Character Analysis: The Devil In Tom Walker

Foremost, Tom was a very greedy man with that motivation it led him to selling his soul to the Black Man. For example, in the story, “The Devil and Tom Walker “ the devil says to him, “you shall lend money at two percent, a month” he replied, “I’ll charge four!! “ This demonstrates Toms greediness since he took advantage of the less wealthy making himself wealthier. Additionally, in the story it said, “Tom built himself, as usual, a vast house, out of ostentation; but

Flannery O'Connor was a devoted Catholic, and , as exhibited in most of her stories, "The Life You Save May Be Your Own" has Christian themes of redemption and grace. Lucynell Craters, the only innocent character in the story, symbolizes purity and is described as "an angel of Gawd." Her character acts stop the shifty, self-serving Mr. Shiftlet and help him reach redemption. In “The Life You Save May Be Your Own,” O’Connor uses religious symbolism to emphasize spiritual struggles between good and evil and how humans are only looking for their own advantage.

The Devil and Tom Walker is a short story published in 1824 by Washington Irving. The story takes place during 1724 in the colony of Massachusetts when Tom Walker, who is a greedy miser, happens to meet an old lumberjack in the nearby swamp. This lumberjack is known as Old Scratch and offers Tom immense wealth, specifically the treasure of Kidd the Pirate, in exchange for Tom’s soul. Tom initially needs time to ponder the offer, but eventually accepts it after his wife dies trying to fulfill the deal herself. Tom lives his whole life as an usurer, while still being just as cheap as he was, eventually getting taken by Old Scratch and fulfilling his end of the bargain. The Devil and Tom Walker is an allegory to many topics such as temptation,

Literature has been around for many ages. There are many different types of literature fro. many different times. The way people write has changed throughout the years. American literature is commonly talk about because it is well liked, although sometimes it can be hard to understand if you are currently a student. There is nothing quite like the stories that were written in this time. The Devil and Tom Walker, The devil and Daniel Webster, The Man in the Black Suit, and The Scarlet Letter all things in common because they all describe the devil in a special way along with authors of the stories were all men.

Satire is used by many famous writers to create humor and to criticize people’s unwise, and senseless actions. As George Orwell once said, "All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others." (Orwell, 1945). People will always be greedy and think they are smarter than others but this is untrue. The one who thinks he is smarter or better than the other will always end up losing in life. In the short story “The Devil and Tom Walker” by Washington Irving, satire is incorporated in a perfect way. This story is about Tom Walker, who makes a pact with the devil, and ends up lending money at high interest rates. When Tom Walker thinks he is smarter than his customers and does not give more time to one of his customers to pay him back, Tom’s life ends in an instant. Through the use of satire Irving criticizes the institution of marriage and the folly of human nature.

Foremost, In Washington Irving's “The Devil and Tom Walker” demonstrates his motivation of greed by dealing with the devil. For example, “ let us get hold of the property,” said he, consolingly to himself, “and we will endeavor to do without the woman.”(P.234 Irving) This demonstrates how Tom jumped at the chance to deal with the devil after his wife died because he didn't want to makes wife happy and he didn't want to share the wealth with her. It shows how Tom walker doesn't like sharing things with anybody. Additionally, In “ Snow White

Things do not go well for her and she never returns. As life goes on for Tom he does become extremely wealthy by the deal he and the devil made. Tom now works for the devil. One day Tom has a customer named Roy. Roy becomes furious with Tom’s prices and refuses to buy it. Once Roy leaves, the sky turns dark and Tom gets scared. He goes to lock the doors in his office because he knows what is about to happen. Tom’s end of the deal was to sell insurance at ridiculous prices and every customer must buy the insurance. With Roy leaving without purchasing the insurance, Tom had failed. Now the devil has come to take Tom’s soul. As Tom turns to run, he is paralyzed and cannot move. The floor of the building opens up and two gigantic hands ascend and drag Tom down to Hell. No one ever sees or hears from Tom

Walker 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. Not only does she take them, but she also hides them from Tom so he is unable to find them. The narrator illustrates, “… found nothing but a heart and liver tied up.”(Irving online). Since, Mrs. Walker was not the purest of being of beings when she tried making a deal with the devil, he did not like what she proposed to him. The Devil killed Mrs. Walker but left the heart and liver since they were so tainted by who Mrs. Walker was that they have no value. Overall, Mrs. Walker’s archetypes of greed led to her own

In both “The Devil and Daniel Webster and “The Devil and Tom Walker, they both came face to face with the devil. They had different strategies on how to confront the devil. In the two short stories, the resolution, the depictions of the devil, and the role of religion or the saving grace are the similar and different things.

Nature was introduced in romantic novels and poems. In the poem ‘’Thanatopisis’’ by William Cullen Bryant he described death to something that was peaceful and to be embraced. He believed that you become one with nature, one with earth once you die. But in the poem ‘’Devil and Tom Walker’’ by Washington Irving he described death to be evil, sinful. He believed death to horrifying and something to not be embraced. Here are some examples of elements.

The Great Gatsby is a book that contains an abundance of motifs. F Scott Fitzgerald uses

Tom Walker comes across the devil when walking through the woods on his way home. The devil reels Tom Walker in by speaking of money hidden away, the devil tells Tom Walker he can help him obtain the money on certain terms. We know Tom Walker is greedy because on page three hundred and fourteen, lines seventeen through twenty two, "...there lived near this place a meager, miserly fellow, the name of Tom Walker. He had a wife as miserly as himself: they even conspired to cheat each other. ..her husband was continually prying about to detect her secret hoards." Tom Walker wanted nothing but wealth.

Washington Irving was the author of “The Devil and Tom Walker”, in his early life he began to study to be a lawyer, but soon falling away from that finding he had more interest in traveling and writing. Irving’s work including, “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow” and “Rip Van Winkle”, became known as an important part of American heritage today. The setting was in New England, the year 1727, just at the time that earthquakes were prevaled. Around the area of where Tom Walker had lived with his wife, Tom had found an old Indian fort which he chose to rest at on his way homeward. The main characters in “The Devil and Tom Walker” are obviously the Devil, “a great black man...neither Negro nor Indian” and Tom Walker who was a “miserly fellow”. Another

Tom Walker is the main character of the story, he is a hypocrite and works for the devil. Tom Walker has a wife who is greedy and is later tempted by the gold that was offered to him and ends up killed.

In the novel the Running Man the author, Michael Bauer, captures the experiences of a marginalised character, Tom Leyton. The main characters of this novel are Joseph and Tom Leyton. The author reveals what occurred to a Vietnam war veteran, Tom Leyton after the Vietnam war, as well as how he was excluded from society because he had post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Tom was shut out from society because of his illness.The author represents this through isolation, marginalisation and experiences of torment in society.