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The Devil and Tom Walker Summary
Washington Irving

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The Devil and Tom Walker Summary

In "The Devil and Tom Walker," set in New England in the early 1700s, a narrator relates a story he has heard about a local man's dealings with the devil. The narrator never claims that the stories are true, only that they are widely believed.

According to local legend, a treasure is buried in a dark grove on an inlet outside of Boston. It is said that Kidd the Pirate left it there under a gigantic tree and that the devil himself "presided at the hiding of the money, and took it under his guardianship." Since the pirate Kidd was hanged, no one has disturbed the treasure or challenged the devil's right to it.

In the year 1727 a local man, the notorious miser Tom Walker, finds himself in the dark grove alone at dusk while taking a short cut back to his house. Tom is well known... View more of the The Devil and Tom Walker Summary

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Encyclopedia Articles (1)

"The Devil and Tom Walker"

4,032 words, approx. 14 pages

"The Devil and Tom Walker" by Washington Irving Washington truing was born to a wealthy family in New York on April 3, 1783. He spent almost twenty years of his life in Europe. Influenced by a move... Read more

Washington Irving Biography (12)

Washington Irving

12,298 words, approx. 41 pages

Biography EssayWashington Irving was America's first successful professional man of letters, a gifted teller of tales, especially as a native humorist, a romantic historian, and an influential prose s... Read more

Washington Irving

3,628 words, approx. 13 pages

Considered the first professional man of letters in the United States, Washington Irving (1783-1859) was influential in the development of the short story form and helped to gain international respect... Read more

Washington Irving

2,032 words, approx. 7 pages

Considered the first professional man of letters in the United States, Washington Irving was influential in the development of the short story form and helped to gain international respect for fledgli... Read more

Washington Irving

11,468 words, approx. 39 pages

Washington Irving was America's first successful professional man of letters, a gifted teller of tales, especially as a native humorist, a romantic historian, and an influential prose stylist. As a wr... Read more

Washington Irving

7,556 words, approx. 26 pages

At the outset of Washington Irving's Bracebridge Hall (1822) Geoffrey Crayon, the author's quasi-autobiographical persona, makes the following observation: "I have always had an opinion that much good... Read more

Washington Irving

5,082 words, approx. 17 pages

Washington Irving , America's first professional man of letters, devoted the latter half of his productive career primarily to historical writing. Though best remembered in the twentieth century as an... Read more

Washington Irving

2,820 words, approx. 10 pages

Washington Irving was so important a figure, so self-conscious a writer, and so given to romantic irony and satirizing authorship that the meagerness of his literary criticism and scholarship is disa... Read more

Washington Irving

3,117 words, approx. 11 pages

The first American writer to be acclaimed as a literary figure of stature on both sides of the Atlantic, Washington Irving is today regarded as an important but obscure figure of American letters. D... Read more

Washington Irving

9,742 words, approx. 33 pages

Washington Irving told an anecdote of his youth which shows both his propensity to delight in stories as well as his skepticism concerning them. A "lively boy, full of curiosity, of easy faith, and p... Read more

Washington Irving

9,200 words, approx. 31 pages

Washington Irving, America's first successful professional man of letters, was an essayist, humorist, historian, literary critic, antiquarian scholar, magazine journalist, and short-story writer. In a... Read more

Washington Irving

7,383 words, approx. 25 pages

Washington Irving, America's first professional man of letters, won his international reputation in the 1820s as a literary cosmopolitan, an interpreter especially of English and Spanish character, cu... Read more

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15,873 words, approx. 53 pages

"I seek only to blow a flute accompaniment in the national concert, and leave others to play the fiddle & frenchhorn," Washington Irving said in an 1819 letter. While his flute music for a time wa... Read more

Essays & Analysis (4)

The Devil and Tom Walker

644 words, approx. 3 pages

The American Romantic Period is clearly represented in the literature of Washington Irving's "The Devil and Tom Walker." The rural setting displayed in this story shows how the piece can be ... Read more

Good Vs Evil - The Edmund Burke Concept

560 words, approx. 2 pages

Edmund Burke's concept, "the only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing," is supported in the short story, "The Devil and Tom Walker," because the good men in the town ... Read more

What Is the American Dream?

208 words, approx. 1 pages

Washington Irving, the author of "Tom Walker and The Devil" uses his main character, Tom Walker to play the important role of being the protagonist. Tom Walker is proved to be greedy, daring, and cou... Read more

Mood in the Devil and Tom Walker

523 words, approx. 2 pages

In most stories, with each event, there is a mood displayed through the setting. It can be good, bad, romantic, mysterious and much more. In the case of "The Devil and Tom Walker," the mood is eerie.... Read more

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Need Homework Help?

What character traits do Tom Walker and his wife share?

-- They are both greedy people, selfish, caring for noone but themselves. They are both suspicious by n... read more

What bargain does Tom make with the stranger in the forest?

-- He agrees to become a money lender in exchange for getting the devil's treasure. The catch that came... read more

The Devil and Tom Walker SummaryWashington Irving

The Devil and Tom Walker Summary

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The Devil and Tom Walker Study Guide

Encyclopedia Articles (1)

Washington Irving Biography (12)

Essays & Analysis (4)

The Devil and Tom Walker Summary
Washington Irving