The Devil and Tom Walker: Religious Symbolism , and Gothic Literature
This story was written in 1820 , Washington Irving’s story retells the European tale of Faust, a scholar who sold his soul for wisdom. Tom Walker, Washington Irving’s American Faust, has no interest in wisdom however; he only seeks money and is into fortune. Irving may have set this story in an earlier America, but he revealed the materialism of his own era. This story contains a lot of Religious Symbolism , and Gothic Literature because the story itself is an allegory meant to represent a larger or morally significant idea. The moral in this story is the struggle of being greedy, which Tom Walker is, and he was basically consumed by his own greed to the extent that he had to search for a different solution in getting his riches which was by making a deal with the Devil (Old Scratch).
The woods in this story are a symbol of Tom and his conscience. The woods are dark and hard to see past , no matter how good your eye sight is. It would be easy to get lost in them. The woods are a lot like Tom’s conscience is, dark and kind of puzzled. He easily gets lost in it, as well as lost in the greed of money and power, and this makes him exceptionally easy to be classified as someone who “gets lost”. He loses to the power of the devil whenever he is weak and blind over all of his own greed just because he seeks money/fortune and power. “Old Scratch” as said in the story refers to the Devil himself and in the story he is an Old man Satisfying his own “Itch” by scratching it himself. How you might ask ? It is done through all of Tom Walkers desires come to life and be real for him. Such as getting rid of his constantly
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No simple definition can describe religion, however, with the many affiliations between Steinbeck's Grapes of Wrath and the Bible, one can easily envision what it entails. When first beginning my journey with the Grapes of Wrath, I merely embraced it for its literal meaning. I soon realized that doing so limited my ability to understand it at the intellectual level it called for. Changing my unfit ...
nagging wife and giving him riches/money which is what he truly craves and nothing else really. Tom Walker being a normal / average name basically shows that pretty much anyone can be manipulated by their own greed or even be influenced by the devil. However, at first Tom resisted the temptation and refuses to make a deal with the devil. After that happened Tom’s wife gets extremely mad with him and decides to “make a deal” with the devil herself. after she is “taken” away and to never be seen again that is when tom comes to make his deal with the Old Scratch and becomes a usurer (someone who charges extreme interest for loans; similar to a cash advance business in today’s society) (e-text Irving 1) Basically making people suffer because when he loans money to someone they have to pay so much interest that either way they will end up “losing” basically enslaving people to himself and the devil because of their money problems and making Tom Walker extremely wealthy in the process that he pursues with the help of the devil.
What’s odd about this story is the way Tom Walker tries to find a way to hide from the devil or avoid being taken from the devil is that Tom Walker now tries to be the ultimate Christian and believes that if he praises in high voice and if he attends the service all the time and carries a bible with him around to every part he steps at that the devil can not touch him . For the time being he was correct that the devil could not hurt him while he was in the church and while he had the holy bible in his hands. But Tom Walker speaks out into the crowd at church as a black man says that Tom is waiting for the “burning” and that he is ready for it . “This woodland belonged to me long before one of your white-faced race put foot upon the soil.”(Irving 232) Says the old man. Tom replies saying “and pray, who are you, if I may be so bold?”(Irving 232) He asked the old black man what his name was and the black man says “I go
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by various names. I am the wild huntsman in some countries; the black miner in others, In this neighborhood I am known by the name of the black woodsman.[…]”(Irving 232)
However, Tom was caught up in an altercation one day with some people who he had been leeching money from over time because of the loans that he said “May The Devil take me , if I have made a farthing” (Irving 238) because he kept on denying the truth in front of these people and then as he said those words there were three loud knocks at the street door. Tom stepped out to see who is was and there was the Black man , who there held his black horse which the horse was acting impatient as if it was ready to ride in a Kentucky derby that very second. Which is when the black man said to Tom “You’re Come For Tom Walker” (Irving 238) What had happened after the man told Tom this was 100 percent his own fault for being so foolish in opening the door free willed because Tom had left his little Bible at the bottom of his coat pocket , and his big Bible on the desk buried under the mortgage he was about to foreclose. I doubt he could have ever foreseen this coming so it was a huge surprise to the “Sinner” which in this case is Tom. He was not ready for this encounter, the black man grabbed Tom and put him in the saddle and whipped the horse and away they went into the midst of the thunderstorm. Now Tom Walker was never to be seen again and the people of the town were now aware of the situation and the bad doings of Tom Walker. Religiously speaking, have Tom might have had his little or big Bible with him when he opened the door he would have been safe. Also, if he wouldn’t have made a deal with the devil he never would have been in that predicament.
Gothic Literature in this Story is tied in pretty well with the mix of dark vibes and characters in the story such as the Old Scratch and Tom Walker’s wife, Not only them but also the setting of different parts of the story . The “Swamp”, and the woods where all the trees would collapse before their eyes. the “Midst Thunderstorm” that appeared when the black man comes to take Tom Walker away. These are all “Dark” places in the story and “Dark” Characters also. The way they describe Tom Walker’s wife is that she is a tall “termagant” lady , a woman who has an outrageous temper , had a big mouth and is strong like a man. As for the “Old Scratch” the Devil is someone in the story who portrays an elderly man but at the same time he is “itchy” and to satisfy his “itch” he makes deals with people to make their desires come true. He is the one who tempts the people by fooling them into believing they can have whatever they truly want with only one cost, which is by selling their soul. In the story as Tom falls for this, it just goes to show that anyone who is manipulated enough or tempted enough into doing so, can fall deep and not have a way back into the light.
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