Gina Certo Ms. Barbour English 13 January 2023 The Portrayal of Greed in “The Devil and Tom Walker” From the Bible, greed is one of the seven deadly sins. This theme is explored by many American writers in their works. This is the case with Washington Irving in his short short story “The Devil and Tom Walker” which talks about a greedy miser and his wife who both sell their souls to the devil. Irving illustrates the theme of greed through the use of tone, symbolism and character development. The theme of greed is portrayed through tone. The tone of the story is dark and gloomy with some elements of dry humor. Darkness and foreboding feeling is cast by Irving throughout the story in his description of the rotten trees, the swamp, the devil in the woods and even the burnt thumbprint on Walker's head. An …show more content…
Irving uses everyday objects in Tom Walker’s life to convey a larger theme of greed.Tom walker's possessions later in life become symbolic of his demise through greed. After Tom makes a deal with the devil in the woods, he moves to Boston to start a new business venture. He quickly developed a reputation for lending out money, which people are more and more demanding, because the local economy under Governor Belcher's administration has recently collapsed. “He built himself, as usual, a vast house, out of ostentation: but left a greater part of it unfinished and unfinished, out of parsimony”(Irving 237). Greed is driving him to look like a successful purpose but really abuses the good he has. Walker also “left his little Bible at the bottom of his coat pocket, of his coat pocket, and his big Bible on the desk buried under the mortgage he was about to foreclose:never was sinner taken more unawareness” (Irving 238). The mortgage papers were covering the bible which illustrates that Tom values money over faith. Walker only has eyes for the thighs he wants which is money which goes back to the theme of