Tom Walker entered into his contract with the devil
willingly. He was driven to do so by greed and an unscrupulous nature. He rarely
considered the thoughtlessness of his bargain until he began to grow old. As he faced
his own mortality, Irving writes that Tom Walker “thought with regret on the bargain he
had made with his black friend, and set his wits to work to cheat him out of the
conditions. He became, therefore, all of a sudden, a violent church goer.” This is the
first attempt to renounce his deal with the devil. He does not simply attend worship
services, however. He employs a second strategy:
“He
prayed loudly and strenuously as if heaven were to be taken by force of lungs. Indeed,
one might always tell when he had sinned most during the week, by the clamour of his
Sunday devotion.” In this instance, he seems to believe that the force of his repentant
cries will be enough to erase the bargain that he has contracted with the
devil.
Tom Walker’s fears grow more intense and he shifts
his focus from his own pains to appear righteous to the sins of his
neighbors:
“ Tom was as rigid in religious, as in money
matters; he was a stern supervisor and censurer of his neighbours, and seemed to think
every sin entered up to their account became a credit on his own side of the page. He
even talked of the expediency of reviving the persecution of quakers and anabaptists. In
a word, Tom's zeal became as notorious as his riches.” Here, he hopes that by censoring
and condemning his neighbors for their sinful habits, he will gain salvation for
himself.
The fourth step he takes in securing a release for
himself is to superstitiously keep a bible on or near his person at all times. He hopes
that the presence of the Holy Scriptures will ward off any attack from the devil. To
protect himself, therefore, he kept a small bible in his pocket and another on his
desk:
“Still, in spite of all this strenuous attention to
forms, Tom had a lurking dread that the devil, after all, would have his due. That he
might not be taken unawares, therefore, it is said he always carried a small bible in
his coat pocket. He had also a great folio bible on his counting house desk, and would
frequently be found reading it when people called on
business;”
Finally, when the grim reaper approached Tom to
take his life as payment for his pledge, he ran. With all the energy he could muster,
Tom Walker attempted unsuccessfully to outrun death:
“Away
went Tom Walker, dashing down the streets; his white cap bobbing up and down; his
morning gown fluttering in the wind, and his steed striking fire out of the pavement at
every bound. When the clerks turned to look for the black man he had
disappeared.”
