In addition to its use of literary devices, Irving's story has many characteristics of writing from the Romantic time period. Like most Romantic stories, the element of the supernatural is obvious in 'The Devil and Tom Walker.' The fact that the Devil is as real as any other character in the story is beyond the realms of reality, as is Tom's literal compact with him. This reinforces, too, the Romantic tendency to gain wisdom from the past. The Puritans believed the woods were filled with evil and that the Devil was behind every tree. Irving's story quite literally reinforces that idea. We can also see evidence of the Romantic view that the city is a place of moral corruption. The setting for this story is Boston, and it is here that Tom does the Devil's work. He is a corrupt soul who is taking advantage of people for monetary gain. His corruption finally ends when he is whisked back into the forest. While it's not exactly the escape he wants, it is an escape from, or maybe a punishment for, his corrupted life. …show more content…
One of the early examples of this was of the skull that Tom discovered buried under the ground with a tomahawk in its skull. It showed the greed and destruction of the colonists that conquered the land and how they had warred with the Native Americans. Tom also displayed throughout the story his immense greed and selfishness. His humorous display of greed was especially shown when he went looking for his wife after she had been missing for days.... A subtle symbolism for greed occurred at the end of the story when Tom set his “green spectacles” on his bible to mark his place while he turned around to “drive some usurious bargain.” Green spectacles, the color of American notes and symbolic for greed, was used to enhance his sight. Tom was driven to make money for him and the devil, yet ironically he was reading the bible with those glasses, another example of the black humor displayed in the