How does Washington Irving’s use of the third-person omniscient narrator in "The Devil and Tom Walker" affect the meaning and de
velopment of the story? Incorporate information from the video you watched as well as textual evidence from the story. Your response should be two to three paragraphs in length.
<span>In
"The Devil and Tom Walker," Washington Irving describes how the devil
strikes a deal with a petty and miserly man, Tom Walker, and the
consequences of that deal. Irving uses a third-person omniscient point
of view to tell the story. This point of view allows the author to give
readers the private and intimate details about Tom’s life and character
that would not have been discernable from any other point of view. For
example, he describes Tom’s unhappy marriage:Her
voice was often heard in wordy warfare with her husband; and his face
sometimes showed signs that their conflicts were not confined to words.At
the same time, Irving is able to distance himself from the story while
dryly commenting on everything that happens. For example, he describes
Tom’s new business:In proportion to the
distress of the applicant was the hardness of his terms. He accumulated
bonds and mortgages; gradually squeezed his customers closer and
closer, and sent them at length, dry as a sponge, from his door.If
the story was told in the first person point of view (by the
protagonist Tom), the readers would get intimate but inaccurate details
about the story because it would be twisted by Tom’s biases. Through the
third-person omniscient point of view, the author is able to make
important commentary on the hypocrisy and greed in American society.************ From Plato </span>
