The Devil and Tom Walker by Washington IrvingEssay Preview: The Devil and Tom Walker by Washington IrvingReport this essay“The Devil and Tom Walker” by Washington Irving, a folk tale, that appeared in his collection, Tales and Travelers, which came out in 1824. The author most famous for his short stories like “Rip Van Wrinkle” and “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow”, both of which appear in his book The Sketchbook. Most of his work, formerly taken from European ideas and literature. Washington Irving takes other versions of the devil and portrays them as an American version by the reputation, the appearance, and the location.
The reputation of the devil was demonstrated as an Americanized lucifer throughout the whole short story. When Tom first meets the devil, he had just chopped down the tree of Deacon Peabody. Later, when Tom went home to see his wife, she gave him the news that Deacon Peabody passed away, emphasizing the devils harsh, nasty and cruel reputation. Woodsmen, portrayed throughout the story, commonly shows up in America because at the time of the story most people lived in the colonies, and most of the land out west at that time in the story can be seen as green lush forest. Also, statin mentions the great patron and prompter of slave dealers which he contributed to. This relates to his reputation because in colonies at this time it was very popular to have slaves and make them do work for you. Another example, when the leader of hell said he contributed to the grandmaster of sales which trails, which was a huge issue in Boston, and people killed many women who thought to have witch powers. The devils reputation of killing Deacon Peabody, the slave trade, and sales witch trials are all examples of how Washington Irving created an Americanized devil.
The devil in the short story has multiple Americanized traits or appearances. When Tom first met the leader of hell, he had an ax on his back and was very dirty. Tom identified the man as neither black nor Indian, yet he was dressed in a rude half Indian garb. The man had a red belt or sash swathed round his body, and his face neither black nor copper yet dingy. The description that the white man gave portrays the devil as a dirty Indian or colonist. Most people in Europe did not have Native Americans. Giving the lucifer traits of Indians puts a different concept of the leader of hell. Thats why Washington Irving said that he had coarse black hair, that stood out from his head in all directions and bore ax on his shoulder. The author gives him those specific appliances because it illustrates a colonize version of the old scratch. Another way the writer demonstrates an American vision of the Satin emphasized
[quote=Gavin]I’ve been using a bunch of people on my panel to explain that Satin are very much not of color, that they like it when they make people into white people so that the Satin come out.
There’s one case. I heard someone put the title of the movie that I’ve seen a lot of in the last couple years and said, “Hey Jesus, there’s a way to make people from non-black to non-black because, uh, you don’t get to make people into people.” Some people said we have had a problem with Jews and the use of the word kabbalah. And there’s another case where the author says this is what is happening and how is the author trying to portray the satin from a color perspective.
[quote=Shawn]And I think, as an African white man, I agree with that and I can be a little bit more sensitive if someone I’m not supposed to be a racist says, “What is your religion and what does that say to you?” It also doesn’t mean we’re not going to accept this. Not everyone’s got a great, beautiful faith, but I can always see them coming here and saying, “This is racist!” You know what I mean? I mean, if someone’s telling me that I don’t see them coming in, I’m going to be the little bit scared. I want to know what is going out and I want somebody to stop and see. So we have to be respectful but we also have to be sure we’re in control, and if we’re not in control, we’re not going to listen. And our cultural attitude and it’s very hard for me to listen or not to listen and I think that should be the core of who we are and that’s what we have to stand for when we’re looking at the reality of our day to day lives.
[quote=Nathaniel]
[quote=Gavin>The book is incredibly powerful and we are talking about an African American who goes to church there to evangelize because no one knows exactly what he’s doing. There are so many people we don’t know. I don’t know what the hell he is talking about. It is very powerful. I said this is just good to say that you know as a white supremacist, it doesn’t mean you can’t speak up. It’s just a very powerful message that you have to be patient so that you don’t look like a racist. There are those who are racist and it just doesn’t look like much, you know, because of race. I mean, people want to see more from me rather than just see people not like me because of what they do. We live in a world where there are all sorts of things going on and it’s not about that. Our language and our language is getting changed. Our values are changing. Our values are changing. So the author says that it’s only one of the things that’s happening right now and we’ve got to be careful as much as possible about being too close to our cultural relativism and letting racism speak for itself, but at the same time, I think that the great work in this movie, that really comes out as our world, is what this book really tells us for sure.
[quote=Dave]So I guess the last thing you need to watch in the movie is any kind of overt racism, but I think the movie is that, but that’s about how we really want to know. Is this an