William Irving, the pioneer of American Gothic literature, created macabre stories, aberrant to popular literature of the time, with deeply moral endings. In “The Devil and Tom Walker,” Irving crafts an enthralling story of the consequences of an array of character flaws. Tom Walker, the main character of Irving’s literary masterpiece, is avaricious, narcissistic and hypocritical.
Walker displays a nature of being avarice to the point of self-destruction and to the point of being witless and inane. In the beginning of “The Devil and Tom Walker,” Tom and his wife are painted as excessively greedy to the point of “[conspiring] to cheat each other” out of their material wealth, which should’ve been common property. Tom, often searching for items hidden …show more content…
Focusing once more on the death of his wife, he shows no empathy towards her grim passing. Instead, the loss of his property is consoled with “the loss of his wife;” the narcissism is clear as only Tom and his needs, wants and feelings matter. Walker can’t take a moment to grieve for her, but grieves for himself instead. Tom also doesn’t seem attached to her in the slightest way, common for narcissists, and feels “gratitude toward the black woodsman.” The scene eventually goes towards a comedic moment, when Tom Walker realizes a fight must’ve ensued before his wife was killed and jokes that “Old Scratch must have had a tough time.” Tom lacks obvious empathy towards other humans, grieves for himself instead of a murdered spouse, and shows signs of true narcissism, if not full blown antisocial personality disorder. In his following bargain, the Devil explains that Tom will become a money lender, charging “two cents a month,” in which Walker exclaims, “Ill charge four!” Excessively charging money, inevitably making people have economic problems, Tom shows a disregard for others once again as long as it benefits him and his interests.
Walker displays a nature of being avarice to the point of self-destruction and to the point of being witless and inane. In the beginning of “The Devil and Tom Walker,” Tom and his wife are painted as excessively greedy to the point of “[conspiring] to cheat each other” out of their material wealth, which should’ve been common property. Tom, often searching for items hidden …show more content…
Focusing once more on the death of his wife, he shows no empathy towards her grim passing. Instead, the loss of his property is consoled with “the loss of his wife;” the narcissism is clear as only Tom and his needs, wants and feelings matter. Walker can’t take a moment to grieve for her, but grieves for himself instead. Tom also doesn’t seem attached to her in the slightest way, common for narcissists, and feels “gratitude toward the black woodsman.” The scene eventually goes towards a comedic moment, when Tom Walker realizes a fight must’ve ensued before his wife was killed and jokes that “Old Scratch must have had a tough time.” Tom lacks obvious empathy towards other humans, grieves for himself instead of a murdered spouse, and shows signs of true narcissism, if not full blown antisocial personality disorder. In his following bargain, the Devil explains that Tom will become a money lender, charging “two cents a month,” in which Walker exclaims, “Ill charge four!” Excessively charging money, inevitably making people have economic problems, Tom shows a disregard for others once again as long as it benefits him and his interests.