“The Devil and Tom Walker”
by Washington Irving
Washington Irving
•
He wrote this short story as a satire to Puritan
lifestyles.
•
Washington Irving lived over 100 years later than the
Puritans.
Satire
•
A satire is a literary device in which people, customs,
or institutions are ridiculed with the purpose of
improving society.
•
Satire is often subtle, so as you read, watch for
indicators: humor, exaggeration, absurd situations,
and irony.
Allegory
•
An allegory is a work with two levels of meaning, a
literal one and a symbolic one.
•
In such a work, most of the characters, objects,
settings, and events represent abstract qualities.
•
Personification is used in traditional allegories.
•
The purpose of an allegory may be to convey truths
about life, to teach religious or moral lessons, or to
criticize social institutions.
Bias
•
Bias is an inclination toward a particular judgment on a
topic or issue.
•
A writer often reveals a strongly positive or sternly
negative opinion by presenting only one way of looking
at an issue or by heavily weighting the evidence.
•
Words with intensely positive or negative connotations
are often a signal or a writer’s bias.
Futurama
•
"The Devil's Hands Are Idle Playthings"