Comparing Washington Irving's The Devil And Tom Walker

The story “The Devil and Tom Walker” takes place in a stagnant, lonely and treacherous forest. The author, Washington Irving, while writing was also a satirist and a lawyer. He made short fiction popular and was a very original writer. The characters in this story include Tom Walker, Tom Walker’s wife, and the devil. The conflict in this story is when Tom Walker realizes that he does not want to go to hell, so he makes a deal with the devil. Greed and manipulation does not get you far in life. Mrs. Walker’s disappearance in the story was quite interesting. During this time period there was a great amount of imagination, idealism and intuition which had a strong impact on the supernatural speculations that reflect this time period. A community in the present day we live in would go crazy if someone went missing. It would be a big deal and everyone would be looking for them, especially if there was no explanation. Mrs. Walker was a cheater, a hoarder, lonely, and feisty woman. She and Tom Walker did not get a long so there was not much of a surprise that he did not care that she was gone. Tom was also a lonely, in compassionate, nosy, abusive cheater.

The symbols of this story I think can be very closely related to modern times. The symbolism of if you take a shortcut it usually will take you longer than if you take the way you’re supposed to go. I think that this goes along with the story of the Tortoise and the Hare, slow and steady wins the race. I think then and now the greediness, manipulating ways and cheating ways are the same. There is still a lot of all of those different things today and it should change but it doesn’t. I think that people do put on a lot of masks to make people think they’re different than their actual personality is. Tom Walker and the devil both had those type of attitudes along with Tom Walker’s wife. In conclusion greed and manipulation does not get you very far in