An Analysis of Irving's Rip Van Winkle and The Devil and Tom Walker
Washington Irving was one of the first American writers to write
any kind of fantasy story or writing. At first he tried to pass his
stories as real life accounts found in a dead mans dresser. The start of
one states that it is real and has been deemed so by collages and some
museums. After he saw how much people liked his stories he published all
of them in " The Sketch Book of Godfred Crayon, Gent.". This Collection
became famous overnight. His stories were also successful in England and
Europe. Most of his stories have many similarities and differences. "Rip
VanWinkle" and " The Devil and Tom Walker" are two good examples.
To start of with there all around feeling and theme. Now one can
tell "Rip VanWinkle" is set in a fantasy world right of the bat by the way
Irving sort of zooms in on the scene, first he tells of the mountains and
then the town and down till he's in the room with Tom and his wife. In "The
Devil and Tom Walker" the author gives some info on the situation and the
charters and then just jumps into the story. In both of the stories you get
the feeling of something supernatural is going to happen. Also in both they
take place in remote areas.
Next we have the husband wife relationship in both cases. Now Rip
was sort of a say nothing do nothing when it came to his house and wife.
His wife would bad mouth him and yell at him, but Rip wouldn't do much
anyway. He would just go off and sleep. Now Tom and his wife on the other
hand would battle to the death. Tom would yell and scream and so would his
wife. Tom would hide money and so would his wife. In both of the stories
they wife husband relationship would be a turning point in both cases.
And last the way they both got what they wanted. In Rips case he
wanted to get rid of his wife and his jobs. He goes to the forest to escape
from his wives verbal abuse. He gets his wish by getting a new life
bottom, an' then Tom gets quick there, an we take another mattress an' sort of
At the beginning, Tom is very self-centered and preoccupied with his work. He finds what he wants to do more important than what his wife wants to do that night. Once faced with the reality of death, he realizes how important his wife is to him. This forces him to be strong and stay alive, for her sake. The only reason he made it back into his house was because of how much he cared for her. Tom then decides to go find her at the movies, which shows that he has become less self-centered and more aware of his wife’s feelings.
The original story by Washington Irving starts out in a small town of Sleepy Hollow. Irving paints an image of bountiful crops, beautiful scenery, and prosperous landowners. Ichabod Crane was a local pedagogue, who taught at the local schoolhouse. He was known for his strict ways and yet he was very popular amongst the families of his students- especially the ones who had ?pretty sisters.? Ichabod enjoyed spending fall evenings with the old widows as they sat by a fire and told stories of ghosts and demons and other supernatural beings. One story that was always told was one of the legendary Headless Horsemen. The tale tells of a soldier who had his head shot off with a cannon ball. His ghost now roamed Sleepy Hollow on his horse, looking for his lost head. In place of his head, sits a jack-o-lantern, which had a fiery glow.
...d the bangle he gave the girl as a token of love, even a wonderful marriage with the girl. I can’t deny that the girl loves Tom deeply. Only she took out some encouragement, and she would get a happy ending.
Gibb, Thomas. "Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby" The Explicator Washington: Winter 2005. Vol. 63, Iss.3; Pg. 1-3
Can you imagine yourself locked up in a room with no doors? Similar to a room with no doors, there is no way out of hell if it was one's destiny. In the short story "The Devil & Tom Walker" by Washington Irving, the main character's fate is hell because of his wrong decisions in life, accepting a deal with the devil for earthly benefits. Irving reinforces his message about not making decisions that may damn your soul with the use of literary elements and figurative language. Wisely, Irving combines characterization, mood and point of view to perpetuate the theme of the story in the reader's mind.
Fitzgerald, F. Scott, and Matthew J. Bruccoli. The Great Gatsby. New York, NY: Scribner, 1996. Print.
Later approaching the tragedy of of the book, Tom displays another act of sub-human behavior, nonchalantly brushing off his affairs, “And what’s more I love Daisy too. Once in a while I go off on a spree and make a fool of myself, but I always come back, and in my heart I love her all the time.”(201). Tom in a sense...
...Laura. If he had been what Amanda had wanted him to be, Laura would have become happy and so would have Amanda, and then Tom would have been able to go his own separate way, being freed of his duties to his mother and sister. However, as it turns out, the shelf seems to have broken, because the gentleman caller actually ignites the greatest fight of all between Tom and Amanda, and Laura is left shattered after she loses whatever she had left within her because the gentleman caller turned out to be a disappointment.
... he still feels guilt for leaving Laura behind. Tom cannot ignore his feelings towards Laura and accept letting her go. Tom is physically able to flee from his past and reality, but is unable to escape emotionally. Also, even a new life, filled with opportunities and self goals has troubles. Tom says that he does anything to keep busy so he can forget what he left behind. He is still not fully content with his life.
When he told her, she wasn’t content that he turned it down because they could’ve had money. So the following day she went out to the forest to go look for the devil. He waited to full day to go look for her because she took the pots and pans with her when she went to go meet up with the devil. He didn’t want to find her because he missed her. He wanted to find her because she had the pots that he could sell and make money off of. When he was walking in the forest on the look for her, he saw that her check apron was hanging on the branch of the tree. “Let us get hold of the property and we will endeavor to do without the woman”( Irving 158). When he took the apron off of the branch, he saw that nothing was in it but his wife’s heart and liver tied up in it. The point of this section is that Tom’s wife meant nothing to him because instead of being worried about her,
She wants Laura, if not herself to be taken care of. At that moment in the play Tom is the breadwinner in the family and up to this point Tom is the underpriviledged child that wants to move on. He wants to pursue his dream, a more adventurous life. Tom was a likable character until we find out he didn't pay the electric bill with the intended money. When Jim is over and he says "I paid my dues this month, instead of the light bill".
exercise it by themselves, in all cases to which they think themselves competent; (as in
be in love with Tom she would make up lies to keep them together. Tom pretty
In the Devil and Tom Walker Tom’s wife has a temper, loud mouth and she was strong . His face sometimes showed signs that their fighting may have been more than words. She would hide things from Tom. They did not have a very good marriage. Again Irving portrayed the wife as loud and nagging.