THE DEVIL AND TOM WALKER

• • https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S6PQN2c0QKA 19:58

As Tom gets older, he begins to worry about his actions and becomes “a violent churchgoer.” But does he really change? Support your opinion with examples from the text. Use a chart like the one shown to collect evidence.

Before the Bargain As He Ages

Attitude Statements Actions

WASHINGTON IRVING 1783-1959

• The story of Tom Walker is a variation on the legend of Faust, a 16 a pious public image as they “sell their soul” for money.

th century magician and astrologer who was said to have sold his soul to the devil for wisdom, money, and power. Washington Irving reinvented the tale, setting it in the 1720s in an area of New England settled by Quakers and Puritans. In Irving’s comic retelling of the legend, the writer satirizes people who present

IMAGERY

• • IMAGERY: paragraph 1 • How do you know this place of bad luck?

IMAGERY: paragraph 2 • Identify the images that help to characterize Tom and his wife. What character traits do these images reveal?

INFERENCES

• Why do you think the trees are marked with men’s names?

INFERENCES

…Since the red men have been exterminated by you white savages, I amuse myself by presiding at the persecutions of Quakers and Anabaptists; I am the great patron and prompter of slave dealers, and te grand master of the Salem witches.

• What does this tell you about the author’s attitude toward the activities of the early settlers? What led you to make that inference?

WHAT KIND OF CHURCHGOER IS REPRESENTED BY TOM? THINK ABOUT WHAT IRVING IS SUGGESTING ABOUT THIS KIND OF INDIVIDUAL.

As Tom waxed old, however, he grew thoughtful. Having secured the good things of this world, he 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 a sudden, a violent churchgoer. He prayed loudly and strenuously, as if heaven were to be taken by force of lungs. Indeed, one might always tell when he had sinned most during the week, by the clamor of his Sunday devotion. The quiet Christians who had been modestly and steadfastly traveling Zionward21 were struck with selfreproach at seeing themselves so suddenly outstripped in their career by this newmade convert. Tom was as rigid in religious as in money matters; he was a stern supervisor and censurer of his neighbors, and seemed to think every sin entered up to their account became a credit on his own side of the page. He even talked of the expediency of reviving the persecution of Quakers and Anabaptists. In a word, Tom’s zeal became as notorious as his riches

THE DEVIL AND TOM WALKER

• Values feelings over reason • Tom ignores his intuition/reason when he makes a deal with the devil for gold in exchange for his soul • •

Values the power of imagination

The story is about a man making a deal with the devil, that requires imagination/faith • • • •

Values the beauty of unspoiled nature

Nature is spoiled by the indians and becomes a place of Boston is where Tom Walker sets up his counting house drive people to bankruptcy evil.

that he uses to Tom is carried off to the same location in the swamp at the end, comparing it to hell

THE DEVIL AND TOM WALKER

• •

Values individual freedom

Tom Walker has the choice to make the deal with the devil and in fact has to talk him into it in the end. The story also reinforces that Tom must deal with the consequences of his individual freedom • •

Values lessons of the past

The story is set in the mid/late 1700’s and teaches a lesson that is still applicable • • •

Finds beauty in exotic locales, the supernatural, and the imagination

The indian fort in the swamp is an exotic locale as it is in an area that most people would not go often and is more exotic for being associated with the indians.

The story involving the devil is an example of the supernatural

THE DEVIL AND TOM WALKER

• Values myth, legend, and folk culture • The plotline is taken from a European folk tale and has elements of legends