1. The Devil and Tom Walker
Washington Irving

2. About the Author
The first American author to achieve an international reputation through works like “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow” and “Rip Van Winkle” (1820)
Master of satire (a literary device in which people, customs, or institutions are ridiculed with the purpose of improving society)

3. American Gothic: The “Brooding” Romantics
Did not believe in the innate goodness of people
Explored the capacity for human evil
Probed the inner life of characters
Explored character’s motives
Agreed with romantic emphasis on emotion, nature, and the individual
Included elements of fantasy and the supernatural in works

4. Historical Context of “The Devil and Tom Walker”
“The Devil and Tom Walker” largely takes place between 1727 and the 1740s, and refers to several central historical events from slightly before and within this period: the arrest, trial, and execution of Captain William Kidd ( ) in Boston and England; the American Indian Wars (approx ), during which American colonists warred with Native Americans for territory and resources, amounting to a sustained genocide of the aboriginal population of North America (the ruined Indian fort in the story is from King Philip’s War, also called the First Indian War); the Puritan persecution of Quakers and Anabaptists as religious heretics in New England which took place throughout the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries; and, finally, Governor Jonathan Belcher’s administration of the then-British colony of Massachusetts ( ), which was in the 1740’s foundering in an economic depression. Irving incorporates all of these real-world events in his story to suggest how human depravity, greed, economic scarcity, and religious hypocrisy conspire to lead human beings into temptation, sin, and damnation.

5. Analytical Paragraph Approach: What to do?
Using the information above as a starting point, research the time period that Irving sets for “The Devil and Tom Walker.” Using a New Historicist approach, how does his critique of the 1700s (seen in the story and supported by your research) help to reflect his views as a Gothic Romantic.
Find information about a historical event or the beliefs of those living in the 1700s that relates to the story.
Provide context for what Irving’s time was like (Romanticism era ).
Explain how the event or the belief(s) impacts the 1800s.
Relate this to Irving’s personal views.

6. How will you structure this paragraph?
Make the topic sentence a rephrase of the question:
Irving’s critique of the 1700s shows the Gothic belief(s)….
Views of the Gothics that would best work with this story:
Did not believe in the innate goodness of people
Explored the capacity for human evil and exaggerated emotion
Included elements of fantasy and the supernatural in works

7. How will you structure this paragraph?
Example thesis: Irving’s critique of the 1700s shows the Gothic belief that mankind can be overly extreme in emotion.
Example thesis: Irving’s critique of the 1700s shows the Gothic belief that mankind is capable of immense amounts of evil.
Establish what Gothics believed about dramatic emotions
Provide a historical reference that the story relies on (Salem witch trials/ beliefs in Satanic influences/Puritan beliefs) and show how it represents the human capacity for extreme emotion
Transition into “The Devil and Tom Walker” and show how these characters represent extreme emotions
Conclude with lesson Irving wants people to learn
Establish what Gothics believed about humanity
Provide a historical reference that the story relies on (American-Indian Wars) and show how it represents this evil
Transition into “The Devil and Tom Walker” and show how these characters can be evil
Conclude with lesson Irving wants people to learn

8. Resources because you NEED OUTSIDE RESEARCH
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