The Devil and Tom Walker

The Devil and Tom Walker

Literary Analysis: Characterization

Characterization is the way a writer reveals and develops characters. With direct characterization, the writer makes explicit statements about a character. With indirect characterization, the writer makes statements that allow the reader to make inferences about a character.

Examples: Tom Walker was a miserly fellow. (direct characterization)

Tom Walker fed his horse the bare minimum. (indirect characterization)

Multiple Choice

Tom sat down and had a comfortable conversation with Old Scratch.

• Tom was not afraid of the Devil.

• Tom was a heartless moneylender.

• Tom was afraid of the Devil.

• Tom was outwardly religious.

Multiple Choice

Tom refused to allow his debtor any more time, foreclosing on the home.

• Tom was not afraid of the Devil.

• Tom was a heartless moneylender.

• Tom was afraid of the Devil.

• Tom was outwardly religious.

Multiple Choice

Tom began to go to church every Sunday, praying loudly and strenuously.

• Tom was not afraid of the Devil.

• Tom was a heartless moneylender.

• Tom was afraid of the Devil.

• Tom was outwardly religious.

Multiple Choice

Seeing Old Scratch outside, Tom turned pale and his knees shook.

• Tom was not afraid of the Devil.

• Tom was a heartless moneylender.

• Tom was afraid of the Devil.

• Tom was outwardly religious.

Multiple Choice

Passersby often heard her voice raised in arguments with her husband.

• Tom’s wife loved money more than she loved her husband.

• Tom was not completely bad.

• Tom was superstitious.

• Tom’s wife was a quarrelsome woman.

Multiple Choice

The one thing Tom would not do was to become a slave-trader.

• Tom’s wife loved money more than she loved her husband.

• Tom was not completely bad.

• Tom was superstitious.

• Tom’s wife was a quarrelsome woman.

Multiple Choice

Tom’s wife urged him to do whatever he had to do in exchange for wealth.

• Tom’s wife loved money more than she loved her husband.

• Tom was not completely bad.

• Tom was superstitious.

• Tom’s wife was a quarrelsome woman.

Multiple Choice

Tom had his horse buried with his feet uppermost, so he would be ready for riding on the last day, when the world would be turned upside down.

• Tom’s wife loved money more than she loved her husband.

• Tom was not completely bad.

• Tom was superstitious.

• Tom’s wife was a quarrelsome woman.

Reading Strategy: Evaluate Social Influences of the Historical Period

The characters in “The Devil and Tom Walker” are American colonists living in New England in the late 1720s and early 1730s. The dialogue, the narrator’s comments about the characters, and the events that the characters experience help the reader to recognize and evaluate the social influences of the period. Of course, some of these influences and attitudes are often exaggerated in Irving’s satirical story. Nevertheless, readers do get a picture of colonial life in the New England of Tom Walker’s day. 

Open Ended

Tom Walker . . . had a wife as miserly as himself: they were so miserly that they even con-spired to cheat each other . . . many and fierce were the conflicts that took place about what ought to have been common property.

Open Ended

“I [the Devil] amuse myself by presiding at the persecutions of Quakers and Anabaptists; I am the great patron and prompter of slave dealers, and the grandmaster of the Salem witches.”

Open Ended

About the year 1727, just at the time that earthquakes were prevalent in New England, and shook many sinners down upon their knees....

Open Ended

Such was the end of Tom Walker and his ill-gotten wealth. Let all griping money brokers lay this story to heart.

Multiple Choice

The opening descriptions of the forest suggest that what Tom will find there will be

• treacherous and malignant.

• fortunate and useful.

• hot-tempered and vengeful.

• dull and depressing.

Multiple Choice

Which of these details most clearly suggests that the figure Tom meets is the Devil?

• His voice is hoarse and growling, and his hair is black.

• His eyes are red, and he is covered with soot.

• He is powerfully built and is holding an ax.

• He wears rude, half-Indian garb and is sitting on a tree stump.

Multiple Choice

What is the significance of Tom’s finding most of the tall trees in the forest each “marked with the name of some great man of the colony”?

• The townspeople carved great men’s names on trees.

• Landowners carved their names on trees on their property.

• The men had carved their own names on the trees to ensure their fame.

• Carved onto the trees in the Devil’s forest are the names of those who made a deal with him.

Multiple Choice

What seems to be Tom’s prime motivation in agreeing to the Devil’s terms?

• the desire to spite his wife

• gratitude for the Devil’s involvement in his wife’s disappearance

• the desire to win the respect of the community

• greed

Multiple Choice

A main lesson of this story is that

• greed and mean-spiritedness lead to misery.

• husbands and wives should love each other.

• prayer can erase all past sins.

• great wealth can never produce happiness.

Multiple Choice

It can be inferred from the story that New England Puritans of Tom Walker’s day believed in

• many gods.

• witches and spirits.

• tolerance of all religious faiths.

• reincarnation.

Multiple Choice

Tom’s “violent” religious devotion tells us that among Puritan New Englanders, one of the major cultural influences was

• adherence to Quakerism

• a public, dramatic display of religious fervor

• religious tolerance

• acceptance of violence

Multiple Choice

With which special-interest group of Irving’s day does the story suggest Irving had the most sympathy?

• abolitionists

• New England shipbuilders

• Puritans

• bankers