walker was so shallow that he sold his life for temporary wealth. Tom acquisitiveness drew him to darkness that he could no longer escape. Tom became so greedy and infatuated with money to the point that it killed…
In “The Devil and Tom Walker” by Washington Irving, Tom is offered a deal to sell his soul and cheat people for money from the devil. Irving described Tom Walker as a very greedy, hypocritical, and conceited character.…
11. In “The Devil and Tom Walker,” what feeling about the setting does Irving want to arouse?…
"The Devil and Tom Walker" is a short story by Washington Irving that many wonder about. It teaches a lesson and has many archetypes in the characters. An older greedy, self/centered guy whose wife is just as evil and sneaky as him. Some ask how could you live with a person like this in your life, some may ask how could you and your wife live with each other? I believe that is a great question and would love to give my analyst on these characters and tell you how they almost sold their soul to the devil or what some may call him “old scratch”.…
Irving, a nonreligious man, wrote this fictitious story that causes its audience to really consider their lives and to question what is possible in the future. His anti-Puritanical writings, while frowned upon by many, led to a new period of American Romanticism and inspired many new authors, such as Edgar Allen Poe, to follow in his footsteps. Without discussion, "The Devil and Tom Walker" is one of the many short stories that follows a Romantic style, and it clearly exhibited the huge shift in style that America went through in the 19th…
As he made his journey through the forest however he was tempted by the “Devil” named Old Scratch, who offers him riches, shortcuts etc. in exchange for his soul. Tom who once was not foolish, falls to this trap and instead goes to the Devil. He is also a very materialistic and lazy unmotivated individual, as stated in the story, “Tom was a hard-minded fellow, not easily daunted, and he had lived so long with a termagant wife, that he did not fear the Devil” (Irving 183). The devious devil had successfully tempted Tom in so many ways that he had left in him by the end of the story and felt that he “might have felt disposed to sell himself to the Devil” (Irving 183). Similarly Young Goodman Brown went through a similar experience as he made his way through the forest as the devil tempted him as…
His wife then yells at him for not taking the devil up on the opportunity to sell his soul for wealth, and she storms out of the house to search for the devil to make a deal with him. She then gathers a few possessions that had monetary value and brought them to the woods in her apron. She was never seen again. Tom now wants to strike a deal with the devil. Tom declined the offer to become a slave trader so he became a usurer. He made quite a fortune by ripping people off. Tom then buys an extravagant house and a carriage but cannot maintain either of the…
“Rip Van Winkle” and “The Devil and Tom Walker” are both written by Washington Irving and feature a man living with his wife. Each story depicts their wives in a similar fashion; vicious, pestering annoyances that contribute little to nothing towards the well-being of the protagonist. Irving’s general scorn towards women is manifested in a few different ways, even looking beyond their blatantly negative descriptions.…
The story “The Devil and Tom Walker ” by Washington Irving is about a main character named Tom Walker making a bargain with the Devil because of his greed in order for him to become rich. The problem in the story is that Tom becomes very wealthy, and thinks about his deal that he made with the Devil. So he gets nervous and starts to worry about his soul. He tries to repent his sin by going to church and reading the bible. This can be related to how literature can shape or reflect a society because greed is something which can lead to a great loss in life or something that is…
Tom becomes a merciless moneylender and got the money he wanted, but he started having regrets and repents for his sin. Towards the end of the story Tom creates false displays of Christianity while committing immoral deeds. So one day Tom loses his temper and says, “Devil take me if I have made a farthing.” Shortly after he said that a black horse shows up at his house and takes him away and Tom was never seen again. As Christians when we do something that is a sin we go to confession so we can be forgiven, but Tom did not do that and thought he would be fine by carrying a small bible around in his pocket or having a huge bible on his desk. Tom would act like he was a Christian on the outside, but deep down in his soul he would do anything for money. Both Tom and the devil got what they wanted but Tom regretted bargaining with the devil, and the devil got what he wanted, which was Tom’s soul. When the black horse showed up Tom did not have his small bible in his pocket because he left it in his coat pocket so Tom was helpless to prevent the devil from placing him on the…
Tom Walker makes a deal with the devil, turning him from rags to riches. He quickly becomes rich after opening a bank with the fortune he gathered from the devil. Tom buys everything he wants and before long “began to feel anxious about those of the next. 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. He became, therefore, all of the sudden, a violent churchgoer”(Irving 13). Tom no longer was content with his deal of selling his soul to the devil. He began to see that his freedom and his life was more important than his big house and money. The fact that Irving included this shows how his quality of life really did not improve as he was trying to. The romantic value of freedom over goods shines through with Tom’s realization that he wanted his life back. This trend of regret continues after Stephen Benet’s Jabez Stone gets fed up with all of the things that happen to him. He feels he is the most unlucky person in the world and makes a deal with the devil so that he can have good luck for (ultimately) ten years before the devil takes him. The deal makes Jabez have good crop turnout, strong horses, and good luck, but also extreme apprehensiveness “For every day, when he gets up, he thinks, ‘There’s one more night gone,’ and every night he lies down he thinks of the black pocketbook and the soul of Miser Stevens, and it makes him sick at heart”(Benet 310). Stone cannot bear the fact the he can count down the days until his death. The benefits of the deal with the devil no longer help Jabez and he realizes that his freedom is more important than having nice. He cannot enjoy his life no matter what while he knows his fate, showing romanticism’s emphasis on freedom for self realization. Jabez’s good luck is quickly overshadowed when he realizes he doesn’t have his life anymore,…
In “The Devil and Tom Walker” by Washington Irving, we see American romanticism in many points throughout the story. It starts with the devil offering answers to Tom and his wife’s money problems, for a price. The price is that at the end of his life, he has to go with the devil. The wife, overcome with greed, tries to take an offer not meant for her and was never heard from again. Tom’s love of greed for the thing that caused his wife’s death overtakes his better judgement. Once his time is coming to an end, he regrets his decision. He starts to worship a God that he doesn’t believe in, just so he wouldn’t end up in hell. All of this shows romanticism by showing that Tom and his wife choose the feeling of greed over…