He was dressed in Indian garb but his face was not black or copper colored. It was covered with soot, had
black hair sticking
out, and carried an ax. The devil asked Tom what he was doing on his land.
What is Tom Walker best described as?
Tom Walker might best be described as
— stingy and cruel but courageous
.
How is Tom Walker described?
A “meagre miserly fellow,” Tom Walker is first and
foremost outrageously, self-destructively greedy
. He despises his miserly, abusive wife and has nothing to live for but the satisfaction of his desire for owning things.
What became of Tom Walker’s property?
All his assets become worthless—his coach horses become skeletons, the
gold and silver Tom hoarded turns into wood chips and shavings
, his mortgages and deeds become cinders, and his great house burns to the ground. Since that day, his ghost haunts the site of the old fortress.
What are some character traits of Tom Walker?
Tom Walker is
very miserly, or unwilling to spend money
. He and his wife, who is also miserly, hide their belongings from each other and live in a dilapidated house in which there is never a fire in the hearth. Tom is also unafraid and bold, even when he wanders into a swamp that is the domain of the devil.
Who is the hero in The Devil and Tom Walker?
Tom Walker
is the story’s protagonist, who is a greedy, stubborn man with a miserable wife. After meeting Old Scratch in the swamp, he agrees to sell his soul in exchange for Captain Kidd’s buried treasure. Tom uses the money to become a wealthy usurer and continually forecloses on people’s homes.
Why are Tom and his wife unhappy?
Why are Tom and his wife unhappy?
They fight about money
. Irving implements satire when he describes Tom in the following passage. “Tom was a hard-minded fellow, not easily daunted, and he had lived so long with a termagant wife that he did not even fear the devil.”
What do the devil’s trees in the swamp represent?
Describe the devil’s trees. What do they symbolize? The trees of the wooded and swamp area symbolized
the land owners, slave drivers, and colonists that have taken the land from the Native Americans
. They were all sinners that had made deals with the devil for their own greed and material desires.
What 4 phrases are used to describe Tom’s wife?
They are both miserly,
she is hot tempered, loud mouth, quick to physical fights
.
Why does Tom initially refuse the devil’s bargain?
Why does Tom initially refuse the devil’s bargain?
It is after he gets home and tells his wife about the incident
. However Tom might have felt disposed to sell himself to the devil, he was determined not to do so to contradict his wife. So, just to spite her, Tom refuses.
How is Tom Walker selfish?
At the end of the story, Tom exhibits
his selfishness by agreeing to cheat honest workers out of their money through outrageous interest rates on his loans
; even when the devil comes calling, Tom tries to hide the profits from him. So both Tom and his wife only want riches at all costs for themselves.
What does the devil say to Tom Walker?
But, one day when he forecloses on a mortgage, “the poor land jobber” begs for a few months’ extension, saying that Tom has enough money now, but Tom Walker refuses him another day denying that he has made any money from the “land jobber”: “The Devil take me,” said he, “
if I have made a farthing!
“
What does Tom do to try to cheat the devil?
As he faced his own mortality, Irving writes that Tom Walker “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 church goer.” This is the first attempt to renounce his deal with the devil.
Who is the antagonist in The Devil and Tom Walker?
And lastly,
the devil
, who first appears to Tom Walker as a woodsman he recognizes as Old Scratch, is Tom’s final antagonist. He takes advantage of Tom Walker’s greed and collects Tom’s soul for himself.
Is Tom Walker a round character?
Tom is
a round character
because the story tells us how he went a made a trade with the devil. He opens a Broker’s shop. He tries to cheat fate by becoming a church goer. Throughout the story we learn a lot about Tom and who he is.
Is Tom Walker poor?
Tom Walker is
a poor man
as well as a greedy one. He is unwilling to share with others anything that he can claim as his. He is also a brave man, unafraid to enter into places haunted by supernatural tales and to deal directly with the devil when he meets him.
