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Tom walker and the devil 3 subjects
Climax of the devil and tom walker
Literary analysis question about the Devil and Tom Walker
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The nicest people can end up being the most cruel people you know. There is a little evil inside all of us, what brings it out differs us. Characters in both “Hopfrog”, by Edgar Allen Poe, and “The Devil and Tom Walker”, by Washington Irving, has the evil stripped out of them. The evil inside Hop-Frog is brought out through the constant manipulation from his boss, the king. Tom Walker tries to hide his devilish ways by putting on a religious mask, and fails to not get taken away. “Hopfrog” and “The Devil and Tom Walker”, prove that no matter how hard one tries to conceal it, the truth will show through. “The Devil and Tom Walker” proves that no matter how hard to conceal it, the truth will show through. Tom Walker makes a deal with
the devil, which was that Tom was to give the devil his soul upon the devils request. Tom’s devilish ways lands him a job as a usurer. Tom spends a majority of his life taking money from innocents, until he remembers the deal he made with the devil. He becomes worried and anxious for the day the devil seeks his soul, so in order to cover up, he carries a bible around with him. The devil sees through his weak attempt of trying to seem “good”, and takes Tom’s soul. “‘Tom, you’re come for’, said the black fellow, gruffly. Tom shrank back, but too late. He had left his little bible at the bottom of his coat pocket…”. Tom tries to conceal his dark side by carrying around a bible and acting religious, but the truth is revealed when the devil takes him away. Tom also attempts to conceal his dark side, because he acts super nice to his clients as a usurer. The clients don’t expect to be played like Tom played them. Tom Walker’s attempt to conceal his dark side worked for awhile, but ultimately failed, showing that the truth will always come through. Not only does “The Devil and Tom Walker” prove this, but “Hopfrog” does too. “Hopfrog” also proves that no matter how hard to conceal it, the truth will show through. The King uses his royalty as a mask to abuse Hop-frog. Hop-frog is bullied the entire story by the upper class, including practical jokes and verbal shots. Hop-frog exposes the King by not only dressing them (the king and his people) in animal costumes, and lighting them on fire, but explaining what awful people they were to the entire castle. The impact of Hop-frogs actions not only completely exposes the king to everyone, but it also shows the evil that lies inside Hop-frog. Hop Frog shows his evil ways by hiding under the mask of a victim, and gets his revenge when the opportunity presents itself.
In “The Devil and Tom Walker,” written by Washington Irving’s, Tom Walker gives his soul to the devil for greediest. For example, in the story, it was said, “He accumulated bonds and mortgages, gradually squeezed his customers closer and closer and sent them at length, dry as a sponge, from his door.” This shows how greedy and selfish he was for not caring about what anyone else feels,
Washington Irving displays a sense of humor throughout “The Devil and Tom Walker” about greed, marriage and religion to help the reader, become a better person. Tom Walker makes a Faustian Bargain, also known as a deal with the devil. Tom has a lot of problems with his abusive wife, his desire for riches and getting into the afterlife. Washington Irving tells us the story of Tom Walker in a humorous way. Irving does this to display a message to his readers.
Soon he falls asleep and when he wakes up, he finds that he is on a table and a scythe is being lowered from the ceiling. The scythe is another symbol of death. As the scythe is coming down, he tries to find a way to get away from it. At the end of the story, he is saved at the last moment by " an outstretched arm caught my own as I fell, fainting, into the abyss." Washington Irving also talks about death and the devil in his short story "The Devil and Tom Walker." He writes more about the devil than he does death and he does not put himself in the place of the main character like Poe did. Tom, the main character, is a greedy person along with his wife. As he comes home one night, he goes through some woods and meets the devil. "Tom might have felt disposed to sell himself to the devil," but he was afraid to. On the other hand, his wife was not afraid and she disappears. Then Tom makes a deal with the devil, but soon "he thought with regret of the bargain he had made with his black friend, and set his wits to work to cheat him out of the conditions." He turns to religion and carries Bibles with him to keep the devil away, but it does
Good and Evil in The Devil and Tom Walker The concept of evil in the short story "The Devil and Tom Walker" can be shown in many ways, by Irvings' symbolism. In the short story, Tom Walker symbolizes all of mankind by portraying him as being "sinful" and evil. When there is an intent to destroy, then we get a different level of hatred.
How would one feel if one came face to face with the Devil himself? Would one run away screaming or would one let the Devil change their views of the world? Gary and Goodman Brown both had different experiences with the Devil resulting in some of the best works of fiction ever wrote. Gary met the Devil as a young boy who feared him unrelentingly, but Goodman Brown talked to the Devil and let the Devil change his life and the viewpoints of people he knows. I plan to discuss on how Gary, from the short story “The Man in the Black Suit”, and Goodman Brown, from “Young Goodman Brown”, dealt with the Devil and compare their encounters together.
The characters in this novel entertain conflicting notions of morality and pride. Sometimes, these characteristics are at odds with one another, creating the immoral and "evil" characters. Other times, they cooperate to create realism in these people. The moral characters are good, but still have enough pride to be dignified, yet not arrogant. Sometimes, when the evil twins (or other halves) run amuck, things get out of hand and troubles abound. Though most of the time these troubles spring from the discrepancy between pride and morality, at other points, dignity and morality work hand in hand to create reliable and realistic characters.
Can you imagine yourself locked up in a room with no doors? Similar to a room with no doors, there is no way out of hell if it was one's destiny. In the short story "The Devil & Tom Walker" by Washington Irving, the main character's fate is hell because of his wrong decisions in life, accepting a deal with the devil for earthly benefits. Irving reinforces his message about not making decisions that may damn your soul with the use of literary elements and figurative language. Wisely, Irving combines characterization, mood and point of view to perpetuate the theme of the story in the reader's mind.
An inner evil that the characters in these novels experience is personal war. A personal war is a fight within your mind. In A Separate Peace, Gene hates Phineas and this is ironic because Phineas and Gene are best friends. Phineas loves and doesn’t think Gene will ever hurt him but gene has always hated him. Phineas is a leader and Gene is a follower. While standing at the top of the tree Gene ponders, “ Why did I let Finny talk me into stupid things like this? was he getting some kind of hold over me” (Knowles 17). This represents the inner evil of man because Gene’s thoughts were things that he kept inside and they are killing him. His thoughts are evil, cruel, and powerful enough for him to begin hating his best friend. Another ironic situation occurs in Lord of the Flies, when the other boys kill Simon. This is ironic because Simon thought the boys were his friends. living on a island drove the boys to become vicious enough to kill an innocent person. The inner evil in man is widely expressed through this ironic scene because innocent boys become killers due to their inner evil. Also, it is ironic when Leper goes crazy. leper truly believes the propaganda of war and never imagined the outcome would be his insanity. The other boys get a note from him saying he ran away from the war and then they see him: “ I saw Leper hiding in the shrubbery next to the chapel/ he didn’t say a damn word. he looked at me like I was a gorilla or something” (Knowles 163). This situation can be evidence of the inner evil of man because the people in charge of the propaganda never warned Leper so in result he went insane. Lastly, the clash between Ralph and Jack shined light on the inner evil of man. The two boys couldn’t stand being near each other , Jack even says, ‘ You go away Ralph. You keep to your end/this is my end and my tribe. You leave me alone” ( Golding 176). The tension
"It's the devils sure enough. Three of 'em! Lordy, Tom, we're goners! Can you pray?" Tom Sawyer loves to adventure. In the Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain, Tom the main character witnesses a murder with his best friend Huck. That changes the whole story and in the end the two boys find the murderer dead, his hidden treasure and become rich. Tom’s characterization traits prove that he has a true boyhood that others would admire.
Wicked, dishonorable, corrupt, villainous, malicious, and vicious all have one thing in common: they define evil. A person or a group of people that display these qualities are often defined as evil beings or creatures. Two people that have many of these characteristics developed within them are Iago from Shakespeare’s Othello and Lucifer from the Bible. Both Iago and Lucifer are developed with many “evil” qualities woven intricately into their character development. The representation of each “evil” characteristic gives them something they have in common, allowing the description and portrayal of both Iago and Lucifer in literature show the audience they share common “evil” characteristics and that they lead to chaos and downfall.
Comparing Jabez Stone and Tom Walker, in both “The Devil and Tom Walker”, and “ The Devil and Daniel Webster”, sell their soul to the devil. Also, the setting is in the Northeast. Although, in the “The Devil and Tom Walker”, Tom’s deal last his whole life, when Jabez Stone’s only last 7 years with a 3 year extension.
“Young Goodman Brown”, by Nathaniel Hawthorne, delves into the classic battle between good and evil; taking the protagonist, Goodman Brown, on a journey to test the resolve of his faith. Goodman ventures out on his expedition deep into the sinister forest, in order to repudiate the attempt of the devil to sway him from Christianity; a test he believes his devout faith is prepared to confront. Goodman Brown is forever altered in ways unforeseeable by taking a stroll with the ultimate antagonist, the devil himself. The prevailing theme in this literary work, which is common in Hawthorne’s gothic writing, is the realization that evil can infect people who seem perfectly respectable. Throughout the course of his journey, Goodman Brown discovers that even highly reputable people of Salem are vulnerable to the forces of darkness.
Irving, Washington. “The Devil and Tom Walker”. Elements of Literature: Fifth Course. Austin: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 2008. 175-185. Print.
The story Hop Frog by Edgar Allen Poe is about power and the act of revenge. Poe takes his time in the beginning of the story to establish Hope-Frog’s” character. The readers are informed that Hop-Frog was born a dwarf, and exploited by the king because of his abnormality. By opening with Hop-Frog’s appearance Poe is evoking sympathy from the readers for the main character. Poe compares Hop- Frog appearance to “resembling a squirrel or a small monkey rather than a frog” (2). The act of de-familiarizing the character justifies the King’s action of ridiculing and humiliating Hope- Frog because he was seen as less of a man. The tyrannical ways of the King ultimately drives Hop-Frog to seek revenge for Trippetta, his friend and himself. Despite
The short story, “Hop Frog,” is one of Edgar Allan Poe’s final works. The story tells of a most horrifying revenge made by a jester named Hop-Frog. The madness in Hop-Frog is brought to the surface by a cruel and monstrous king. In the end, he could not cope with the situation any longer and unfolded his revenge during a grand escape. The narrator is someone who is witnessing all of the revenge happen before him.