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Greed In Washington Irving's The Devil And Tom Walker

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My favorite Washington Irving story is the Devil and Tom Walker. In this story, the Devil makes a deal with Tom Walker and Tom ends up losing his valuable belongings, his wife, and his soul. Tom encounters the Devil in the woods. The devil offers him a sum of money, but Tom declines it because it means his wife will get some too. When his wife dies and his belongings are taken, he decides to accept the offer and become an usurer. He attempts to escape the devil, but when he makes an unjust decision, the devil finds him and Tom is never seen or heard from again.

The story had a lot of metaphors. But they're used to reference characters, not a deeper meaning. The meaning of the story is not to be greedy. The author illustrates the dark side of greediness. He did a good job of convincing people and making the point. The characters were believable people. He showed what people in that position would realistically say and do. While the story was fictional, it was realistic in how it portrayed greedy people. …show more content…
He was a man of fortitude. He even felt something like gratitude toward the black woodsman, who, he considered, had done him a kindness." This line illustrates that Tom was so greedy that he actually felt happy that his wife was dead because it meant he no longer had to share his wealth. This twisted outlook is what makes this story to me very interesting. The fact that someone could despise his wife so much as to be grateful to the devil for such things makes this story

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