ipl-logo

Comparing Masks In The Devil And Tom Walker

639 Words3 Pages

Many people in the world today try to cover up their darker sides with a "mask" which hides their true self. Often times, however, people's masks are removed and we see them for who they really are. Many politicians today do this when they try to get people to vote for them. They wear a "mask" to veil their darker sides so the public can't see their flaws. The narrator in "The Black Cat" by Edgar Allen Poe and the character Tom Walker in "The Devil and Tom Walker" by Washington Irving wear "masks" to cover up their darker character traits. However, eventually we are exposed to who they really are. Regardless of how hard one tries to conceal their darker traits and motives, the truth always comes out in the end. The narrator in "The Black …show more content…

Tom Walker wears the mask of a super religious person to try and cover up what he has done. He also attempts to appear as a benevolent and kind friend to his clients when he is the complete opposite. For example, "The poor land-jobber begged him to grant a few months' indulgence. Tom had grown testy and irritated, and refused another day"(Irving 330). Tom Walker refuses to give one of his begging clients extra time when clearly he really needed it. 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 Devil takes his soul at the end, and all Walker’s material possessions burn, showings he is an evil man who is ultimately punished for his sins. People may try to hide their flaws, but eventually they are revealed for who they

Show More
Related

  • Literary Techniques In Elie Wiesel's 'Far'

    186 Words  | 1 Pages

    These thoughts along with others couldn’t escape my mind as I was reading this. This quote also acts as a lesson. People aren’t always the way they seem. It only takes a small mask to cover the face of a monster. I can tell this quote is very significant to the book because this is a real

    Read More

  • Use Of Satire In The Devil And Tom Walker

    539 Words  | 3 Pages

    As he grows older, however, Tom begins to regret this decision. To stave off the Devil’s claim over his life, Tom devotes himself to Christianity. Irving’s satire strikes once more when he takes note of Tom’s obnoxious prayers, remarking that his daunting behavior had shocked even the most disciplined of his clergy. To this end, Irving proclaims that an outsider can tell at which points in time between church sessions he had sinned the most should they listen closely

    Read More

  • Similarities Between The Devil And Tom Walker

    1764 Words  | 8 Pages

    Everyone imagines how a deal with the Devil will play out in their head at least once in their life. In several short stories, it is very noticeable the way the authors put little twists into their story as they describe their own version of how a deal with the Devil would play out. Through the use of imagery in Stephen Vincent Benet’s “The Devil and Daniel Webster” and Washington Irving’s “The Devil and Tom Walker,” the authors show how the Devil takes in the men and changes them slowly, revealing the way people change. Stephen Vincent Benet is a very successful author in the Modernism Era. Modernism was a movement toward modifying traditional beliefs in accordance with modern ideas, especially in the Roman Catholic Church in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, according to merriam-webster.com.

    Read More

  • The Devil And Tom Walker Character Analysis Essay

    852 Words  | 4 Pages

    At first, Walker declined just to spite his wife, but after his wife’s death, Walker later made a deal with the devil for Kidd the pirate’s buried treasure. In the end, the outcome was Tom Walker being taken away by the devil after calling upon the devil, not thinking about the consequences. The main character of The Devil and Daniel Webster is Jabez Stone, the Senator of New Hampshire. He started off as a poor farmer who wished for a life of luxury. After breaking an expensive tool while working on the farm, he made a deal with the devil to become the New Hampshire State Senator, making him very wealthy and successful.

    Read More

  • Motivation In The Devil And Tom Walker

    620 Words  | 3 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • Duality In The Scarlet Letter

    438 Words  | 2 Pages

    But by doing this, these people hide parts of themselves from others, making themselves seem one-dimensional. They hide behind these masks they form, and conceal themselves from the terrifying, outside world. Duality is then manifested from this side hidden from society, and for good or for bad, people learn these hidden aspects of themselves. Although others may not yet know of these hidden sides of subjects, one

    Read More

  • Masks in 'We Wear the Mask' and 'To Kill a Mockingbird'

    1218 Words  | 5 Pages

    In Paul Laurence Dunbar’s poem, “We Wear the Mask” the speaker wears a mask to hide his internal suffering because he does not want the rest of the world to think he is weak. This poem relates the prejudice black people face against white people. The speaker starts the poem with the lines, “We wear the mask that grins and lies,” (1). Here he describes the kind of “masks” that he wears.

    Read More

  • The Ambiguity Of Sin In The Minister's Black Veil

    1560 Words  | 7 Pages

    “Most dangerous is that temptation that doth goad us on to sin in loving virtue,” wrote William Shakespeare in describing the threat of falling into sin while seeking to do good. In “The Minister’s Black Veil,” Reverend Hooper dons a black veil and sins against his social responsibilities as a role model and alienates his congregation while attempting to make them more virtuous. Hooper’s choice highlights the ambiguity of sin and sorrow which is present in the reactions of Hooper’s community towards the veil, Hooper’s fiancée’s reaction to the veil, and Hooper himself, all of whom have difficulty grasping the truth and reality of another person. While I have never literally worn a black veil, I can see how I view the world through the “veil”

    Read More

  • Compare And Contrast The Devil And Tom Walker And The Devil And Daniel Webster

    969 Words  | 4 Pages

    In the story, “The Devil and Daniel Webster” the main character is Daniel Webster, and he is a lawyer who helped Jabez Stone from the hands of the devil. He and the devil held the trial in Stone’s kitchen with dead jury and judge. At the end of the story, Daniel appealed to jury and the judge as men who contributed to mankind, and he saved Jabez Stone from the devil. At the same time, he saved himself from the devil. On the contrary, “The Devil and Tom Walker”, the main character, realized that his deal with the devil was bad for him, he tried to deceive the devil.

    Read More

  • Masking And Signification In Ralph Ellison's Invisible Man

    914 Words  | 4 Pages

    Without knowledge of these two black literary traditions, understanding the motives of Brother Jack, and more importantly Dr Bledsoe, are nearly impossible. Masking and signifying were methods of survival for blacks (and whites) trying to make it in the world. They were also ways to take advantage of others who were less informed of the world. Ralph Ellison writes the narrator as a person naive of the world at first, who gradually learns, through masking and signifying, that the world is a colder place than originally thought. The lessons the narrator learns from Dr Bledsoe and Brother Jack go a long way in establishing the identity of the man who chooses to live underground for the remainder of his life.

    Read More

  • Judging Others In The Minister's Black Veil

    977 Words  | 4 Pages

    We all put on a facade to hide our true selves. People are constantly being judged by others on anything and everything people find strange. If you look different from everyone else they will begin to judge you. In the story “The Minister’s Black Veil” the people in the village started to judge Mr.Hooper because of the veil. They all wanted to know why their minister suddenly began to wear a black veil hiding his face from them.

    Read More

  • Supernatural Elements In The Devil And Tom Walker

    532 Words  | 3 Pages

    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

    Read More

  • Examples Of Satire In The Devil And Tom Walker

    978 Words  | 4 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • The Minister's Black Veil Character Analysis

    1136 Words  | 5 Pages

    The main character in “The Minister’s Black Veil”, Mr. Hooper represents how everyone carries a sin with them but some choose to acknowledge it, while others choose to hide them. People may live for long periods of time and say that they are “free of sins”. The truth is everyone carries a sin with them, they just choose to not acknowledge it. This world is filled with people with sins, they may be horrible, while others are not so significant, and others are shared. When people tell their sins to the world everyone looks at them like if they are the devil themselves, or if one did have a sin everyone tries to figure out what that sin is, forgetting that them, themselves also carry sins, but it is much easier to acknowledge others sins.

    Read More

  • African American Literature

    1908 Words  | 8 Pages

    This figurative mask fails to accurately present the issues of the black community to their society. However, the mask also hides the issues of the black community to itself as well. This idea is evident through the mask as it “grins and lies”, creating a false and distorted perception of the reality the black body dwells within. The “grins” the mask portrays is that of the white communities face, as it displays a false sense of friendship and understanding to the black community. Yet, this perception is one based on “lies” as it is just a

    Read More

More about Comparing Masks In The Devil And Tom Walker

Open Document