Rip and Tom

Irving's story of "The Devil and Tom Walker" is about a man selling his soul to the devil.  There are many examples of Romanticism in this story like when Tom Walker meats the devil (Irving, "Tom" 244).  He also goes to find his wife was hanged by the devil and doesn't care which proves that this story is a made up story or fairy tale because of the fact that if you found your wife was hanged however much you might hate her you cannot just ignore the fact like Tom did (Irving "Tom").  The story "The Devil and Tom Walker" and "Rip Van Winkle" are the same in how both men hate their wives.  In "Rip Van Winkle" Rip was a very generous man and would help anyone that needed it, but never would accomplish his own tasks which got him in trouble with his wife.  He would get in arguments with her and she would yell at him a ton.  The story's are also the same in how both men wander off into the woods and find something mysterious.  Both things that the men find are legends and get them in trouble.

In "The Devil and Tom Walker" Irving is almost sorry for Tom when writing his fate at the end.  He isn't stern and make it sound like he deserved his punishment (which he did), but should be given a second chance as most people are when it comes to mistakes.  It is a good example of how important it is to make the right decision the first time so it doesn't come around to hurt you and you regret it at the end.  Tom was dumbfounded when offered such a large sum of money and didn't analyze what he was doing until it was too late.  When he tried to fix it the devil dragged him off and he was never seen again.  All of his possessions were burnt to a crisp and no one got to enjoy the treasure Tom was given (Irving "Tom" 250).

In "Rip Van Winkle" Rip makes a stupid decision of following and helping the shady character in the woods at night.  He should have minded his own business and slept on a rock with his gun in his hand, but instead he got drunk and slept through the Revolutionary War...yes i said it, the REVOLUTIONARY WAR.  I feel bad for Rip simply because he didn't get to experience this magnificent part of history (Irving "Rip" par. 19-24).  Going off of what I was talking about earlier, this is another example of Romanticism and how these fictional stories are so much more interesting because of the impossible things that happen in them.  I think that what makes these parts so interesting is the human mind and how it makes the person wonder if that could actually happen sometime even though it sound like a stupid thought and a ridiculous assumption.

These stories are a lot alike, but have some differences too.  For instance, in "The Devil and Tom Walker" Tom gets some good out of his deal (Irving "Tom")while in "Rip Van Winkle" Rip sleeps through and misses out in a big chunk of his life (Irving "Rip" 25-68).  There are always the obvious differences, but other that the one stated there aren't a lot of major differences between the two.  I enjoyed both of the stories and would like to read more like these in the future.

Irving, Washington. "Rip Van Winkle." Bartleby.com. Web. 11 Dec. 2011.

Irving, Washington. "The Devil and Tom Walker." Comp. Jeffrey D. Wilhelm, Ph.D. and Douglas Fisher, Ph.D. Glencoe Literature. American Literature ed. Columbus: McGraw-Hill Companies, 2009. 240-250. Print.