Preview

The Devil And Tom Walker Greed

Satisfactory Essays
Open Document
Open Document
335 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
The Devil And Tom Walker Greed
Washington Irving’s The Devil and Tom Walker is an allegory warning people about the consequences of greed. The tale depicts Tom Walker as a miser who is greedy and exercises moral corruption when he sells his soul to Old Scratch, the devil, in exchange for a pirate’s wealth. He earns his wealth turning usurer for the devil and finally, karma strikes and the devil claims Tom Walker’s soul.
The passage provided shows why Tom’s career as a usurer was so successful; the devil is successful for the same reason. The reason is human greed. Other than those who were in need of money, people who burnt themselves during speculation fever and those who wanted venture capital turned to Tom (Irving 40). These people al desired to earn greater wealth. However,

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    It was a sunny day in Piedmont Park of Atlanta, GA where a miserly man named Jake Smith could be found arguing with his girlfriend Jodi Lee about rent for their apartment. He and his girlfriend were notorious for fighting each other amongst others and bringing their problems to the public. Everyone in the city knew the secrets they kept from one another as well as the abuse their dog had taken from their anger. After the altercation the two parted ways and Jake Smith got in his Camry and began down the crowded street.…

    • 432 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    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…

    • 68 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    When a character sells their soul to Satan in a narrative, it is often for receiving something that is usually unachievable, for example, riches, reviving of loved ones, or some other objective of value. But in the end, the soul is usually sent to eternal torment, leaving a lot of troubled people in the wake of destruction behind the damned soul. In Washington Irving’s “The Devil and Tom Walker”, Tom Walker sells his soul to “Old Scratch” (the Devil) as a means of receiving Pirate Kidd’s lost treasure that will fulfill his greedy lust of money. He is so consumed with greed that not only does he refuse to share basic sustenance with his wife earlier in the story, and he also volunteers to more than the devil asks of him.…

    • 384 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    “A soft spoken, dark dressed stranger” (Benet 1) is the image that Benet depicts the devil as in his story. It’s a good contrast to how he’s described in “Tom Walker”. In this story however, the devil is portrayed as a smooth con artist. He has the trade mark “…smile with his teeth” (Benet 1) that portrays a criminal and evil behavior. This smooth criminal uses his brains and cunning to convince Jabez Stone to sell his soul and “… make their bargain” (Benet 1). The devil is portrayed as using his brain than his brawn. This can especially be seen when he doesn’t mind having his contract be held up in court and he resurrects a jury for Dan’l Webster. The reader can see he uses his intellect when he explains ‘“I am merely an honest American like yourself”’ (Benet 3). The devil is portrayed in a different perspective than in “Tom Walker”. The devil in “Tom Walker”…

    • 1184 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    In Washington Irving's short story "The Devil and Tom Walker", the author depicts the main character as a very stereotypical character with little individuality. Tom's actions are easily predicted and his eventual downfall is used to illustrate the story's moral.…

    • 445 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The Devil and Tom Walker

    • 735 Words
    • 3 Pages

    “The Devil and Tom Walker” by Washington Irving, takes place in the swamps of Massachusetts. Upon walking home one night Tom Walker decided to take a shortcut through the swamps. When Tom finds a deserted Indian fort in the woods he meets the devil. The devil makes Tom a deal. The deal that Tom could have all the gold he wanted if he gave the devil his soul. Washington Irving was a famous romanticist, focused on the romantic ideas that nature symbolizes life and supernatural events can be express ideas.…

    • 735 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    The Devil and Tom Walker is a short story, written in 1824 by was Washington Irving. The story takes place in a swamp near Boston, in these swamps there lies a treasure buried by Kidd the Pirate, but guard by satan himself. After many years, Kidd The Pirate is finally caught and sentenced to be lynched for pirating, The devil sought out to sell the treasure at a high cost. Of course, the cost would be the buyers soul, which is a cost not too many people are willing to pay. Tom is a miserly man who has a wife who is more miserly than him, they fought and cheated each other regularly.…

    • 373 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Better Essays

    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,…

    • 2133 Words
    • 9 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    The Devil and Tom Walker is a story based on a German legend. This It shows themes of greed, values, good and evil, and temptation. This short story is about a man named Tom Walker, who is married to who is said to be just as miserable as him. They are both greedy and selfish. Tom takes a shortcut and finds his way into a swamp and stumbles upon what seems to be the devil.…

    • 273 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    The Devil and Tom Walker tells about an ancient legend, reported over town to town, about a greedy man made a pact with the devil, this legend took place in a town called Charles Bay near from Boston, Massachusetts. The legend reports that the pirate captain Kidd buried his threasures around the town local area, but he never came back, because he was captured and hanged. This site which is elevated from the water and allows a lookout to make sure tha no one is approaching the area where the treasure is, here come the tricky part, the treasure is supposed to be guarded by the devil thats why the indian from the town never came closer, but unfortunately someone did and that guy is Tom Walker.…

    • 454 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    In Irving's “the devil and tom walker” he has used symbolism to exemplify the elements of romanticism by using the five characteristics of romantic literature. He uses imagination, idealism, and intuition to create a literary classic that teaches many valuable life lessons. All things considered this is why “the devil and tom walker” is one of the greatest short stories in history. Throughout the entire story imagination is a very prominent aspect, his vivid descriptions and writing allows you to imagine each character and their appearances.…

    • 340 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Near a swamp in 1727, Tom Walker and his wife live there miserly lives. They are so greedy that they try to cheat each other and they are constantly fighting. One day Tom makes a shortcut through the swamp and finds an Indian skull with a tomahawk in it. Tom kicks the skull and hears a voice. He looks up to see it’s a black man sitting on a stump. Tom recognizes him as the Devil. The Devil talks about Kidd’s buried pirates treasure and confirms it is real and offers it to Tom with a catch, Tom’s soul. The devil proves its him by leaving his burned fingerprint in Tom’s forehead. Tom tells his wife and she urges him to accept it. Out of spite, he refuses. The wife decides to make a deal with the Devil and keep the profits for herself. Tom’s wife leaves the house for the Devil, taking all the house’s valuables with her. When she is gone for several days, Tom goes looking for her, because he wants the house’s valuables back. He sees his wife’s apron and thinking it has the valuables in it he opens it and finds her heart and liver. His wife died attempting to make a deal with the Devil. Tom is happy his wife is dead. Tom is grateful of the Devil and accepts his deal. The Devil tells him to become a money broker. One afternoon, Tom is about to foreclose a mortgage. The victim asks for a delay. Tom says, “The devil take me if I have made a farthing!” There are three knocks at his door and the Devil is there with his black horse. Tom’s small bible is in his coat pocket, and his big bible is covered with the mortgage so he can’t prevent the Devil from putting him on the horse. The next day, his house burns down and never returns to town.…

    • 568 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    In the story, Washington Irving uses the characters to create a point of the traits of human beings. The Old Man (Form of the Devil) represents Human temptation and evil within. The murky forest and quagmires represent Tom's clouded mind that helps his mind easily fall for one of the Devil's tricks. Tom himself represents the outspoken knowledge of religious hypocrisy, in which shall be punished later in time for their…

    • 72 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Hansh

    • 2356 Words
    • 10 Pages

    Toward the end of “The Devil and Tom Walker,” Tom begins to wonder what kind of future he faces, given the deal he has made with the Devil. Write an essay about how Tom tries to assume the role of a devoted religious man. Cite three actions he takes toward this end and give your opinion about whether these actions actually change his life.…

    • 2356 Words
    • 10 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Romantic Literature

    • 1122 Words
    • 5 Pages

    Washington Irving uses several romantic elements to tell the story of Tom Walker, an old miserly man who sells his soul the Devil in exchange for wealth. One element that is illustrated is the use of imagination and emotion once Tom became secure in his wealth he started to show how evil he really was, “Let the freebooter roast,’ said Tom; ‘who cares!’ He now felt convinced that all he had heard and seen was no illusion.” (Irving 319). As Tom starts to grow old he realizes how bad his deal with the Devil was, he attempts to undo his wrongdoing by becoming religious. Tom gets out of the deal and is left poor when he asks to be taken if he has made money off of hopeless people, Walker is left with nothing, and his fortune is now worth mere pennies. (Irving 324). Irving also shows an interest in the historic past, the Devil is guarding a hidden treasure buried by Kidd the pirate, the treasure was never recovered because of the pirate being killed. (Irving 312). While Tom Walker was taking a short cut home he comes across old Indian land. “Nothing remained of the old Indian for but a few embankments, gradually sinking to the level of the surrounding earth, and already overgrown in part by oaks and other forest…

    • 1122 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays

Related Topics