The Devil and Tom Walker

Of the many works published in the 19th century, Hop-Frog by Edgar Allan Poe and The Devil and Tom Walker by Washington Irving are some of the most well known and thought provoking. Whereas Hop-Frog is a short story about a king, his seven ministers, and the king’s jester, Hop-Frog, who exacts his revenge in a gruesome and ghastly way, The Devil and Tom Walker consists of a greedy man who makes a deal with the devil in exchange for a lavish lifestyle. On a superficial level, these two short…

had a different portrayal of the Devil, function of faith, and ending. The Faust Legend, which has been used in many stories, played a big role in “The Devil and Daniel Webster” and “The Devil and Tom Walker.” A large portion of the similarities between the two stories stem from their roots in the Faust legend. The Faust Legend is basically the prospect of someone selling their soul to the Devil. “The Devil and Tom Walker” showed a dirty, uncouth Devil. This Devil was ruthless and underhanded.…

How far would you go for love? Happiness? Fame?. The pieces of literature I will be analysing for this essay are “The Monkeys Paw”, “The Devil in Tom Walker”, and “The Masque of the Red Death”. I believe that in all romantic literature works, the protagonists has an urge or pull to do something, but gets warned a couple times before something bad happens to stop to walk away. The protagonists doesn’t listen and has to face the consequences(With the exception of “The Monkey's Paw”) The first…

deeply rooted trait in humans. Washington Irving’s, “The Devil and Tom Walker” makes a quite controversial statement for its time on this theme. All through the beginning, Irving reiterates that Tom is a strong and “fearless” hardworking man who lives a meager life. Tom’s family has just enough to survive. Irving paints the Walker home as “ a forlorn-looking house that stood alone and had an air of starvation.” Irving makes note that the Walkers have do not have much money, but he also makes it…

society. Nevertheless, the author’s subtlety plays an important role in hiding these humorous statements all along his master pieces. Irving’s short story The Devil and Tom Walker is no exception to this satire-use pattern. The tale narrates the story of a stereotypical American man named Tom Walker who trades his soul for money with the devil. The novelist creates humor in his story by satirizing the institution of marriage and human ambition. One of the first things Irving satirizes in the…

arguably most controversial president has caused an uproar of citizens concerned that Donald Trump will ruin America society as we know it. President Trump is not the cause behind America’s flaws because American has always been flawed. “The Devil and Tom Walker” by Washington Irving and “The Black Cat” by Edgar Allen Poe comment on the imperfections of American society by exploring concepts of valuing the individual over group, favoring ignorant decisions over logical ones, and the skewed view…

In the short story “The Devil and Tom Walker”, published in 1824 by Washington Irving, a conversion from an illustrative, descriptive tone to a revealing tone is a technique the author uses to give the reader an insight into the selfishness and greed of the character Tom Walker and his wife. Many literary elements are used in writings from this period in time and even writings from the present in order to convey a lesson, or moral, for the person reading to take away from the piece of literature…

“The Devil and Tom Walker”, Washington Irving, became a famed author of 19th century America. He was born in New York and became one of the first American fiction authors to gain international acclaim. Irving began his career writing satire essays, and he was specifically known for his works, “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow” and “Rip Van Winkle.” In his work “The Devil and Tom Walker”, he tells the story of a man and woman whose greed was to such an extent that they both made deals with the devil.…

to reading. The Devil and Tom Walker (page 151), Thanatopsis (page 166), and from Song of Myself (page 316), are all three staggering poems/short stories that show romanticism. These poems/short stories show emotion, warmth, and tenderness. All three pieces of literature are breathtakingly composed, and the emotion really comes through to you as you read. Another very important aspect to Romanticism is Transcendentalism.…

Moreover, another characteristic of romanticism that connects to the three stories “The Scarlet Letter”, “The Minister’s Black Veil”, and “The Devil and Tom Walker” is individualism. Individualism is shown throughout these stories in different ways. In the story “The Scarlet Letter”, Nathaniel Hawthorne shows individuality in Hester. He showed Hester’s individualism by making her the only one to wear the scarlet letter “A” and also making her different from everyone else. Even though the letter…