“The Devil and Tom Walker” and “The Devil and Daniel Webster”-- these Faust legends tell stories of ordinary men with thirsts for wealth and luck only in exchange for their very souls. Both were written in different time periods, where certain events and happenings influenced each of the stories and their conflicts. Washington Irving wrote “The Devil and Tom Walker” during a time of economic boom (1824). Stephen Vincent Benet wrote “The Devil and Daniel Webster” during a time of economic depression (1937). Despite the stories’ titles, both have different resolutions, depictions of the devil, and saving graces in the end. At first glance, one may think the resolutions of the stories would be exactly the same, but they actually are not. In “The Devil and Tom Walker”, the main character, Tom Walker, makes a deal with the devil in order to become wealthy. The devil comes to Tom Walker when their deal comes to a close, and Tom runs away from all of his wealthy gains and problems, losing everything. In “The Devil and Daniel Webster”, the main character, Jabez Stone, also makes a deal with the devil in order to become prosperous and lucky, but his luck eventually runs out and the devil comes for him. Jabez Stone, however, does not get taken by the devil and is saved by his neighbor, Daniel Webster, who makes sure the devil …show more content…
Each story is unique with their own resolutions and the different portrayal of the devil depictions. The religious influences as well as the “opening of eyes or saving graces” were equally influential to the plot lines. Both pieces of literature describe the struggles of the human need for wealth and what one will do to get it. Although both stories were written in complete different centuries and economic times, both lead to the problems of what the desire for greed and wealth can
The Devil in The White City is a nonfiction book, that takes place in the years before, during and after the Chicago’s World Fair in 1893. Erik Larson is famous for writing historical nonfiction; he spends weeks, maybe even months researching the interesting historical events, and writing them for the public to understand in a better context. The two main characters in this interesting historical non-fiction book are; the protagonist, Daniel Hudson Burnham; who is an architect and has built many important structures such as Union Station in Washington D.C. and the Flatiron Building in New York. The antagonist, H.H. Holmes; a doctor that is famous for being one of the most notorious serial killers of all times, especially the urban killings.
The Devil in the White City is a nonfiction novel, written by Erik Larson, which focuses on the time spent during the building of the Chicago World’s Fair in 1893. The Fair was designed to commemorate the landing of Christopher Columbus in America. The novel, instead of focusing on just one story, splits into two distinct plot lines of two real men, whose lives were destined to become intertwined. They, however, could not be more different in character. The first man, named Daniel Burnham, is the architect who is put in charge of building the Fair.
In this two novels there were a lot of differences in the Devil's arithmetic and touching spirit
The Devil and Tom Walker is inspired by the German folktale of Faust. Irving takes the legend of Faust meeting the devil and selling his soul to him and transplants it into a New England setting. Washington Irving is one of the earliest known writers in the American Romanticism period. American Romanticism
Both stories leave the reader with a negative outlook on life due to the fact that no matter the optimism instilled in the characters, the world is
The short stories “A Good Man is Hard to Find”, by Flannery O’Connor and “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been”, by Joyce Carol Oates revolved around the themes of good and evil. Both the themes of good and evil are parallel to how people portray the concept of both dark and light. The short stories are similar in their religious references conveyed by their antagonists, but the development and the characters give readers varying perspectives. The antagonists of the stories are figurative representations of Satan.
Boyd says that living and imitate like Jesus is a key way we fight the spiritual war. He believes that deliverance from demonic possession is an important piece of spiritual warfare. Boyd says that in the spiritual warfare “God battles cosmic powers and humans to establish his will ‘on earth as it is in heaven…. while it’s certain God will eventually triumph over his cosmic and earthly foes, much of what comes to pass does not reflect God’s benevolent will but rather reflects the will of agents working at cross-purposes with God”.
Even though the two stories are noticeably comparable, they end contrastingly apart as a result of the minuscule discrepancies within the stories. These modest differences and similarities lie within the approaches the
One similarity between the stories is that the devil took the form of a serpent when he spoke to Eve in the garden. When Eve asks how he, a snake, can talk like a human, he says that he “chanced a godly tree… loaden with fruit” (Book 9, Line 575-577). Another similarity is in how the devil tries to persuade Eve. The serpent tells Eve that not only did eating the fruit not kill him, but also it gave him knowledge that made him like God.
Although both stories have various differences, there are also many similarities. Both the main characters live in a place with no technology and transportation services. The devil disappears at the end of both stories. In “Young Goodman Brown”, the devil suddenly disappears inside the forest after making Goodman Brown realize that everyone in the world has turned evil.
The main characters were totally different, Doodle had a disability and was younger than Sucker. The two main characters, Doodle and Sucker talked about there futures. Doodle would never have been able to make his future a reality because they knew what was in store for him. But Sucker, once talked about how ¨he was planning to be a trapper in Alaska, in two years.¨ (McCullers 9) The two short stories are incompatible because there unique difference which drives readers to be so captured by the
In both “The Devil and Daniel Webster and “The Devil and Tom Walker, they both came face to face with the devil. They had different strategies on how to confront the devil. In the two short stories, the resolution, the depictions of the devil, and the role of religion or the saving grace are the similar and different things. The main idea of both stories is the resolution of what had happened to Daniel and Tom.
The Devil in the White City was written by Erik Larson and was published in 2003. By research, Larson recreates the lives of two real men in the Chicago World Fair. He uses two different plots to show some of the history during this time. One plot line is about Daniel Hudson Burnham, the man who builds the Chicago World Fair, and the other plot is about Dr. Henry Howard Holmes, the man who is a serial killer that goes through the fair to find his victims.
Jessica Chan Summer Assignment The Devil in the White City (1) Copy a short passage that you found to be interesting and explain why you found it interesting/why it is an example of good writing. “Later he recalled, ‘I told her I thought he was a bad lot and that she had better have little to do with him and get away from him as soon as possible.’
Greed and prejudgment are concepts that can be seen all the stories throughout A Contract with God. Since greed and prejudgment is a part of human nature, it allows the work to be contrasted and relevant as long as humans are alive. Greed and prejudgment can be seen in the short story “The Super” within A Contract with God which follows the story of the