Washington+Irving

Washington Irving //Summary:// I read the short story __The Devil and Tom Walker__ by Washington Irving. The story starts off with a pirate named Kidd that buries his treasure on what he thought was a deserted piece of land; but actually the devil presided over the land and watches over the treasure. Then white men came to the land and started a colony that rapidly increased in size. The main character is named Tom Walker, he lives in a worn down house with a wife that is just as bitter as himself. The couple could be heard from a distance screaming and arguing. They are such a bitter couple that they steal and cheat one another. One day Tom walked through the woods to go to his house, and met a black man who held an axe in his hand. The black man had deep red eyes and a rough voice who was large in stature; it was none other than the devil. The devil showed Tom trees in the woods that represented people. If the person was a malevolent being then the tree showed this by drooping or being rotted and the devil would chop the tree down (kill the person). The devil informed Tom of the treasure buried on the land and offered him a deal. The author never came out and stated what the proposal was but it must not have seemed worth it because Tom didn't take the offer. Tom then went home to tell his wife of this mysterious man and the offer that he had struck. She was outraged that Tom had not taken the deal, so being the greedy woman she was went in search for the mysterious man. For days Tom hadn't heard from her so he went to look for her only to find her heart and liver hanging in her apron from a tree branch. Tom was actually excited that she was no more, I suppose he was happy that the shrill woman was out of his life. So Tom eagerly went in search of the devil. He found the man walking in the woods one afternoon and struck another deal. This time Tim agreed to the terms and as did the devil. Tom was to be an usurer; he would extort bonds, foreclose mortgages, and drive the merchants to bankrupty. In return Tom would get Kidd the pirates treasure and ninety-six percent of the profit he earned. The devil would receive four percent of the earnings, Tom's soul, and most importantly the pleasure of seeing the havoc Tom would wreak. Sure enough, in time Tom did wreak major havic. The word of his easy business and giving away money like it was free spread and Tom became quite popular among the people which is just what the devil had wanted. Now a few years down the road people can't afford to pay off their monthly loans or whatever it is they owe and the become broke. After years of seeing people suffer from his own doing Tom starts to regret his heinous deal with the devil, so he goes in search of God. He becomes a faithful Christian and begins carrying around and reading __The Holy Bible__. One day Tom was listening to the plea of a land-jobber and decides that he is through with his filthy work. He says, "The devil take me if I have made a farthing!", and just as he finishes the devil knocks at the door of Tom's brokery and whisks Tom away and was never seen again.

//Correlation:// The era of this short story i believe was in the 1700 or 1800's. I think this because the author said that there were wives fables that varied about each story. The term wives fables is a very old term. Another reason I think it is from those eras is because the story is about making a deal with the devil which is a classic story. The main theme of the story is greed. Tom as well as his wife were very greedy people and they both end up in the situation; they have premature deaths. An example of his wife's greed was when she received word of Kidd the pirate's buried treasure. She was so blinded by greed that she wasn't even a little bit scared to confront the devil and beg him for a deal. Tom's greed showed when he conned all of those people out of their money just so he could have, more or less, unlimited wealth.

//Reflection//: As I previously stated the major topic of the short story was greed; there are many examples of greed today in the world. There are people that have stole money from innocent, unsuspecting people such as Tom had. For example a couple years ago a man that owned a mortage company stole his clients money and ran off with it. He was caught and sent to jail for many years. In both examples the person that was obsessed with money got what they had coming to them. There are other cases where people trust their stock brokers to put their money into mutual funds that will be successful, but what will happen is the broker will be a crook and he will put their money into unsuccessful funds and he will use their money as his own. In many of these cases the broker recieves retribution for his crime and has to pay back his clients on top of what he is getting sued.