Greed In Washington Irving's The Devil And Tom Walker

In Washington Irving’s “The Devil and Tom Walker”,Irving has woven the central theme of greed throughout three stages. The first stage, Irving introduced the character of Tom Walker and described his first meeting with the devil. Next, Irving used Walker’s wife as another example for his demonstration of greed. The last stage is when Walker had reached a deal between him and the demon. These three stages linked together and presented a full picture of who Tom Walker was. Irving presented a background of Walker at the beginning of the story. “…there lived near this place a meager, miserly fellow, of the name of Tom Walker. He had a wife as miserly as himself:they were so miserly that they even conspired to cheat each other”(Page 1). Irving brings to life how stingy Walker is, since he could not bring happiness to his own wife (and even cheat on her) let alone other people. Walker’s unwillingness to help or provide for others has a profound negative …show more content…
“You shall open a broker’s shop in Boston next month,”said the black man… “You shall lend money at two percent a month.” “Egad, I’ll charge four!”replied Tom Walker”(Page 6). These words clearly demonstrated that Walker had became obsessed with money, and his own greed had consumed him. Walker made a fortune from the treasure, and he lived a fairly comfortable life. However, as he grew older and started to prepare for his death, he was scared: “…Tom had a lurking dread that the devil, after all, would have his due…therefore, it is said he always carried a small Bible in his coat pocket. He also had a great folio Bible on his counting-house desk, and would frequently be found reading it…”(Page 6). Walker now was trying to escape his fate, for he wanted to trick the devil to obtain all his wealth by being a faithful man—a man of God. In the end, he was taken by the devil and it was all due to his

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Greed In Washington Irving's The Devil And Tom Walker