Greed In Washington Irving's The Devil And Tom Walker

In the story “ The Devil and Tom Walker” by Washington Irving, the theme of greed is exaggerated through Tom Walker’s life story. Throughout the story, Walker’s estranged and miserly relationship with his wife, his self-beneficial life choices that harm others, and his unfortunate and pitiful death, demonstrate horrible occurrences in a greed-filled lifestyle. Irving also elucidates to readers that consistent desires and the feelings of dissatisfaction towards everything will eventually lead to an undesirable ending. Emphasis on the above aspects of his life however, is placed to inevitably reveal that Tom Walker’s consistent and developing greed throughout the story suggest how human beings have an instinctive desire that invariably grows. In Tom Walker’s life, his relationship with his wife reveals that his greed overcame the precious bond of marriage and continued to grow. In the beginning of the story, Irving explains how Tom Walker would deal with his wife stating, “Her husband was continually prying about to detect her secret

Several instances in Tom Walker’s life suggest that became a corrupt and immoral human because of his overbearing trait of greed. Irving uses these instances and Tom’s life on the whole to caution readers of the results of greed. By making Walker’s personality rotten and full of greedy intentions, Walker’s life can be viewed as shameful and unappealing. This perspective makes an impression on readers and enhances Irving’s message explained in the last paragraph of the story. Using Tom Walker’s life as an example of what life choices not to make, Irving warns reader to steer away from their personal greed in order to remain good people. Hence, Tom Walker’s greediness in the story serves as an outlet for the author to indicate faults in humanity and make readers aware of their