Elisa Macias
Period 2

The Devil And Tom Walker In the short story "The Devil and Tom Walker", Washington Irving retells the classic tale of a man named Tom Walker who sells his soul to the Devil for money. Irving emphasizes towards his audience that greed has consquences. There were many examples of Tom Walker's greed causing him many problems throughout the story. The author illlustrates this trheme through symbols, irony, and motifs. The author uses symbols to show the audience that wealth is nothing to be greedy about. the Devil was a strong symbol throughout the whole story. He represented the temptation that was within Tom Walker. The narrator says "Tom had a lurking dread that the devil, after all, would have his due"(250). this quote demonstrates how Tom thought he could out-smart the Devil, thinking he can do what he wanted to do without any consquences. He also felt guilty for all the things he was doing, as well, because of the temptation the Devil had brought upon him. He knew there was no getting out of selling his soul, theres no going back, and this can refer to the old saying " the love of money is the root to all evil". Irony was also used to illustrated the theme. The Narrator said "...he made money hand over hand, became a richy and mighty man, and exalted his cocked hat upon 'change'. He built himself, a vast house, out of ostentatious, but left the greater part of it unfinished and unfurnished"(250). This is ironic because even thiugh he had a lot of money, he did not complete his house. He was that greedy, he did not even give money to thosr who would finish his house even if he has the money to do so. This develpoes the theme greatly. The quote shows the