Tom Walker Quotes

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In the short story The Devil and Tom Walker, written by Washington Irving, the protagonist Tom Walker, is characterized as being a negative man. This is demonstrated through Tom Walker being characterized as being meager, outspoken, fearless, greedy, stubborn, and unloving. First Tom is directly characterized as a meager man. As the passage says, “There lived near this place a meager, miserly fellow of the name Tom Walker” (Irving 229). This trait relates to Tom’s appearance, as it means that he is scrawny and thin. By providing this characterization of Tom Walker the author provides the reader with a basic description of Tom. Tom is also indirectly characterized as being outspoken. This is displayed through the quote, “Her voice was often heard in wordy warfare with her husband, and his face sometimes showed signs that their conflicts were not confined to words” (Irving 230). By the use of this quote the author indirectly states that Tom is outspoken and as he engaged in “wordy warfare” with his wife and was not afraid to express his opinion to his wife. Additionally Tom Walker is directly characterized as being …show more content…

In the short story, Tom is said to live in a “forlorn” house, that is in the middle of the wilderness away from all civilization. This signifies that Tom would have an unkempt appearance as he does not care what he looks like. Also, Tom is the type of person that would not do anything that would intentionally please his wife. If he were to keep up a presentable appearance this may please his wife. Second, Tom has a bitter facial expression, made part by angry eyebrows and eyes. This is justified as Tom is a curmudgeon and he is not a happy tempered person so he would have a ill-tempered expression. Tom in this avatar has pale skin because he spends most of his time in a “forlorn” house and even though he takes walks in the woods occasionally he is protected from the sun by the canopy of the

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