Reflection Blog- Washington Irving

In The Devil of Tom Walker, Washington Irving tells a story of a man who sells his soul to the devil in return for wealth. To me, this story seemed to a very simple plot that followed the same idea that many stories of this sort follow. A man with little money and a harsh life encounters the devil and strikes up a deal that will give him the wealth that he desires in return for his soul. I think that Washington Irving adds a lot of creativity into his story with the way he describes the devil and the way he tells us how the devil does his business. In this story, we learn that Tom Walker is a greedy man that is married to a greedy women, and the relationship between the two of them is anything but loving (The Devil and Tom Walker). A good example from the story that shows the bad relationship between Tom and his wife is when she disappears for days and Tom is more worried about the valuables she took than about her well being (The Devil and Tom Walker 246-247). This story represents the Romanticism period in that one of the biggest themes in this story is greed. The Romanticism period seems to have a lot to do with more of the material things in life versus the littler things in life. In this passage, Washington Irving tells us how Tom Walker felt about his wife's disappearance Tom now grew uneasy for her safety, especially as he found she had carried off in her apron the silver teapot and spoons and every portable article of value (The Devil and Tom Walker 246). This passage shows how greedy and selfish Tom Walker is because it says he only really became worried about his wife when he realized that she had taken their most valuable items with her. Something I noticed while reading this story is how descriptive Washington Irving was. Throughout Tom's shortcut through the swamp, he describes every little detail, from the roots in the ground to the trees that are ninety feet high (The Devil and Tom Walker 243). I like that Washington Irving used so much detail because it helps me focus more on the reading because I imagine what the setting is like. When authors do not use much detail, I have a hard time reading their work because its so boring. I noticed many similarities between The Devil and Tom Walker and Rip Van Winkle. For example, I thought that both stories included quite a bit of detail. In Rip Van Winkle, Washington Irving uses a lot of detail when describing the mountains and the little villages that lay at the foot of these mountains (Rip Van Winkle 4-5). Another similarity I noticed between the two stories was that each man in the two stories had a wife that was described as "termagant". I think it is kind of interesting that Washington Irving included a bad wife in both of these stories because it makes it seem like he could have had issues with mean women in his life or something. One of the major differences in these two stories is the differences in the themes. It seems to me that the theme of The Devil and Tom Walker has a lot to do with greed and materialistic things, and the theme is Rip Van Winkle is more of about not letting life get away from you. Bibliography Irving, Washington. “The Devil and Tom Walker.” Comp. Jeffrey D. Wilhelm, Ph.D. and Douglas Fisher, Ph.D. Glencoe Literature. American Literature ed. Columbus: McGraw-Hill Companies, 2009. 240-250. Print. Matthews, Washington Irving. "4. Rip Van Winkle By Washington Irving. Matthews, Brander. 1907. The Short-Story." Bartleby.com: Great Books Online -- Quotes, Poems, Novels, Classics and Hundreds More. Web. 06 Dec. 2011.