Sunday, February 9, 2014

What are the 5 essential plot elements to "The Devil and Tom Walker"?

1. Tom Walker and his wife hate each other and share the vice of greed.


2. Tom meets Old Scratch (the devil) in the forest, and the devil offers to make Tom rich if he will barter away his soul for the devil's service.


3. When Tom refuses the devil's offer, his wife becomes angry with him, arranges her own meeting with the devil, and is subsequently "taken" by the devil, never to be seen again.


4. After Tom discovers his wife's fate, he goes through with the deal with the devil and becomes a usurer (someone who charges extreme interest for loans; similar to a cash advance business in today's society), enslaving people to himself and the devil because of their money problems and making himself incredibly wealthy in the process.


5. As Tom nears the end of his life, he begins to fear upholding his end of the bargain; so he becomes religious but all to no avail, for a mysterious figure arrives at Tom's doorstep and whisks him away presumably to Old Scratch's dark domain.

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