Comparing Romanticism In The Devil And Tom Walker

Romanticism is a type of story that finds inspiration in myth, legend, and folk culture. Following this principle, Washington Irving has written many stories about romanticism. These stories include, “The Devil and Tom Walker” and “Rip Van Winkle. Irving’s stories, “The Devil and Tom Walker, and “Rip Van Winkle” both show traits of romanticism because they both include the supernatural realm, youthful innocence over sophistication, shunning civilization, and folk culture.

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’. ‘The same at your service!’ replied the black man, with a half civil nod” (Irving 3). The Devil finally made it known that the marsh belonged to him, and came to Tom for a deal. Furthermore, after the Devil made himself known,

Tom Walker made a deal with the Devil, making himself the usurer for the Devil’s money. The Devil is part of a supernatural realm which is shown numerous times in romanticism stories. Rip Van Winkle helped a strange man carry a keg up a mountain, and then woke up on the mountain a few years later, after the Revolutionary a War had already occurred. This too is an example of romanticism because the man somehow made him sleep through a few years without realizing it. That is why Washington Irving’s stories are examples of