1. Tom Walker is stingy. He does not want to share anything with his wife or witness her taking pleasure in anything that he does not get to enjoy. His house even represents this character trait, for Irving writes that when a passerby sees the barrenness of the Walker house, he keeps on walking, choosing to hazard starvation or lack of shelter over staying in such an unwelcoming place. Similarly, when he discovers that his wife as absconded with some of their household goods and later finds that she is dead, he is more concerned with getting back his missing items than his wife's fate.
2. Tom exemplifies the greediness and laziness. He wants as many material goods as he can get in life, but he is unmotivated to work for them. His greediness and laziness cause him to make the deal with the devil because he is willing to take from others--even in their darkest hours--to make himself rich and he really doesn't have to do any manual labor to get rich because of his deal.
3. Tom is foolish. His first instinct is to turn down the devil's offer. But, after his wife chides him for not taking the deal, he foolishly enters into it. He realizes all along that the devil will come for him some day, but he naively tries to avoid that by practicing all sorts of weird superstitions. In the end, nothing he can do saves him from fulfilling his end of the bargain with the devil.
No comments:
Post a Comment