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The Devil And Tom Walker Essay

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Would you give yourself up to the devil to achieve wealth, fame, and power? In "The Devil and Tom Walker" a short story by Washington Irving, first published in 1824. The story tells of a man named Tom Walker. One day, Tom meets the devil, who appears to him in the form of an old dark man and offers him great wealth in exchange for his soul. Tom initially resists the devil's offer, but eventually agrees, and becomes a wealthy and powerful man. Eventually, the devil comes to collect Tom's soul, and Tom is never seen again along with all of his possessions. The story is a cautionary tale about the dangers of greed and the consequences of making deals with the devil. Irving adapts omens and grotesqueness; two gothic elements into this short story. …show more content…

No other person but Tom would have wanted, “to linger in this lonely, melancholy place, for the common people had a bad opinion of it” (Irving 58-59). Also, Tom “waited and waited for her, but in vain: midnight came, but she did not make her appearance: morning, noon, night returned, but still she did not come” (Irving 157-159). The swampy forest in “Devil and Tom Walker” is described to be a lonely and depressing place. As others avoid this place Tom willingly stays in the swampy forest showing he would do what others would not do. While Tom is in the swampy forest he declines the devil's offer. When he reaches his house and later tells his wife about it she personally goes to the same place to strike an offer with the devil herself. Only to not come back because she is never heard from again. Irving used an omen to create suspicion about what could have happened to Tom’s

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REAL ESTATE BROKERS AND SALES AGENTS. The foreclosure of the properties from defaulted mortgages from clients that are unhappy and unwilling to follow legal proceedings. This problem connects to the theme of the story The Devil and Tom Walker because if you get a loan to buy a house then it shows competance to pay the loan back without valunable to foreclosure for your family so not as when Tom did not make solid ethical choices for himself and his wife when he refused to comply with her to pursue rich of their life and let her go to the swamp by herself as in the story "The next evening she set off again for the swamp, with her apron heavily laden.

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This is the total opposite of being a friend to his clients, he takes their money and leaves them with nothing. Tom does things to try and cover up what he has done. For example, "That he might not be taken unawares, therefore, it is said he always carried a small Bible in his coat pocket"(Irving 330). He attends church frequently and also keeps a bible at his workplace; Tom wants to come off as a kindhearted person. Towards the end of the short story Tom is exposed for who he truly is.

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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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Foremost, Tom was a very greedy man with that motivation it led him to selling his soul to the Black Man. For example, in the story, “The Devil and Tom Walker “ the devil says to him, “you shall lend money at two percent, a month” he replied, “I’ll charge four!! “ This demonstrates Toms greediness since he took advantage of the less wealthy making himself wealthier. Additionally, in the story it said, “Tom built himself, as usual, a vast house, out of ostentation; but

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Washington Irving wrote many wonderful romanticism stories. One of these stories, “The Devil and Tom Walker”, involves a man, making a deal with the Devil. It begins when the elderly man, Tom Walker, walks through a marsh one day instead of his usual route home through the town. He walked in the marsh until water seeped into his shoe, and he sat down to drain the water, and saw a black man, who he later found out was the Devil, sitting on a stump, looking at him. They talked for a while, until Tom asked the Devil, “‘The upshot of all which is, that, if I'm not mistake not,’ said Tom, sturdily, ‘you are he commonly called Old Scratch’.

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Although Tom’s being sold marked a significant turning point in Tom’s family relations, Tom’s being sold overall did not mark a turning point in his religion or in his treatment, in that before and after his being sold, Tom was a devout Christian, and in that before and after his being sold, Tom was treated relatively well. Tom’s being sold marked a significant turning point in Tom’s family relations. Firstly, before he was sold, Tom lived with his family at the Shelby farm. Tom had a wife, called Aunt Chloe, and children.

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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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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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Do you want to sell your soul? If so you might want to rethink your choice. In “The Devil and Tom Walker”, Tom Wa;ler is a miserable man who has troubles with his wife. One day, he is walking in the woods and comes upon Old Scratch who is able to make all of his problems go away. But he isn’t careful with his words and Scratch comes back for revenge.

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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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Earlier when he got the idea his "smile stretched like a weary snake waking up by a fire. " The snake simile suggests the devil and evil acts, as opposed to his chance at salvation. He will choose to listen to this devil as he abandons Lucynell, an angel of Gawd, at The Hot Spot. Throughout the story Tom had showed some good in him but ultimately he was evil. He was only looking to his own advantage and did whatever he felt the need to to get there.

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Even with his physical sufferings, Tom strongly believed that his soul will be saved by God, who favors those who stood up and fought for their faith. The novel suggests that someone is not only made of bones, flesh, and ideas, but also a soul and

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When it comes to personal issues, the immorality inside slavery led him astray. Tom was sold far from his home and served cold blood Haley for the following days. However, the tragedy ended up with a fortunate ending. On a ferry boat, he met his next owner – St. Clare. St. Clare is flighty and romantic.

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The story is about a middle-aged black man, Tom, who undergoes several hardships in the backdrop of institution of slavery in America. The novel portrays plight of the blacks from the every angle and the struggle for deliverance from this curse is depicted in a sentimental yet realistic manner. Tom bears every hardship bravely, works for his fellow slaves and through his faith in Christian love attains a peaceful death, also paving way for liberation of his fellowmen. The significance of the title Uncle Tom’s Cabin becomes explicit towards the end of the book, when George Shelby frees his slaves.

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In the devil and Tom Walker: the Bible, Tom walker , and the swamp are shown as symbols. The Bible represents Holiness, pure goddess,and doing the right things. The swamp represents his shortcut to get to where he's at in wealth and he is willing to take the easy way out. Tom himself represents greed he is so greedy he sells his own soul to achieve wealth. In The Devil and Tom Walker greed plays an important in the story, but I think the story symbolizes the greedy American.

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