Would you give yourself up to the devil to achieve wealth, fame, and power? In "The Devil and Tom Walker" a short story by Washington Irving, first published in 1824. The story tells of a man named Tom Walker. One day, Tom meets the devil, who appears to him in the form of an old dark man and offers him great wealth in exchange for his soul. Tom initially resists the devil's offer, but eventually agrees, and becomes a wealthy and powerful man. Eventually, the devil comes to collect Tom's soul, and Tom is never seen again along with all of his possessions. The story is a cautionary tale about the dangers of greed and the consequences of making deals with the devil. Irving adapts omens and grotesqueness; two gothic elements into this short story. …show more content…
No other person but Tom would have wanted, “to linger in this lonely, melancholy place, for the common people had a bad opinion of it” (Irving 58-59). Also, Tom “waited and waited for her, but in vain: midnight came, but she did not make her appearance: morning, noon, night returned, but still she did not come” (Irving 157-159). The swampy forest in “Devil and Tom Walker” is described to be a lonely and depressing place. As others avoid this place Tom willingly stays in the swampy forest showing he would do what others would not do. While Tom is in the swampy forest he declines the devil's offer. When he reaches his house and later tells his wife about it she personally goes to the same place to strike an offer with the devil herself. Only to not come back because she is never heard from again. Irving used an omen to create suspicion about what could have happened to Tom’s
REAL ESTATE BROKERS AND SALES AGENTS. The foreclosure of the properties from defaulted mortgages from clients that are unhappy and unwilling to follow legal proceedings. This problem connects to the theme of the story The Devil and Tom Walker because if you get a loan to buy a house then it shows competance to pay the loan back without valunable to foreclosure for your family so not as when Tom did not make solid ethical choices for himself and his wife when he refused to comply with her to pursue rich of their life and let her go to the swamp by herself as in the story "The next evening she set off again for the swamp, with her apron heavily laden.
Tom is regretting his decision to sell his soul, but he was already to far into temptation and too far in with the devil that there was nothing for him to do to get away from the devil. Based on
Although Tom’s being sold marked a significant turning point in Tom’s family relations, Tom’s being sold overall did not mark a turning point in his religion or in his treatment, in that before and after his being sold, Tom was a devout Christian, and in that before and after his being sold, Tom was treated relatively well. Tom’s being sold marked a significant turning point in Tom’s family relations. Firstly, before he was sold, Tom lived with his family at the Shelby farm. Tom had a wife, called Aunt Chloe, and children.
Do you want to sell your soul? If so you might want to rethink your choice. In “The Devil and Tom Walker”, Tom Wa;ler is a miserable man who has troubles with his wife. One day, he is walking in the woods and comes upon Old Scratch who is able to make all of his problems go away. But he isn’t careful with his words and Scratch comes back for revenge.
And when Tom tells his wife about the strange encounter, she greedily pleads and encourages him to accept the devils’ offer (Page 319, Line 151), but only to spite her he refuses (Page 319, Line 153-156). “He was not damned to please her.” (Page 319, Line 155). When she finds that she is unable to change his mind, she sets out to find the devil herself, planning to offer her own soul for the same prize, a rumored buried treasure. She takes all of her household possessions that were worth anything of value, and sets out to find old scratch.
As his security progressively grows, it makes him wearier of the consequences of the Devil. Tom begins to carry a bible with him and becomes a “violent churchgoer.” Tom is blind to his sins and thinks one good thing can make up for all the bad. Tom has a “lurking dread that the Devil, after all, would have his due.” The Devil does eventually punish Tom for all his greed and
Tom and his wife are so “miserly” that they feel like they are lacking something at all times, they “conspired to cheat each other” out of things people would consider “common property”(2). This illustrates a very greedy and unhappy marriage, as their actions, fueled by greed and selfishness, interfere with their ability to live happily. The only times Tom ever seems to be happy is when money is involved, and even then its not complete happiness. The first time he experienced happiness came after his wife disappeared into the swamp when in search for the devil, whom Tom had met the previous afternoon. Tom went out looking for her, as he was worried for her safety, “especially [when] he found she had carried off in her apron the silver...and every portable article of value”(8).
A Faustian Bargain is when a person makes a deal for something valuable that they desire, like wealth or knowledge, in exchange for something important, like their soul. Most Faustian Bargains are deals done with the devil, or someone with a lot of power. Tom Walker is the main character in “The Devil and Tom Walker”. He was a miserly, greedy man, who had an equally greedy and abusive wife. When Walker told his wife about his encounter with the devil, she encouraged him to make the deal.
This is the total opposite of being a friend to his clients, he takes their money and leaves them with nothing. Tom does things to try and cover up what he has done. For example, "That he might not be taken unawares, therefore, it is said he always carried a small Bible in his coat pocket"(Irving 330). He attends church frequently and also keeps a bible at his workplace; Tom wants to come off as a kindhearted person. Towards the end of the short story Tom is exposed for who he truly is.
The selling of one’s soul to the devil is caused by one’s goal to obtain something of great value like, fame, fortune and power. Which leads one to getting hurt or losing everything. The story and the movie had various motivations, by dealing with the consequences. Foremost, In Washington Irving's “The Devil and Tom Walker” demonstrates his motivation of greed by dealing with the devil.
Earlier when he got the idea his "smile stretched like a weary snake waking up by a fire. " The snake simile suggests the devil and evil acts, as opposed to his chance at salvation. He will choose to listen to this devil as he abandons Lucynell, an angel of Gawd, at The Hot Spot. Throughout the story Tom had showed some good in him but ultimately he was evil. He was only looking to his own advantage and did whatever he felt the need to to get there.
In the short story titled The Devil And Tom Walker,Washington Irving explains that no matter how hard life is going to never sell our soul. For instance, Tom wanted to save his wife but in ordinary to save her Tom had to sell his soul. Irving’s asserts that walker had to sell his store to save his wife from dying. The author’s purpose is to convince that the audience should should never sell their soul no matter the situation. The author writes in an serious tone for the audience to realize that selling out isn’t the right thing to do.
Through the actions of each character, more specifically, Tom and his wife. Both Tom and his wife show extreme greed when they show they do not care for one another, but for the idea of gaining more wealth. When Tom tells his wife of Kidd’s treasure and his encounter with the Black Man, his wife urges him to accept the deal, however, “...the more she talked, the more resolute was Tom not to be damned to please her. At length she determined to drive the bargain on her own account, and, if she succeeded, to keep all the gain to herself” (Irving 3). This quote alone gives a detailed look into the greed filled character that Tom’s wife is; later on when she goes off to make a deal with the devil, she never returns.
Washington Irving wrote many wonderful romanticism stories. One of these stories, “The Devil and Tom Walker”, involves a man, making a deal with the Devil. It begins when the elderly man, Tom Walker, walks through a marsh one day instead of his usual route home through the town. He walked in the marsh until water seeped into his shoe, and he sat down to drain the water, and saw a black man, who he later found out was the Devil, sitting on a stump, looking at him. They talked for a while, until Tom asked the Devil, “‘The upshot of all which is, that, if I'm not mistake not,’ said Tom, sturdily, ‘you are he commonly called Old Scratch’.
In all three novels “The Feather Pillow” by Horacio Quiroga, “Prey” by Richard Matherson, and “ The Devil and Tom Walker” by Washington Irving all have an eloquent amount of elements all including Mystery/ambiguity: and a supernatural force included in their short stories. The authors purpose for these elements are to give the reader a thrill of mystery and supernatural forces that defy the nature of our world and fill the story with action, all wile keeping the reader reading to the end wile keeping them on the edge of their seat waiting to see what happens next. Each novel has supernatural forces teeming inside it ,effecting the novel and also adding -a so called- villain for the novel. First the short story “prey” by Matherson, has a supernatural