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Analysis of the devil and tom walker
Literary analysis of the devil and tom walker
Analysis of the devil and tom walker
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“Sometimes it’s not the people who change, it is the mask that falls off ” (Unknown). This quote shows that in real life people try to hide imperfections they have by putting on a “mask” that will make them seem flawless. This quote shows that eventually the masks of perfection that people put on, fall off and they are exposed for who they really are. In the the short story, “The Devil and Tom Walker” and the episode of the Twilight Zone, “The Masks” it shows that you can not hide your true self with a mask because eventually that mask will crack and your true self will be shown. This proves that no matter how hard you try to conceal your darker traits, the truth always comes out in the end. In the episode of the Twilight Zone, “The Masks”, Jason’s daughter Emily exhibits that you will always fail at trying to conceal your dark traits. Jason Foster is another character in this episode …show more content…
who doesn’t have a mask because he is truthful about who he is and he doesn't try to hide anything.
When the characters are all choosing which mask they would put on, Jason gives Emily a mask that has the face of a “self-centered coward and a gutless flab” (Twilight Zone). Jason picks this mask because it is the the opposite of the figurative mask that she wears everyday. The mask that Jason picks for Emily is her true personality that is under the figurative mask that she puts on to hide her darker traits. Eventually when the night is done and Jason passes away, Emily and her relatives take off their masks only to realize that their faces are stuck looking like the masks that they were given. This exhibits that you can not hide your true personality by acting like someone that you are not because the truth will always come out in the end. Jason is the only character in, “The Masks”, that does not put on a figurative mask. When Emily, Wilfred, Paula, and Wilfred Jr. try to hide their true personalities, Jason knows
who they really are deep down inside and he is determined to divulge who they truly are. He does this by having them wear masks that show their inner personalities that are hidden behind their metaphorical masks. When Jason dies, everyone's masks get taken off and their faces physically show the nature of who they truly are. When Jason’s mask is taken off, his face is not altered by the mask of death that he wore. This shows that unlike his relative, Jason does not conceal the truth about himself and his personality.The tragic event that happened to Emily and her family shows that no matter how hard you try to mask your true self, everything you tried to hide will always be disclosed in the end.
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,
"About the year 1727, just at the time when earthquakes were prevalent in New England, and shook many tall sinners down upon their knees, there lived near this place a meager miserly fellow of the name of Tom Walker." (Irving) “The Devil and Tom Walker” is a short story written by Washington Irving in about 1824. The story is about a man who sells his soul to the devil in exchange for Pirate Kidd’s hidden treasure. The man, named Tom Walker, is a greedy, selfish man who thinks money is more important than his wife. “The Devil and Tom Walker” is the best short story example of Romanticism. The story uses escapism, nature as a form of spirituality, and imagination, which are all tenets of Romanticism.
The theme of give your soul to the devil is very old. Most of the time someone would do this to get something very valuable to them. But a lot of the time it ends with someone losing all they have or losing someone they love. The characters in “The Devil and Tom Walker” and “Snow White and the Huntsman,” Were convinced to make a deal with “The Devil.”
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.
Washington Irving’s “The Devil and Tom Walker” includes great examples of Romanticism, such as symbols in nature having links to the supernatural, the importance of the inner nature, and the emphasis of the individual. In the story, Tom Walker is a selfish man who cares more about money than he does about anyone else, including his wife. One day, while he is walking through the woods, Tom Walker comes across the Devil, who makes a deal with him to exchange his soul for the treasure that is buried in those woods. Tom declines and returns back to his wife and tells her that he has passed on an opportunity that could bring them lots of money. Tom’s wife, outraged by his actions, decides to strike a deal of her own with the Devil and after several attempts, she never returns from the woods. The next time Tom goes to the woods he finds that his wife had been killed by the Devil. He finally agrees to make the deal with him, now that Tom doesn’t have to share anything with his wife. Tom ignores the Devil’s suggestion of becoming a slave-trader and becomes a moneylender instead. He gets wea...
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.
Written during the American Romanticism period, “The Devil and Tom Walker,” by William Irving, personifies the belief in the primacy of imagination. The period of Romanticism in America is often seen as the crucial period of American culture, as it was the central movement of the Renaissance period that moved into a more free-feeling and artistic approach to literature. American Gothic literature made its early appearance with William Irving, first with “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow” in 1820, and carrying over to “The Devil and Tom Walker” in 1824, both of which use a macabre approach to establish a moral ending (Matterson). Told by a narrator known as Geoffrey Crayon, “The Devil and Tom Walker” takes on the tone of a legend or tall tale as the story describes the life of a greedy money lender by the name of Tom Walker, who sales his soul to the devil to gain wealth. Irving ultimately uses literary elements such as symbolism and character development, as well as including themes such as greed and hypocrisy to establish a moral to the corrupt man’s tale.
Though a mask may just be a paper cut out, a molded piece of plastic, or in the Lord of the Flies, a painted face, they all have the same ability to create a feeling of freedom from responsibility. They may make they wearer feel more important or powerful and too good for work, leading to a lack of fulfillment of their responsibility. This belief in freedom from responsibility is best exemplified by Jack, the first one on the island to begin wearing a mask. He used a mask because he felt it gave him power and skill, giving him reason to take up hunting as a prime responsibility, opposed to keeping the fire going. In their...
Ribeiro, Luisa F. "Unmasked: A Glimpse Into a Lost World." Baltimore City Paper. November 8, 1999. Accessed May 27, 2014. http://www2.citypaper.com/film/review.asp?rid=7639
I am a big fan of the film Mask, a psychological film starring Cher, Eric Stoltz and Laura Dern. Although, I had watched the film previously, I decided to re-watch it recently for old time’s sake. Additionally, I wanted to know more about the film and so I started looking for information on the internet. I stumbled onto a site that gave an in depth analysis of the film. Although it is a fairly old film, the story will move one to tears. It’s so inspiring and empowering to anyone who is facing any difficulty in life. It makes ones problems to seem so small compared to the character in the movie.
People use masks to conceal what they don't want others to see. In William Shakespeare's Twelfth Night characters use masks to conceal who they really are. Viola conceals herself as a eunuch to work as a servant for Duke Orsino. Malvolio tries to manipulate others to give him sympathy but begins to self deceive himself instead. Sir Andrew refuses a duel and doesn’t know how to properly introduce himself to a women. Hes not as smart and tough as he says to be. Characters in William Shakespeare's Twelfth Night carefully use their masks to manipulate, to self deceive and protect others.
"Man is least himself when he talks with his own person. But if you give him a mask, he will tell you the truth."
With Eva, he is at least partially his honest self. Eva, in moments where she unmasks, is able to be her honest self with him. For example, after throwing Kevin across the nursery, she declares, “I’d felt…like [his] real mother…I felt we were finally communicating” (Shriver 196). She then theorizes that Kevin, at that moment, may have known himself “for my son” (Shriver 201). Years later, he tells her he was proud of her honesty at that time (Shriver 174). Surrounded by inauthenticity, Kevin becomes preoccupied with finding out what secret lies beyond the masks in his life by testing his capacity for cruelty, and Eva’s capacity to tolerate it. After the nursery incident, Kevin’s glimpse behind her mask and “this revelation of his mother’s true colors—her viciousness, her violence—seemed to please him” (Shriver 203). His interest in the secrets behind the mask culminates in the shooting, where he discovers “the secret is that there is no secret” (Shriver 379). Because when we fake a life, we no longer make a life, and in the end, there is nothing authentic left behind the mask – there is no secret left to uncover (Maushart
Paul Laurence Dunbar’s “We Wear the Mask” is a lyric poem in which the point of attraction, the mask, represents the oppression and sadness held by African Americans in the late 19th century, around the time of slavery. As the poem progresses, Dunbar reveals the façade of the mask, portrayed in the third stanza where the speaker states, “But let the dream be otherwise” (13). The unreal character of the mask has played a significant role in the lives of African Americans, who pretend to put on a smile when they feel sad internally. This occasion, according to Dunbar, is the “debt we pay to human guile," meaning that their sadness is related to them deceiving others. Unlike his other poems, with its prevalent use of black dialect, Dunbar’s “We Wear the Mask” acts as “an apologia (or justification) for the minstrel quality of some of his dialect poems” (Desmet, Hart, and Miller 466).
In addition, masks exists because we are ashamed of our real personality, our real self, were so afraid to be true to ourselves, that’s why we created another one, a personality which can be accepted by the society. But some person are hypocrites, they are not wearing masks, it’s their real attitude, and hypocrites in a way that they won’t admit that they are just fooling their self. Every person has different sides, not literally sides, but I mean sides like the dark side or they termed it as the side you don’t want to see. And also, the thought of knowing that they are already brave, strong enough boosts, encourages, motivates, and it let them feel secured. There are different kinds of masks, masks that have their own history, a story why they existed, a story that only people whose willing can unfold and can see the denouement. Masks, masks, it’s a term that I can relate to the word “alter”. We all have that “alter” or what I see as other self. I don’t consider having “alter” a disorder as long as it is not diagnosed like MPD, because changing personalities is normal for me. Our personality depends on the person, the place where we are, and the attitude? It depends to whom we are