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Examples Of Romanticism In The Devil And Tom Walker

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Romanticism may seem all about Love and fairy tales but many people have never heard of the dark side... The dark side of Romanticism includes death, evil intentions and many more things. “The Devil and Tom Walker” is a dark romantic short story about a man named Tom who took a shortcut through the swamp, met Old Scratch, made a deal with him, and was eventually carried away by the Devil because of his greed. In the story, Irving demonstrates dark American Romanticism with emotion, supernatural beings, and greedy and sinful characters. First off, Irving uses emotion throughout the whole short story, which is one of the ways that demonstrates the influence of American Romantic Literature. For example, Irving …show more content…

Sure enough Old Scratch took Tom. The quote shows even though the poor man begged for more time, Tom, the dark and greedy man would not allow it. Emotion is also found when Tom loses his life to the Devil. The text states, “Tom had a lurking dread that the Devil, after all, would have his due. That he might not be taken unawares, therefore, it is said he always carried a small bible in his coat pocket” (Irving --). Tom’s emotion gets a hold of him when he realizes the deal he made with the Devil and what it is going to cost him. The greedy man then tries everything to evade his death, but soon finds out it was impossible. The author implies that Tom was killed by stating, “Away went Tom Walker, dashing down the streets; his white cap bobbing up and down; his morning …show more content…

Tom’s wife goes behind her husband’s back and makes a deal with Old Scratch because she wants all the fortune for herself. The audience realizes soon after that the deal costs her, her life. After this, Tom goes to look for his wife, but instead, searches for all his fortunes that his wife has taken with her. Tom soon makes a deal with the Devil and opens a business within the next few days. These actions show how neither Tom nor his wife really care for each other. They would rather lie and steal, than love one another. Lastly, Larry L. Stewart implies that the wife is greedy when he states, “she greedily urges him to accept the bargain” (Larry L. Stewart 2). This source points out that the wife simply wants more fortune and does not care about what could happen to her husband if he makes a deal with the Old

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The other bounty hunters in town such as Charlie Pink-eye and the ignoble Motor City Hammer are the real heroes. They’re the ones who boast amazing stories of survival, they’re the ones to be feared and revered. If people only knew what a coward Tom was, they wouldn’t be putting him up on a pedestal. Tom begins to train Benny on how to fight and survive in the great Rot & Ruin which is the zombie-infested land surrounding their community. When Tom realizes that Benny has no idea what he does for a living, he takes his younger brother out for a journey into the Rot & Ruin to show him the difference between what he does and what bounty hunters like Charlie Pink-eye and the Motor City Hammer do.

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(pg 272) Overall, The Story of Tom Brennan is a novel about pain and suffering and virtually every main character in it feels some degree of it. Some feel it more than others. Tom suffered tremendously and more than anyone else even when compared to Fin or Daniel, even though Fin was irreversibly harmed physically and Daniel had to life with the debt he felt he owed to everyone. Tom’s life, or what was left of it, was never going back to normal and it was because of

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He had to learn how to play the devil and become smarter than him. The devil took many things away from Tom, but he didn’t let that stop him. This story gave a great lesson, and really brings out the greatness in Irving’s writing. The way Irving writes really portrays the characters with much description really brings them to life.

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At the end, he was taken by the devil and everything he had earned became nothing. “On searching his coffers all his bonds and mortgages were found reduced to cinders. In place of gold and silver his iron chest was filled with chips and shavings; two skeletons lay in his stable instead of his half-starved horses, and the very next day his great house took fire and was burnt to the ground”.(Washington,1824, p.10 ) Similarly, they both deserved what they ask for because they desired something more

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In the conclusion of “The Devil and Tom Walker,” Tom’s time runs out, and the Devil takes him. The text also states, “On searching his coffers, all his bonds and mortgages were reduced to cinders. In place of gold and silver, his iron chest was filled with chips and shavings; two skeletons lay in his stable instead of his half-starved horses, and the very next day his great house took fire and was burned to the ground.” In contrast, “The Devil and Daniel Webster” results in Jabez Stone escaping the Devil’s grasp and keeping his soul. Daniel Webster says to the Devil, "For you 'll sit right down at that table and draw up a document, promising never to bother Jabez Stone nor his heirs or assigns nor any other New Hampshire man till doomsday!”

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The Condemnation of a Greedy Appetite “The Devil and Tom Walker,” written by Washington Irving, is a satirical account of the perils of greed and its effects on Tom Walker in the course of his life. This story is full of characters grotesquely pledged to little more than pursuing their insatiable greed, particularly though Tom Walker and his wife. It is especially through these characters that Irving depicts the moral harms of greed, which corrupt and harm the lives of the greedy

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He was tormented by society because of his actions from his past, towards a child. This, as well as the death of his friend, made Tom suffer severely. Tom, had lots of faith in God, which he though should have helped save his friend. Once Tom lost faith, he agonised and was doubtful of almost everything. This torment can be seen through the simile, “Tom is like the dark interior of a house”, as Tom is looked upon by society as bad and as a madman, going crazy from his past.

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Tom declines the Devil’s offer to spite his wife, with whom he fights with constantly. She

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Satire is used by many famous writers to create humor and to criticize people’s unwise, and senseless actions. As George Orwell once said, "All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others." (Orwell, 1945). People will always be greedy and think they are smarter than others but this is untrue. The one who thinks he is smarter or better than the other will always end up losing in life.

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Irving's writing styles were often symbolized using romanticism as a way of him telling stories. This includes the greed and no thought of consequence in “The devil and Tom Walker”. In the short story “Rip Van Winkle”, it shows romanticism by progress and a sense of individual freedom. Both stories are great examples of romanticism in

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Dark Romanticism evolves from works of the Romantic Period (1798-1870) with characteristics of horror fiction and death. It is taken as a reaction of the Transcendental Movement, which originated abreast the Romantic Period from 1830 to 1860. Known writers like Edgar Allan Poe, Herman Melville, and Nathaniel Hawthorne found that the ideas displayed in the Transcendental works were idealistic and rose-colored, as a result, they opt to alter these works adding their own element hence this was the birth of the subgenre. To explore more about this subgenre we have three Americans mentioned above that are considered as major Dark Romantics authors. Edgar Allan Poe was born in Boston, Massachusetts on January 19, 1809.

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The approach of Irving to the creation of national literary icons which will be accepted and read by every new generation could not be estimated. The activity of Irving in this direction almost always makes him different from the other authors. In “Rip Van Winkle” among the features which could be able to attract the attention of the reader we can point out the tone of the story. Indicating

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