“The Devil and Tom Walker”-Washington Irving
Anticipation Guide for “The Devil and Tom Walker”
Read each statement and check the column that represents your response. Be ready to defend your
answer.
Yes
No
Statement
1. There is a devil who tries to trick people.
2. Money is the number one goal for most people in today’s society.
3. Integrity is more important than money.
4. When you marry, what is yours should become your spouse’s and
vice versa.
5. It is okay to lie to your spouse if the lie will not hurt them.
Study Guide Questions:
1. Who was Faust (in literary history)? How could Tom Walker be said to have made a Faustian bargain?
2. Describe the setting as the story begins.
3. The story begins with tale of a pirate and the devil; briefly recount the tale below. What is significant about the
fact that the author writes “The old stories add, moreover, that the devil presided at the hiding of the money, and
took it under his guardianship; but this is well known, he always does with buried treasure…”
4. Quickly summarize the main plot points (events) in the story:
Old Indian Fort:
1.
2.
3.
4.
Boston:
1.
5. Character Descriptions: Record the words/phrases used to describe Tom and his wife.
Tom:
Tom’s Wife:
6. What is the prevailing mood of the story?
7. How do the following details describing the dark man make him special and strange?
“Tom lifted up his eyes and beheld a great black man seated directly opposite him, on the stump of a tree. He was
exceedingly surprised, having neither heard nor seen any one approach; and he was still more perplexed on
observing, as well as the gathering gloom would permit, that the stranger was neither negro nor Indian. It is true he
was dressed in a rude Indian garb, and had a red belt or sash swathed round his body; but his face was neither black
nor copper-color, but swarthy and dingy, and begrimed with soot, as if he had been accustomed to toil among fires
and forges. He had a shock of coarse black hair, that stood out from his head in all directions, and bore an axe on his
shoulder” (179).
8. List the various names given to the stranger in the woods
1.
2.
3.
4.
What range of evil activities does the paragraph at the top of p. 180 attribute to the devil?
9. When Tom learns the fate of his wife, how does he react?
10. What does Tom have to offer in exchange for the treasure?
11. What bargain does Tom strike with the Devil?
12. Identify and discuss the following symbols
Symbol
The Walker House
What the Symbol Represents
The great tree rotten at the
core
The Bible buried under
mortgage he as about to
foreclose
Silver and gold turned to
chips and shavings
13. What is the climax of the story?
14. A satire is a story that mocks some human folly. If “The Devil and Tom Walker” is a satire, what human follies
are being mocked by Irving?
15. What is the theme of the story?