Antihero in Short Story by Washington Irving

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Yoni Spero Page 1 Ms. Hamilton English 10/9/13 The Antihero of America, the British In “The Devil and Tom Walker”, by Washington Irving, the narrator tells the story of a man by the name of Tom Walker. Tom is in a marriage that was so bad that “…they were so miserly that they even conspired to cheat each other”(Irving 1). While walking around Tom stumbles on a skull close to an old Indian fort. At the fort a black person who Tom calls “Old Scratch” converses with him about an opportunity to have a treasure, but there would be conditions. After declining and telling his wife she goes after the devil herself. After a couple nights missing Tom finds her dead at the fort. The devil again offers the deal and this time Tom accepts. He uses the money to lend money with high interest and gets very rich. He uses the money to buy a house but nothing in it. As he ages he decides to use prayer to try to escape the devil in the afterlife. Throughout the story Tom does many villainous and unethical behaviors, this makes him an antihero. He is particularly an American antihero because he shows characteristics of the American portrayal of the British at that time; the British are the definition of a villain to the Americans. Tom Walker is specifically an American antihero as he is selfish and only wants money, unfaithful in his marriage and deals, and is trying to fight back when he realizes consequences of his deal. * Page 2 * In colonial times, when this story takes place, the British use the colonies in America to get natural resources. These resources are used to make money, but the colonies do not benefit from the deals with the British. This relates to the story as Irving describes Tom as a selfish person throughout the story. When the devil offers Tom a deal he would have accepted “However Tom might have felt disposed to sell himself to the

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