Most folktales contain common elements, such as subtle humor, stereotypical or stock characters, moral themes, eerie or strange settings, and rumor-based or word-of-mouth information. "The Devil and Tom Walker" is classified as an American folktale. Select any two elements of folktales and explain how the incorporation of these elements added to the story. (This post closes at midnight on Friday, October 23, 2009)
6 comments:
Moral themes and subtle humor added to the story. The moral theme teaches a lesson and emphasizes that those who do wrong will be punished. The sublte humor makes the story fun and more entertaining for the reader. These elements also make the story more appropriate for children who are the main target for most folktales. "The Devil and Tom Walker" was a great folktale that makes me want to look for more stories by the author.
Two elements that are used in "The Devil and Tom Walker" are strange settings and subtle humor. A strange setting is in the forest and how the trees represent people in the town. Also, throughout the folktale, humor is portrayed a great deal. For example, after the Devil killed Tom's wife, he became friends with him to become rich. There are many reasons as to why these elements are shown throughout the folktale.
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One element used in "The Devil and Tom Walker" is situational irony and another is how there is dry humor. When Tom uses the expression "The devil take me if i have taken any money" it shows situational irony to the extreme and is very dry on humor but humorus all the same.
In "The Devil and Tom Walker" many common elements are used. Two of the elements used are eerie settings and word of mouth or rumor based information. When Tom goes into the swamp he comes across a place where the Indians would sacrifice people. The trees are used to sybloize who is damned to hell which makes the setting eerie. Another element used is the rumor or mouth based information. In this folktale Irving says a few times phrases like "It was said that..." or" according to..." which makes the story rumor or mouth based.
Situational irony is used when Tom says,"The devil take me if I have taken any money." As soon as he said this, the devil showed up to take him away. Also, imagery is used to make the forest ominous and eerie. The reader really gets to feel as if they were in Tom's shoes, especially when describing the swampy morass.
In "The Devil and Tom Walker" Imagery and subtle humor are used plenty of times. Imagery is used to describe the Devil's forest with its creepy morass and mushy quagmires. Subtle humor mixed with ironic situations are used throughout the story with the Devil befriending Tom after he killed his wife.
Posted by Scott Smith
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