Abuse In Washington Irving's The Devil And Tom Walker
Mrs. Walker’s abuse of her husband is only one facet of her twisted psyche. Washington Irving’s tale, “The Devil and Tom Walker,” satirically criticizes the people of 1720s Boston for their greed through characters such as Mrs. Walker. Because her motivation is control, Mrs. Walker’s psychological state is abusive and her actions result in her death. Mrs. Walker’s violent tendencies often victimize Tom and expose her as an abusive character. Irving writes (2010), “Her voice was often heard in wordy warfare with her husband; and his face sometimes showed signs that their conflicts were not confined to words.” (p. 230). Tom’s face shows signs of physical turmoil, such as scratches or bruises, which his wife inflicts. Not only does Mrs. Walker fight her husband, but also the Devil. “Tom knew his wife’s prowess by experience.” (Irving, 2010, p. 234) Tom’s reflection on the aftermath of Mrs. …show more content…
Walker’s abusive actions reveal her controlling nature and motivations. She yearns for power over others as “…she urged her husband to comply with the black man’s terms and secure what would make them wealthy for life.” (Irving, 2010, p. 233) Mrs. Walker also craves jurisdiction over money, as she takes their valuables as a sort of insurance. Lastly, these two motivations come together as she attempts to force Tom to sell his soul so she can reap the benefits of the acquired wealth. Mrs. Walker’s greedy actions, along with her thirst for control, were key components to her demise by the Devil’s hand. Just as Tom is unwilling to give up money, “He had a wife as miserly as himself,” his wife matches his avarice (Irving, 2010, p. 229). She may even be more desperate for wealth, as she is eager to take up the Devil’s deal when Tom declines. She immediately sets out with their assets, another attempt at maintaining power over riches, and searches for the Devil. Although he refuses to deal with her, she will not accept it, and engages him in combat, ultimately losing her
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331 Words | 2 Pagesher husband was continually prying about to detect her secret hoards." Tom Walker wanted nothing but wealth. We again see that he is greedy due to his actions on page three hundred and nineteen to three hundred and twenty, lines one hundred and eighty eight
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814 Words | 4 PagesWalker was fast building “an empire in the trey tradition of American enterprise—producing products in her own factory, recruiting a nationwide sales group to sell them, and making and owning sops of beauty that used and promoted them (Madame). Walker knew she had to sell her products on a national level if she wanted to make a large fortune. She made a chain of beauty parlors through the U.S., South America, and the Caribbean. By 1910, she recruited five thousand black agents to sell her products on a commission basis (C.J.) By 1917, the Madame C.J. Walker Manufacturing Company was “the largest Black-owned business in the country” with yearly income of about $500,000. A lot of the success was built around Black women known as “Walker agents” and they became familiar sights around the Caribbean and the U.S. with their white blouses and long black skirts (Madame).
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Madam J Walker Biography
444 Words | 2 PagesImagine growing up on a cotton plantation to former slaves in Delta, becoming an “orphan at the age of 7, becoming a wife at the age of 14, a mother at 17 and a widow at 20?” This all describes the early life of Sarah Breedlove, better known as Madam C.J Walker. “She supported her family by washing laundry and she used her earning as a laundress to pay for her daughter’s education at Knoxville College” .In 1889, Madam C.J Walker moved to St. Louis in search of a better future.
Archetypes In The Devil And Tom Walker
676 Words | 3 PagesWalker is another archetype of vile human traits. Mrs. Walker archetype is also greed. The narrator introduces, “whatever the woman could lay hands on she hid away…” (Irving online). The author describes Mrs. Walker as a greedy woman who takes anything she finds for herself.
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1399 Words | 6 Pagesshows the readers that that vanity and lack of self-awareness can make some vulnerable and easily fall for the evilness of the world. Because Connie became vulnerable, she was easily persuaded by Arnold, who was portrayed as the Devil figure and the darkness that exists, to leave her the known safety of her home and to embark on the road to the unclear future. Oates’s story teaches the readers to be cautious of their surroundings and of the people that are unfamiliar to them that live in the same society. That is because even if someone appears to look a certain way they might have a mask that hides the true darkness and evilness that is in their body and
Rhetorical Analysis Of The Devil And Tom Walker
336 Words | 2 PagesIn 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.
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925 Words | 4 PagesTom cared more about his affair with Myrtle than his own wife. Neither Tom nor Daisy truly wanted to be in the relationship. George had his life all mixed up not knowing that Myrtle is being unfaithful to him. These instances of dishonesty from all of these characters against each other result in their own twisted realities due to unfaithfulness and dishonesty.
Comparing Romanticism In The Devil And Tom Walker
619 Words | 3 PagesWashington 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’.
Supernatural Elements In The Devil And Tom Walker
532 Words | 3 PagesIn 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
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Class Division In A Raisin In The Sun
923 Words | 4 PagesWalter is upset and is trying to cope and make mama understand that him receiving the money from the white man to not to move in will of regain. “Men are expected to be breadwinners, yet providing for one’s family with little or no help has negative repercussions,” said lead author Christin Munsch. Mama was upset that he didn’t listen and that he lived up to the vision of how the whites seen them, Careless and destructive. This is why mama thought it to be all in her hands because Walter as man was distraught and she felt it was a women's jobs because they do everything else. This showed feminism by mama wanting to stay in control and Walter being a man wanting/feeling like he had to be the “breadwinner” because its a mans
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