Preview

Archetypes In Washington Irving's The Devil And Tom Walker

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
397 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Archetypes In Washington Irving's The Devil And Tom Walker
"The Devil and Tom Walker" is a short story by Washington Irving that many wonder about. It teaches a lesson and has many archetypes in the characters. An older greedy, self/centered guy whose wife is just as evil and sneaky as him. Some ask how could you live with a person like this in your life, some may ask how could you and your wife live with each other? I believe that is a great question and would love to give my analyst on these characters and tell you how they almost sold their soul to the devil or what some may call him “old scratch”.
A cheap and overly confident older man. Extremely mean and small at that, a person you wouldn’t even think can get so rowdy. Rarely cares about anything else other than money, it seems he cares about
Continue Reading
View Writing Issues

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Satisfactory Essays

    Archetypes In 'Jack Higgins Flight Of Eagles'
    • 393 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Archetypes In 'Jack Higgins Flight Of Eagles'

    Jack Higgins Flight of Eagles tells the tale of two brothers during the Nazi Reign in World War II. During the start of the war nations were persuaded to choose a side, but for Harry and Max Kelso, there fate had already chosen for them. Separated at the age of seven, the brothers have now grown up to become the top fighter pilots the world has ever witnessed. Harry with the British RAF and Max in Germany’s Luftwaffe. As the war fold’s out Harry and Max will be confronted with the most challenging of choices. The use of archetypes that occur through out the book involve brotherhood. The bond of brothers that sticks with Harry and Max through out the war no matter how far apart they may be. The hero, Harry and Max are both top fighters on there…

    • 393 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Compare And Contrast Tom Walker And Daniel Webster
    • 333 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Compare And Contrast Tom Walker And Daniel Webster

    Both Tom walker and daniel webster had devil type figures in there stories Guarded the treasure of the pirate named kid and the other one was a devil named scratched Jabez stone was just the same as tom walker they both sold there soul to the devil also known as scratch they both hated there life so they decided to change it for the better…

    • 333 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Archetypal Theme Of Greed In The Devil And Tom Walker
    • 322 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Archetypal Theme Of Greed In The Devil And Tom Walker

    In the story The Devil and Tom walker by Washington Irving Tom Walker is motivated by greed. During the story Tom and his wife are always hiding eggs and other things from each other in their forlorn looking house. Tom was also never a man to stick at trifles when large sums of money were in view. This means he was greedy when it came to money. So you would think he would take the deal the devil offered him, which was that he could captain kidds treasure that was buried in the swamp. But Tom didn’t take that deal at first,…

    • 322 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
    Read More
  • Better Essays

    Devil And Tom Walker: Discussion Questions
    • 795 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Devil And Tom Walker: Discussion Questions

    11. In “The Devil and Tom Walker,” what feeling about the setting does Irving want to arouse?…

    • 795 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Better Essays
    Read More
  • Better Essays

    Influenced Styles In Washington Irving's The Devil And Tom Walker
    • 1323 Words
    • 6 Pages

    Influenced Styles In Washington Irving's The Devil And Tom Walker

    Irving, a nonreligious man, wrote this fictitious story that causes its audience to really consider their lives and to question what is possible in the future. His anti-Puritanical writings, while frowned upon by many, led to a new period of American Romanticism and inspired many new authors, such as Edgar Allen Poe, to follow in his footsteps. Without discussion, "The Devil and Tom Walker" is one of the many short stories that follows a Romantic style, and it clearly exhibited the huge shift in style that America went through in the 19th…

    • 1323 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Better Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Devil And Tom Walker Character Analysis
    • 703 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Devil And Tom Walker Character Analysis

    As he made his journey through the forest however he was tempted by the “Devil” named Old Scratch, who offers him riches, shortcuts etc. in exchange for his soul. Tom who once was not foolish, falls to this trap and instead goes to the Devil. He is also a very materialistic and lazy unmotivated individual, as stated in the story, “Tom was a hard-minded fellow, not easily daunted, and he had lived so long with a termagant wife, that he did not fear the Devil” (Irving 183). The devious devil had successfully tempted Tom in so many ways that he had left in him by the end of the story and felt that he “might have felt disposed to sell himself to the Devil” (Irving 183). Similarly Young Goodman Brown went through a similar experience as he made his way through the forest as the devil tempted him as…

    • 703 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Greed And Hypocrisy In The Devil And Tom Walker
    • 599 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Greed And Hypocrisy In The Devil And Tom Walker

    Washington Irving’s “The Devil and Tom Walker”, shows us that greed and hypocrisy will only haunt you in the end. The story takes place in New England in the late 1700’s. The narrator tells a story about a man’s encounter with the devil or “Old Scratch”. While most people don’t believe the wild story, the narrator swears that the story is indeed true.…

    • 599 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Archetypes In Fahrenheit 451
    • 812 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Archetypes In Fahrenheit 451

    Could you think of a place where books are outlawed and your real family is four television screens put together? In the novel Fahrenheit 451, books are banned from the real world and are burned so no one can read them, and your family, or as they are mostly used for people to “talk” to everyday, are not even real people. Our point of view on certain things differ somewhat from the utopia’s. The most important and precious thing to them is four walls to create their family, and knowledge is frowned upon.…

    • 812 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    The Devil And Tom Walker And Rip Van Winkle Essay
    • 629 Words
    • 3 Pages

    The Devil And Tom Walker And Rip Van Winkle Essay

    “Rip Van Winkle” and “The Devil and Tom Walker” are both written by Washington Irving and feature a man living with his wife. Each story depicts their wives in a similar fashion; vicious, pestering annoyances that contribute little to nothing towards the well-being of the protagonist. Irving’s general scorn towards women is manifested in a few different ways, even looking beyond their blatantly negative descriptions.…

    • 629 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    The Devil And Tom Walker Romanticism Essay
    • 457 Words
    • 2 Pages

    The Devil And Tom Walker Romanticism Essay

    One of the main elements of Romanticism that it used throughout the story, “The Devil and Tom Walker,” that was wrote by Washington Irving is the archetypal plot, which is someone who sells his or her own soul to the devil for money, wisdom, power, and fame. The character that really shows this element is Tom Walker because he will do anything to be rich. This element that Tom shows in the story is going against our Christian beliefs and he is turning himself further away from God. Christians believe that the love of money leads to all sorts of sin and evil. Once someone becomes obsessed with money, that is all that they are worried about and they push God away from themselves and they do not make time for Him. Since Tom loves having money,…

    • 457 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Better Essays

    Corruption In The Devil And Tom Walker Greed
    • 1444 Words
    • 6 Pages

    Corruption In The Devil And Tom Walker Greed

    History has shown that the quest for success and wealth tends to take prominence over morality. Seeking prosperity, however, does not guarantee a happy or fulfilling life. Oftentimes, the search for profit leads to corruption and eventual failure. When Irving wrote “The Devil and Tom Walker,” the United States was going through a period of rapid expansion. Washington Irving saw how competition for power and wealth was causing widespread corruption. Irving supported Romanticism, which instead promoted hard work and honesty to achieve success. Irving wrote “The Devil and Tom Walker” based in Romantic ideals as a cautionary tale of corruption in early 19th century society. Irving effectively demonstrates the consequences of corruption by utilizing Romantic values to demonstrate how Tom Walker and his wife’s hypocrisy, greed, and moral ambiguity lead to their downfall.…

    • 1444 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Better Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Archetypes In To Kill A Mockingbird
    • 713 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Archetypes In To Kill A Mockingbird

    The book To Kill a Mockingbird is set in the town of Maycomb, Alabama during the Great Depression. Scout, Jem and Atticus are the main characters and Atticus is their father. Atticus who is a lawyer had to defend a black man for a crime that he did not commit. The white people in town believed that a black man, Tom Robinson, raped a white girl. At the trial, Scout and Jem are exposed to racism and stereotypes and in the end Tom Robinson is found guilty. In the book, Atticus says to Scout “You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view . . . until you climb into his skin and walk around in it.”(Harper Lee,30).…

    • 713 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Better Essays

    Karma In The Masque Of The Red Death
    • 2133 Words
    • 9 Pages

    Karma In The Masque Of The Red Death

    Tom Walker makes a deal with the devil, turning him from rags to riches. He quickly becomes rich after opening a bank with the fortune he gathered from the devil. Tom buys everything he wants and before long “began to feel anxious about those of the next. He thought with regret on the bargain he had made with his black friend, and set his wits to work to cheat him out of the conditions. He became, therefore, all of the sudden, a violent churchgoer”(Irving 13). Tom no longer was content with his deal of selling his soul to the devil. He began to see that his freedom and his life was more important than his big house and money. The fact that Irving included this shows how his quality of life really did not improve as he was trying to. The romantic value of freedom over goods shines through with Tom’s realization that he wanted his life back. This trend of regret continues after Stephen Benet’s Jabez Stone gets fed up with all of the things that happen to him. He feels he is the most unlucky person in the world and makes a deal with the devil so that he can have good luck for (ultimately) ten years before the devil takes him. The deal makes Jabez have good crop turnout, strong horses, and good luck, but also extreme apprehensiveness “For every day, when he gets up, he thinks, ‘There’s one more night gone,’ and every night he lies down he thinks of the black pocketbook and the soul of Miser Stevens, and it makes him sick at heart”(Benet 310). Stone cannot bear the fact the he can count down the days until his death. The benefits of the deal with the devil no longer help Jabez and he realizes that his freedom is more important than having nice. He cannot enjoy his life no matter what while he knows his fate, showing romanticism’s emphasis on freedom for self realization. Jabez’s good luck is quickly overshadowed when he realizes he doesn’t have his life anymore,…

    • 2133 Words
    • 9 Pages
    Better Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Elements Of American Romanticism
    • 603 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Elements Of American Romanticism

    In “The Devil and Tom Walker” by Washington Irving, we see American romanticism in many points throughout the story. It starts with the devil offering answers to Tom and his wife’s money problems, for a price. The price is that at the end of his life, he has to go with the devil. The wife, overcome with greed, tries to take an offer not meant for her and was never heard from again. Tom’s love of greed for the thing that caused his wife’s death overtakes his better judgement. Once his time is coming to an end, he regrets his decision. He starts to worship a God that he doesn’t believe in, just so he wouldn’t end up in hell. All of this shows romanticism by showing that Tom and his wife choose the feeling of greed over…

    • 603 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Better Essays

    An Analysis Of Washington Irving's The Legend Of Sleepy Hollow
    • 1174 Words
    • 5 Pages

    An Analysis Of Washington Irving's The Legend Of Sleepy Hollow

    Alexander Isayevich Solzhenitsyn once said “Literature transmits incontrovertible condensed experience… from generation to generation. In this way literature becomes the living memory of a nation.” Literature was not created “in a vacuum.” Literature was created in an open environment, it expands and reaches places that not everyone believes it will. Literature is made to express thoughts or to reach social issues. Alexander Isayevich Solzhenitsyn’s quote could be interpreted in a couple of ways. Literature in fact, does transmit almost unchanging, although it is changing, experiences from generation to generation. Whatever it is that is being transmitted into the “new generation” is what soon…

    • 1174 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays
    Read More

Related Topics