What Does The Greed Symbolize In The Devil And Tom Walker

“Devil And Tom Walker” Washington Irving shows how idolization of materialization and greed can manipulate a person’s life by showing the consequences of the decisions in “Devil and Tom Walker”. He allows the the greed to control his life, ending in his ultimate destruction. Irving’s use of imagery and symbolism help to convey the true meaning of the story to the reader. Irving used Tom’s journey through the swamp in a symbolic way. The swamp showed how people take shortcuts in life. The swamp is where his unfortunate events begin. The swamp was symbolic of when people try to make things happen before they truly develop, it ends in demise every time. In life, many people in the political and economic world try to better themselves by taking

Tom eventually comes upon the Devil. Tom begins his journey away from God and toward greed. The Devil corrupts his mind with all the material items he would be able to have. Tom is susceptible to his persuasive talking because he is very fond to materialistic things and money. The swamp brings realization about society, thriving on the outside rotten on the inside. They may have high positions in society however, what they did to get in this position is corruption. This passage suggests that many political officials also sold their sold their soul to the Devil as well. The things they get in their mortal life is great however, once they die they get eternal damnation. They have reserved great personal lives, but for a large price. The Devil plays with the human’s sense of need for greed. The Devil gets the human in the perfect situation for manipulation. He gets them into an isolated

“Deacon Peabody be damned,” said the stranger, “as I flatter myself he will be, if he does not look more to his own sins and less to those of his neighbors.” (Gunderson, Kathryn) Deacon Peabody was not willing to accept that he had done anything wrong, and continued making judgements of the small sins of others. He ignored the fact that he was more in the wrong than anyone else that he was judging.

“The devil take me if I have a farthing!” (Gunderson, Kathryn quoting Tom) Tom himself thought that his late life spiritual habits would change what he has done. He thought that it made up for all the wrong he had done. He chose to ignore and forget all he had done. However, in this moment the Devil claimed him, allowing no room for compromise. Washington Irving’s example of Tom Walker in, “The Devil and Tom Walker” shows how the manipulation of greed and materialization can determine the inevitable fate of an individual. Tom allows the Devil to take possession over him through the manipulation of his greed. Thus allowing the Devil to control his life, leading to eternal