Satire is the use of humor, irony, exaggeration, or ridicule to expose and criticize people’s stupidity or vices, particularly in the context of contemplating politics and other topical issues. Satire’s purpose is to often give constructive social criticism, using wit to draw attention to both particular and widen issues in society. Washington Irving, the author of “The Devil and Tom Walker”, has great examples in his work including; organized religion and religious types, the “white establishment”, and the institute of marriage.
In “The Devil and Tom Walker”, Irving brings up quite a few social criticisms. The first, organized religion and religious types. When Tom Walker and the Devil had their first encounter in the woods, Tom asked what the Devil was doing on Deacon Peabody’s land and he merely laughed. The Devil
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Marriage being portrayed in this piece of work is nothing like how marriage would be portrayed in this day. The feeling Tom and his wife share for each other is mutual. They don’t like each other, let alone love. Theyre both selfish, whatever they can get their hands on, they’ll take. Not only are they selfish, they’re absolutely vulgar to each other (verbally & physically). Tom’s wife had shortly found out about his encounter he had in the woods with the devil, and got jealous. So she set off the next morning for the woods to receive something great from the devil. As Tom describes his wife as a termagant, the Devil was sure to agree with him. As she came seeking something to exchange with the devil, he would not accept. He wouldn’t even kill her and send her to hell. She was that awful to be around.
Irving displayed in his writing, that satire was prevalent in “The Devil and Tom Walker”. The devil was one to mock organized religion and religious types. Tom walker envied the rich white people in his town. And the institution of marriage was shown to mock both Tom and his
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
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.
"The Devil and Tom Walker" is a tale around a man who carries on with a shameless existence of voracity . Walker runs into a man and sees that he is chopping down another person's timber. The man is the Devil and that is obscure until the Devil uncovers himself to Tom Walker. The manipulation of the Devil is to abundant for Walker as he mulls over his meeting with the Devil, and Walker apprehends that riches is the primary need for him.
In the Stories, “The Devil and Tom Walker” by Washington Irving and “The Devil and Daniel Webster” by Stephen Vincent Benet there are many similarities and also many differences. For Example, the characters, the families, and the devil. In the end, one story turns out completely opposite from the other.
Irving, Washington. “The Devil and Tom Walker”. Elements of Literature: Fifth Course. Austin: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 2008. 175-185. Print.
In “The Devil and Tom Walker’’ by Washington Irving, Tom describes three different features of American Romanticism. American Romanticism had features of imaginative and emotional value. “The Devil and Tom Walker” exhibited three common characteristics of American Romanticism. He used intuition rather than reason, symbolism, and exotic locale and the supernatural.
In the story “The Devil and Tom Walker”, the author displays greed by explaining the relationship between Tom Walker and his wife. This passage says “whatever the woman could lay hands on, she hid away.” They both were very parsimonious and did not like to share their values with one another, nor did they keep it near the other. Tom Walker "was not a man to stick at trifles when money was in view." As the story continues, Tom Walker was given the chance to make a deal with the devil, but he turned it down because he’s acquisitive that he does not want to share the wealth with his own wife. As someone who likes to loan money, he claims that he likes to help the people whom he is close to in need, but the truth is that "In proportion to the distress
This use of nature can be seen in the author’s description of the setting in the beginning of the story where it states, “A few miles from Boston in Massachusetts, there is a deep inlet, winding several miles into the interior of the country from Charles Bay, and terminating in a thickly wooded swamp or morass. On one side of this inlet is a beautiful dark grove; on the opposite side the land rises abruptly from the water’s edge into a high ridge, on which grow a few scattered oaks of great age and immense size…”(Irving 320). This quote shows the separation between good and evil that is presented in the story and throughout the Dark Romantic era. This use of nature in the story is not the only one, for there are many other examples that are present in “The Devil and Tom Walker.” Another use of nature as the setting would include Irving’s description of the swamp when he states, “The swamp was thickly grown with great gloomy pines and hemlocks, some of them ninety feet high, which made it dark at noonday, and a retreat for all the owls of the neighborhood…” (Irving 322). This quote from the story gives the reader the idea that the mood and setting are unsettling and dark. Nature is not the only romantic element in “The Devil and Tom Walker”. There is another element present, which is the influence of an evil supernatural being on
People put too much value on their possessions. Like the character Tom Walker dose in the Devil and Tom Walker. This short story took place in Boston, Massachusetts during the year 1727. In the short story the devil and Tom Walker, written by Washington Irving Tom Walker’s possessions make him a very selfish and miserly person.
The short story, “The Devil and Tom Walker”, features two of the main characters which are Tom Walker and his wife, Mrs. Walker. Tom and his wife don’t get along very well like many believe couples do. Mrs. Walker actually physically abuses Tom, but he is too afraid to admit it and divorce her. That’s why they are still a married couple. Although both Tom and his wife are very greedy and give in to deals with the Devil, they have very different personalities and treatments towards each other.
Insignificant and meager traits could easily lead to despair and the demolition of inner goodness. In “The Devil and Tom Walker”, Washington Irving introduces the importance of possessing morality by exposing the omnipresence of moral corruption and signifying that excessive greed holds the power to eradicate the humanity of mankind.
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...
The story that interested me the most is The Devil and Tom Walker. This story really struck something inside of me because of how greedy someone could be. I knew that there was greedy people out there but to make a deal with the devil to be rich is just plain wrong.
Using exaggeration, irony or ridicule to expose and criticize people's aspects of society. Satire is the theme of “The Devil and Tom Walker” by Washington Irving. The Institution of marriage, Organized religion/religious types, and the white establishment and respect in white males. These all are contradictory in the story.
Irving, Washington. “The Devil and Tom Walker.” Glencoe Literature. New York: Glencoe McGraw-Hill, 2009: 242-250. Print.