“The Devil and Tom Walker” Read pp. 152-161 and answer 8 questions of your choice as you read this story. p. 153 1. What do the phrases “well known” and “he always does” suggest about the old stories? p. 154 2. How does the description of Tom’s house affect the mood of the story? What words are significant? 3. What female stereotype is Irving drawing on here? How might this stereotype contribute to the feeling that the story is based on a folktale? 4. What mood does this description create and what words in particular heighten this mood? What might be Irving’s purpose in creating this mood? p. 155 5. Why is it appropriate that this place be associated with an “evil spirit”? 6. How do the details describing the dark man make him special and strange? 7. What might the great tree, rotten at the core, symbolize? 8. What conclusion can you draw from the fact that these men’s names have been hacked into the trees and the fact that the black man carries an ax? p. 156 9. What do you predict Tom will do, now that he is face to face with the devil? p. 157 10. What is the meaning of the black fingerprint branded into Tom’s forehead, and what does it imply about Tom’s future? p. 158 11. What is the purpose of reporting the diverse opinions-both prosaic and supernatural-about the fate of Tom’s wife? 12. What “generally understood” terms does the narrator refer to here? Why do you think he doesn’t state the terms explicitly? p.159 13. How does this plot development and change of setting affect the mood? 14. What is Irving saying here, actually? p.160 15. What aspect of society is Irving satirizing in showing Tom’s change? 16. How do Tom’s words bring about his own fate? p.161 17. What is the story’s main point, according to the narrator?