The Devil And Tom Walker Greed Essay

Holly Robinson
Mr. Womack
English III Honors period 4
19 September 2016
The Devil and Tom Walker & Crossroads

The gain of Indulgence has no time or limit to its capaciousness. Tom Walker has a first hand experience with the price of voracity. A tight situation happens in order to warn readers not to let greed or hurdles blind them, for it can have a disastrous consequences. Washington Irving’s short story , “The Devil and Tom Walker” focuses on greed and its negative effects; this presents how self- indulgence is something that can lead to suffering in an individual’s life.
Mr. Walker, known for greed through tout the town of Charles Bay , leads him to sell his soul to the devil in exchange for insignificant items. Mr. Walker exemplifies laziness , though he wants as many materialistic things,he is unmotivated to work for it. As said in the text,"Tom consoled himself for the loss of his property, with the loss of his wife, for he was a man of fortitude. He even felt gratitude toward the black woodsman, who, he considered, had done him a kindness,” this quote displays Tom’s twisted values, placing materialistic things above his wife exceedingly. Tom despises her to an extent to where

he is grateful for Old Scratch on doing him a favor and killing her. The lack of heart he has for human life displays how Tom is going farther down the path of moral decay through greed.

A cross road is an obstacle in someone’s life where you must pick a road to follow.

In the podcast, “Crossroads” by Chris Orapello, Mr. Orapello explains a story of a man going down to the crossroads sacrificing his own life in order to be superlative to his peers, In the Crossroad offerings were left and deals were made for musical fame. As said in the podcast, “According to the now-famous legend, Johnson : he went out to the crossroads just before midnight, and when the devil offered to tune his guitar in exchange for his soul, he took the deal.” This displays how an acquisitive way of thinking makes for irrational impulses resulting in a negative outcome. In similarity to the short story, both men dedicate their soul for irrelevant things they regretted later

on.
Both stories relate to one another in a sense that their own greed gets in the way of what really matters.As said in the text,“Such was the end of Tom Walker and his ill-gotten wealth. The truth of it is not to be doubted.”He doesn’t think about how he will be feeling years from then and what effect it will have on his future. In the forest when the devil offers him what seems like a great deal at the time, he soon will “regret on the bargain he had made with his black friend.”When he nears the end of his life; He attempts to reverse his deal by carrying a Bible everywhere he goes, and attending church to try and become a wholesome and devoted man to church. Tom was in a crossroad of his life again trying to escape his mistake, and change the fate of his
future, though that did not change the deal with the devil.
After reading “ The Devil and Tom Walker “ , I take away with a full understanding of the unfavorable after-effect of greed. The Podcast and novella both emphasize that there are many more significant things than wealth and materialistic things. In the last page of the story all of Tom’s possessions vanish, as does Mr. Walker ,emphasizing this point. Mankind is easily influenced through the vulnerable times of the crossroads and self indulgence of our lives. Let all griping money-breakers lay this story to heart, materialistic things are not the key to happiness.