The Devil And Tom Walker Gothic Elements

Comparison of Gothic Literature Elements in Different Texts
Gothic Elements are vital to the foundation and development of Gothic Literature. These element provide a sense of realness and depth to a story. These Elements include death, entrapment, and fascination with the past.
Furthermore, in the story “The Devil and Tom Walker” by Washington Irving, Tom makes a greedy and impulsive deal with the Devil to sell his soul and have the Devil place “[his] signature…on [Tom’s] forehead” (Irving 326), in exchange for wealth. The repercussions of this agreement were detrimental to Tom, causing him to be forever entrapped under the Devil’s control and power. In addition, in the novel Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children by Ranson Riggs, the peculiar children “[could] not leave…[or] linger [in the present world]…because in a short time they would grow old and die” (Riggs 210). Even

though the children’s time loop seemed like a paradise, in reality, it was actually a prison. The children were entrapped in the loop because if they left, the consequences would be fatal, which is parallel to the entrapment Tom faced in “The Devil and Tom Walker”.
In continuation, another theme is the fascination with the past. In the story “Dr. Heidegger’s Experiment” by Nathaniel Hawthorne, a doctor does an experiment testing three subjects on how they would react if presented a second chance of youth. Each of them had a fascination with their past selves. When they drank from the Fountain of Youth, “the three men started to behave in such a way that proved the magic of the Fountain of Youth’s… [and] Widow Wycherley… stood in front of a mirror greeting her image as a friend she loved better than anything in the world” (Hawthorne 3). Since the three test subjects were extremely greedy, adamant in their old ways, and had an unhealthy yearning and fascination with their past youthful selves, they "…traveled to Florida and [drank] morning, noon, and night from the Fountain of Youth” (Hawthorne 4). In Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children, Jacob was very intrigued and interested by the childhood and past of his grandfather. When Jacob was “growing up, [his] Grandpa Portman was the most fascinating person [he] knew… [Jacob] begged him to regale [Jacob] with stories from his childhood” (Riggs 13). In “Dr. Heidegger’s Experiment”, the three test subjects were obsessed with the past as well as their past youthful selves. However, Jacob always had a fascination for someone else’s past, his Grandpa Portman. He love the amazing stories his grandpa told while the test subjects tried to stay young forever.
Finally, death is a main gothic element presented in different texts.

In the “Feather Pillow” by Horacio Quiroga, Alicia died by strange means that no one understood. It was later discovered that Alicia was killed by a parasite living in her pillow. The parasite “night after night, ever since Alicia had taken to her bed, it had stealthily applied its mouth… to her temples, sucking gout her blood” (Quiroga 2) and slowly killing her. Within “…five days, in five nights, it had emptied Alicia” (Quiroga 2). In Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children, Jacob’s Grandpa, Abe Portman, was mysteriously killed by questionable means as well. This parallels the mysterious death of Alicia until the case was solved. People in Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children believed that Grandpa Portman was killed by rabid dogs, but he was actually killed by a “Hollowgast” (Riggs 258). When he was killed, Grandpa Portman was […spent and fading… [and] then seemed to disappear into himself” (Riggs 37). Both characters ended up dying and being killed by strange monsters no one

understood.
Gothic literature elements that consist of death, fascination with the past, and entrapment augment certain gothic literature works because they not only provide a realness to the story, but also depth that is used in numerous stories.