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Setting and Mood
This is the setting of the story.
What is Boston, Massachusetts?
widely existing or occurring
What is prevalent?
This is the narration point of view of the story.
What is third person omniscient?
This is the part of the deal that need not be mentioned.
Greed leads to misery and don't take shortcuts are examples of this.
What is the theme?
Who is Kidd the Pirate?
lack of harmony, conflict
What is discord?
"He's just ready for burning!" is this type of characterization.
What is indirect characterization?
Who is Tom's wife?
When Tom said "let the devil take me if I've made a farthing" and then the devil knocks on the door to take him, this is demonstrated.
This is an example of a Gothic dark setting. It sets the tone and mood for the story.
What is the forest where Tom meet's the devil?
Tom did this to steal money for his usurer business.
What is extort?
Tom never changes from the beginning of the story to the end of the story, making him this kind of character.
What is flat or one-dimensional.
This is what happened to all of Tom's money, his house, and his horses.
What is burned or turned to cinders?
Who is God?
Tom, Mrs. Walker, The Devil
Who are the main characters?
What is grotesqueness?
These names were carved on the trees that had already been cut down in the forest.
Who are the other people that made the deal with the devil?
When Tom consoled the loss of his property with the loss of his wife, readers learn this about Tom.
What is Tom's happy his wife is dead.
By carrying a Bible in his pocket, praying loudly, and accusing his neighbors of sinning Tom was trying to do this.
What is save himself from going to hell?
This was so awful that even Tom Walker wouldn't do it to get the devil's money, and he is the greediest of them all. This reflects the beliefs of most transcendentalists and Washington Irving.
What is be a slave trader?
Tom decorated the outside of his house fancy with a boastful display of wealth, but the inside not being furnished at all demonstrated this.
What is parsimony?
What special interest group of the time does Washington Irving have sympathy with and is demonstrated by Tom's refusal to be a slave-trader.
Who are abolitionists?
What is crackbrained?
We can infer the position of women in Washington Irving's time by this little bit of information.
Why doesn't Tom's wife have a name?