The Devil And Tom Walker Greed Essay

“The Devil and Tom Walker” written in 1727 by Washington Irving, tells of a greedy man, Tom Walker, who makes a deal with the devil in order to fulfill his need of wanting money. As a result of this, he becomes a prisoner of his own wealth and ultimately dies from his greed (Irving). Tom let power and wealth get the best of him, as many people do, and eventually wealth and greed got the best of him and he went up in flames. This can be the result of making a deal with the devil. Greed is a powerful thing, it will control life, thoughts, and even actions. When the deal is first presented to Tom by Old Scratch, the devil, he refuses because he realizes that he would be obligated to share his wealth with his wife, he greed over powers him, and he turns the deal down. Tom says he “will not be a slave of the devil” and goes home, but not after the devil leaves his mark on him (Irving). When Toms …show more content…
Tom tried to cheat the devil when he decided to rededicate his life the God. However, the irony of the story is that Tom is a greedy many and takes money from the needy, and in return he devil takes his life (Irving). The reason the devil set Tom on fire is because he was trying to escape the devil by getting closer to God. He done the devil wrong and was punished, however; Tom done the needy wrong and it came back to get him. Everything comes back around, it’s how life works. Irony is greed are two main things in this story. Although, could irony and greed not be one in the same? Greedy people normally do bad against others and get bad done unto them. The irony in “The Devil and Tom Walker” is that he does bad to others and bad is done unto him. In today’s society it would be like “what comes around goes around”. These statements and this story relate to all of humanity because it shows that in fact every action has a reaction. One cannot do something without there being a result from that