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The Devil And Tom Walker Essay

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“The Devil and Tom Walker” is a short story by, Washington Irving that exhibits two romantic characteristics. The story is in Boston, Massachusetts, about a man named Tom Walker who meets the Devil on his way home. The Devil proposes a deal with Tom, but he refuses. Tom later returns home and tells his miserly wife about it, and she tries to make a deal with the Devil herself but ends up dying. Tom ultimately agrees to make a deal with the Devil, becoming a usurer for the Devil's money, which makes him absurdly wealthy. However, the Devil returns to take Tom away, never seen again. Throughout the story, Washington Irving skillfully portrays the romantic characteristics of nature and spirituality. The first romantic characteristic shown in the
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In Washington Irving's story "The Devil and Tom Walker," the narrator Geoffrey Crayon personifies both the romantic aspect of the poem's nature which is gloomy but has romantic qualities and the devil, who is evil and dark. Mid-nineteenth-century Transcendentalism sparked the development of Dark Romanticism as a reaction. Dark Romanticism has a strong emphasis on the supernatural, on dark decaying environments and animals, and on evil characters that are prone to committing sins that will ultimately lead to their own demise. The presence of the supernatural is the first aspect of Dark Romanticism that Irving included in "The Devil and Tom Walker. " The story as a whole shows evidence of the supernatural, but one phrase in particular stood

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In each work of literature we’ve read this unit are all written by romantic writers. In “The Devil and Tom Walker”, the author Washington Irving, uses imagination, and nature that are traits of romanticism. The author displays nature as the setting of the story, and uses the nature to bring to story alive. He also uses imagination to bring the story alive, and emphasize of the description of the Devil. Another work of literature we read this unit was “The Fall of the House of Usher” by Edgar Allan Poe.

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Washington Irving was the author of “The Devil and Tom Walker”, in his early life he began to study to be a lawyer, but soon falling away from that finding he had more interest in traveling and writing. Irving’s work including, “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow” and “Rip Van Winkle”, became known as an important part of American heritage today. The setting was in New England, the year 1727, just at the time that earthquakes were prevaled. Around the area of where Tom Walker had lived with his wife, Tom had found an old Indian fort which he chose to rest at on his way homeward. The main characters in “The Devil and Tom Walker” are obviously the Devil, “a great black man...neither Negro nor Indian” and Tom Walker who was a “miserly fellow”.

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The short story “The Devil and Tom Walker” by Washington Irving was a story based on Gothic Romanticism. Gothic Romanticism is a story written with horror and death with a magistical suspense. The Devil and Tom Walker has many characteristic pertaining gothic romanticism. The setting is medieval in a way that relates to gothic romanticism. The setting of the story “The Devil and Tom Walker “is described as a thick wooded swamp where there is a deep inlet that has two sides to it.

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Technical Details of the Story: A: Setting: The story takes place in Boston Massachusetts, around 1727 in Tom Walker’s house,swamp, and Indian Fort. B. Characters: Tom Walker is the main character of the story, he is a hypocrite and works for the devil.

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The stinginess and greed that Tom and his wife possess leads to problems in their relationships. “He had a wife as miserly as himself: They were so miserly that they even conspired to cheat each other… Her husband continually prying about to detect her secret hoards, and many and fierce were the conflicts that took place about what ought to have been common property” (Irving 314). Tom and his wife are described in incredibly amusing terms that exaggerates their greed. This miserliness leads Tom to sell his soul to the devil in exchange for

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In both “The Devil and Daniel Webster and “The Devil and Tom Walker, they both came face to face with the devil. They had different strategies on how to confront the devil. In the two short stories, the resolution, the depictions of the devil, and the role of religion or the saving grace are the similar and different things. The main idea of both stories is the resolution of what had happened to Daniel and Tom.

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In all three novels “The Feather Pillow” by Horacio Quiroga, “Prey” by Richard Matherson, and “ The Devil and Tom Walker” by Washington Irving all have an eloquent amount of elements all including Mystery/ambiguity: and a supernatural force included in their short stories. The authors purpose for these elements are to give the reader a thrill of mystery and supernatural forces that defy the nature of our world and fill the story with action, all wile keeping the reader reading to the end wile keeping them on the edge of their seat waiting to see what happens next. Each novel has supernatural forces teeming inside it ,effecting the novel and also adding -a so called- villain for the novel. First the short story “prey” by Matherson, has a supernatural

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Romanticism is a type of story that finds inspiration in myth, legend, and folk culture. Following this principle, Washington Irving has written many stories about romanticism. These stories include, “The Devil and Tom Walker” and “Rip Van Winkle. Irving’s stories, “The Devil and Tom Walker, and “Rip Van Winkle” both show traits of romanticism because they both include the supernatural realm, youthful innocence over sophistication, shunning civilization, and folk culture.

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Greed, Stinginess and Foolishness: An Ultimate Path to Demise As said by the ancient Greek philosopher Socrates “He who is not contented with what he has, would not be contented with what he would like to have” (http://www.goodreads.com /quotes/tag /greed) Socrates aimed this quote to show that greed cannot be quenched, which is one of the many traits portrayed by the main character in “The Devil and Tom Walker”, written by Romantic writer Washington Irving. This trait, among other, can characterize Tom Walker. Therefore, Tom walker can be characterized as Greedy, stingy and foolish. First Tom walker is a very greedy man.

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Through the actions of each character, more specifically, Tom and his wife. Both Tom and his wife show extreme greed when they show they do not care for one another, but for the idea of gaining more wealth. When Tom tells his wife of Kidd’s treasure and his encounter with the Black Man, his wife urges him to accept the deal, however, “...the more she talked, the more resolute was Tom not to be damned to please her. At length she determined to drive the bargain on her own account, and, if she succeeded, to keep all the gain to herself” (Irving 3). This quote alone gives a detailed look into the greed filled character that Tom’s wife is; later on when she goes off to make a deal with the devil, she never returns.

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“The Devil and Tom Walker” is a gruesome tale full of evil, deceit, and trades with the devil. Irving uses satire as a weapon to criticize elements of society. It talks about many things dealing with romanticism. For example, it talks about deacon peabody and the quakers, the white establishment, and Tom Walker’s wife. It also talks about famous people’s dealings with the devil to gain their fame and fortune.

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In the short story titled The Devil And Tom Walker,Washington Irving explains that no matter how hard life is going to never sell our soul. For instance, Tom wanted to save his wife but in ordinary to save her Tom had to sell his soul. Irving’s asserts that walker had to sell his store to save his wife from dying. The author’s purpose is to convince that the audience should should never sell their soul no matter the situation. The author writes in an serious tone for the audience to realize that selling out isn’t the right thing to do.

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The selling of one’s soul to the devil is caused by one’s goal to obtain something of great value like, fame, fortune and power. Which leads one to getting hurt or losing everything. The story and the movie had various motivations, by dealing with the consequences. Foremost, In Washington Irving's “The Devil and Tom Walker” demonstrates his motivation of greed by dealing with the devil.

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