Devil and Tom Walker vs Devil and Daniel Webster Essay Example

his soul and “… make their bargain” (Benet 1). The devil is portrayed as using his brain than his brawn.

This can especially be seen when he doesn’t mind having his contract be held up in court and he resurrects a jury for Dan’l Webster. The reader can see he uses his intellect when he explains ‘“I am merely an honest American like yourself”’ (Benet 3). The devil is portrayed in a different perspective than in “Tom Walker”. The devil in “Tom Walker” was “neither negro nor Indian” (Irving ). He wore “rude, half Indian garb, and had a red belt or sash swathed round his body, but his face was neither black nor copper colour, but swarthy and dingy and begrimed with soot” (Irving ).

He had “…shock of coarse black hair… and he bore an axe on his shoulder. ” This devil was portrayed as a strong woodsman who would be intimidating to the common man. This devil wasn’t dumb but he wasn’t as smooth with his words as the devil in “Daniel Webster”. These devils pictured a same devil but in two different perspectives. Like said in the introductory paragraph man always tries to exceed where he is. Man faces obstacles that don’t allow him to easily do this. In these two stories these men are in two similar circumstances. In “Daniel Webster” the main character is Jabez Stone.

Now Jabez Stone “…wasn’t a bad man to start with, but he was an unlucky man” (Benet 1), and because of this when “… he planted corn, he got borers; if he planted potatoes, he got blight. He had good

enough land, but it didn’t prosper him” (Benet 1). Who wouldn’t want to change this unlucky life? The last straw came the day when “He’d been plowing that morning and he’d just broke the plowshare on a rock that he could have sworn hadn’t been there yesterday” (Benet 1). After this happened his horse became sick, his children had measles, and his wife was becoming sick also.

With all this he was pretty much done with the whole circumstance. ‘“I vow it’s enough to make a man want to sell his soul to the devil And I would too, for two cents! ’” (Benet 1). And as the story goes the devil slithers himself in the circumstance. The devil promises of riches and success appealing to man’s eye for success. And when things seem to be too good to be true they usually are. The catch to this deal was that Jabez had to sell his soul. Not minding to do this because he was fed up with his situation he sold his soul for success.

While Tom Walker was a greedy miserable man who hated his life. His wife and himself didn’t get along and “they even conspired to cheat each other” (Irving ). Unlike Jabez Tom had a choice to make a deal or not with the devil, but Tom really wanted to change his life. Because “They lived in a forlorn looking house”, had “A miserable horse…” (Irving ), and their land was just awful Tom was quick to make a deal with the devil doing almost anything he wanted. There’s a difference between making sacrifices for oneself and making

sacrifices for others.

When one makes a sacrifice in order to help others it is considered to be noble; however, when one makes a sacrifice for one’s own personal gain it is considered selfish. These two stories depict characters in which one sacrifices for his family and his farm and in which the other sacrifices for his own personal gain and greed. Jabez sacrifices for his farm and his family. His children were “…coming down with the measles…”, his wife “… was ailing…”, and “He had good enough land, but it didn’t prosper him…” (Benet 1).

Him selling his soul away was in order to benefit his family. On the other hand Tom Walker was selfish and greedy. He made the deal in order to achieve money. “…he was not a man to stick at trifles where money was in view” (Irving ). Tom would do anything for money. Tom cared more about his possesions than he did his wife because when his wife went off to go see the devil and she hadn’t returned home he “… grew uneasy for her safety; especially as he found she had carried off in her apron the silver teapot and spoons and every portable article of value” (Irving ).

Also when he was looking for his wife and his goods he found the apron his wife carried the goods in ‘“Let us get hold of the property… and we will endeavour to do without the woman’” (Irving ). Tom made the deal out of selfish reason while Jabez did it to help his family. Man has the drive to always reach for better things.

Obstacles prevent one from doing this. How you pass these obstacles is what determines how for you will go. These two stories depict two men in a similar circumstance with two different outcomes. Jabez Stone ends up being able to keep his soul, while Tom Walker ends up being taken away to hell.