A Study Guide for Washington Irving's "Devil and Tom Walker"

By Gale and Cengage

A Study Guide for Washington Irving's "Devil and Tom Walker," excerpted from Gale's acclaimed Short Stories for Students. This concise study guide includes plot summary; character analysis; author biography; study questions; historical context; suggestions for further reading; and much more. For any literature project, trust Short Stories for Students for all of your research needs.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Cengage Learning - Gale
• Release date: Jun 27, 2016
• ISBN: 9781535821865

Book preview

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The Devil and Tom Walker

Washington Irving

1824

Introduction

The Devil and Tom Walker was first published in 1824 as part of Washington Irving’s collection of short stories Tales of a Traveller. The story was included in Part IV of the book, also known as the Money-Diggers series of stories. Gentleman Geoffrey Crayon, a fictional character created by the author, narrates the tale. He never refers to himself by name, however, but he states that the story has been a legend of the New England area for roughly a hundred years. Though the story has been widely read and enjoyed since its first appearance, the book Tales of a Traveller was poorly received by critics who complained that its writing was weak and unoriginal. The short story was a relatively new form of fiction at the time, and many of its conventions were still being defined by such writers as Edgar Allan Poe and Nathaniel Hawthorne. Some critics have given this as a reason for the artistic failure of many of the collection’s