The Devil And Tom Walker Essay

Have you ever sold your soul to the Devil in the woods? Well I haven’t either, but Tom Walker did in the story The Devil and Tom Walker written by Washington Irving. The story takes place in New England around 1720. Tom lives in an unhappy marriage with his wife when he meets the Devil. Tom ends up making a dangerous deal with the Devil. Later, Tom realizes his mistake and tries to cheat the Devil. This story shows the weak minded and greedy attitudes that people had at this time. This paper will discuss how this story show that by first discussing the characters, second the plot, and finally the effects in the story.

First, story of how Tom Walker sold his soul to the devil reveal weak minded and greedy attitudes. This would have protrude

a lot of people’s attitudes of this time period. When Tom was in the forest he notice some trees that looked nice on the inside but were rotten on the outside. Then he saw the names on the trees. The names were of wealthy people who had not gotten their wealth fairly. They too would have probably been weak minded and sold their soul to the Devil just like Tom Walker did. Tom’s wife also is very weak minded. When Tom tells her that the Devil tried to make a deal with him that would make him rich, the wife becomes very mad that Tom didn’t take the deal. The wife ends up taking all of their valuables and leaving to find the Devil. She too, is weak minded because all she wants is to be rich and doesn’t care what she has to do to get it.
In addition the plot is like other stories that deal with the devil.

Tom Walker, the main character, stumbles upon the Devil one day when taking a short cut on the way home from work. The devil temps Tom to make a deal with him that will make Tom rich. Tom refuses and when he tells his wife she gets mad. The wife goes looking for the devil and never returns. After worrying about his wife’s disappearance, Tom sets out to find her. He ends up finding her organs and discovers that the devil had killed her. Tom wanted to thank the devil for getting rid of his nasty wife, which leads Tom to make a very dangerous deal. The Devil made a deal that if Tom worked as an unfair usurers he could use the devil’s money for whatever he wanted; Tom would just have to give it all back in the end. Tom is very stingy with his money. He buys a house with a very nice house, that looks magnificent on the outside but has an unfurnished inside. Eventually, Tom realize his mistake of making a deal with the devil and tries to cheat the devil. He starts going to church, praying loudly, and always carrying a bible. However, one day when he tried to close a mortgage he lies about not working with the Devil. That is the moment when the Devil decides to take Tom back. After the Devil takes Tom, all of Tom’s belongings, mysteriously, turns to

dust.
To add to the mystery, Irving uses a dark and gloomy themes to describe the land scape.

The forest is especially bleak. He describes the forest as “treacherous” and “with an air of starvation.” The landscape inside the forest has the same appeal to it. He describes the vegetation by saying “thickly grown with great gloomy pines and hemlock,” and “black smothering mud,” and “dark stagnant pools.” This adds a lot of effect the story because it really shows creepiness. It sets up a really good stage for the devil to appear. It would not make sense if the author describe the forest as a happy place. If it is a happy place why would the devil be

there?
In conclusion people were weak minded and greedy in the 1720s. However we still haven’t lost those attributes in modern times. People are still abscessed with being rich and doing whatever they can to get rich. Some people, in a way, do sell their soul to the Devil by doing nasty things, such as selling drugs or, like Tom, cheating other people for money.