“Tom was a hard-minded fellow, not easily daunted, and he had lived so long with a termagant wife, that he did not even fear the devil.” The Devil and Tom Walker takes place a few miles from Boston, Massachusetts, inland from the Charles Bay. The short story was written in 1824, by Washington Irving. Tom Walker is the protagonist of the story, one day he takes a shortcut home, he goes through the forest which is also a swamp and meets the devil known as “Old Scratch.” Tom sells his soul to Old Scratch, in order to make agreements with him. The Devil and Tom Walker is the best example of Romanticism by demonstrating the tenets of Individuality, Nature is a form of spirituality, and Interest in things outside the realm of the “normal.”
A tenet of romanticism is individuality, individuality is a particular person or thing that distinguishes them from the others. As far as the romantic quality of individuality goes, the author specifically portrays Tom as an individual which is someone who makes his own path in life, and …show more content…
This can be explained as the interest of ghosts/spirits or dreams, insanity. Interest in things that are hard to see and are not in this realm of what people call “normal.” An example of this is the disappearance of Tom Walker’s wife who was never seen or heard from again. The only thing found to explain her whereabouts was her apron hanging from a tree containing a heart and liver. Another example could be when in the story both Tom and his wife act out of greed to "strike a bargain" with the Devil and mess with the supernatural in doing so. When the Devil calls to collect his soul, Tom is mysteriously swept away toward the Indian burial grounds on a striking black horse and is never heard from again. This element fits in the ideas of Romanism by Tom and his wife both going missing and the mysteries the weird. Tenets are shown throughout this
A tenet of romanticism is individuality, individuality is a particular person or thing that distinguishes them from the others. As far as the romantic quality of individuality goes, the author specifically portrays Tom as an individual which is someone who makes his own path in life, and …show more content…
This can be explained as the interest of ghosts/spirits or dreams, insanity. Interest in things that are hard to see and are not in this realm of what people call “normal.” An example of this is the disappearance of Tom Walker’s wife who was never seen or heard from again. The only thing found to explain her whereabouts was her apron hanging from a tree containing a heart and liver. Another example could be when in the story both Tom and his wife act out of greed to "strike a bargain" with the Devil and mess with the supernatural in doing so. When the Devil calls to collect his soul, Tom is mysteriously swept away toward the Indian burial grounds on a striking black horse and is never heard from again. This element fits in the ideas of Romanism by Tom and his wife both going missing and the mysteries the weird. Tenets are shown throughout this