Theme of The Devil and Tom Walker In Washington Irving’s short story The Devil and Tom Walker, greed is shown to be a terrible trait that comes with many negative affects. Revealed by Irving when he introduced the setting, Tom Walker lived a miserable life isolated with his untrustworthy wife due to his miserly personality, and by this Irving was showing that living a life of greed will ultimately lead to misery. When decisions are being made based on greed and self benefit it will alter one thinking process and help you to make harmful and unintelligent decisions, as shown by Irving represented by greed based decisions both Tom and his wife made. Irvin also illustrated that you can be overwhelmed by greed and it can metaphorically turn
Decisions based on greed are not logical and are never a beneficial choice. Another effect greed can have on a person is turning them into a fiend. One greedy choice can lead to another and one can be consumed in their own greed. In the story Tom made the trade with the devil, and even though he more money than a man can ever want her still goes into business as a broker. He has a plethora off money but still rips of the poor and uses them to make more money for himself(249-252). Tom ruined many lives just to make himself a tiny bit more wealthy. His first greedy decision lead to the next and he was negatively effecting many just for self benefit. This example in Irvin’s story was a superb case in point of how one greedy decision can have a snowball effect end up hurting many people. Washington Irvin shows the effects of greed in many different ways in this short story. Greedy actions and behaviors can make life for someone miserable just like it made Tom’s. Irvin also showed that greed can effect decisions by making you think irrationally. Greed does not only hurt the person making the greedy choices but it affects people around them. Furthermore, greed can lead to more greed making one a fiend. In the end greed will lead to pain, misery, death, or one’s