In Washington Irving's short story "The Devil and Tom Walker", the author depicts the main character as a very stereotypical character with little individuality. Tom's actions are easily predicted and his eventual downfall is used to illustrate the story's moral. Tom Walker is a very typical one-dimensional character. He is purely evil with not a bit of goodness. From the very beginning of the story, the reader is shown that he is a lying, cheating, …showed first 75 words of 445 total…

…showed last 75 words of 445 total…to Hell, since his soul now belongs to the Devil. Tom has paid the ultimate price for his greed--eternal suffering. Washington Irving uses his predictable and stereotypical character Tom Walker to illustrate the moral of "The Devil and Tom Walker". The moral is that greedy people will suffer in the end. In return for his miserly life and his deal with the Devil, Tom is dealt the worst fate imaginable--death and unremitting torment in Hell.