I'm pretty sure there isn't a giant, snow covered Hulk in Whittier's story but I thought it was pretty cool so there it is...
Literary Reflection of
Snowbound and Devil and Tom Walker
Snowbound and Devil and Tom Walker
Throughout reading Snowbound, I was impressed with the way Whittier expressed the plot of the poem the way only a fireside poet would and using imagery and rhyme. Snowbound tells the story of a family during a winter snow storm. Whittier states “Around the glistening wonder bent/ The blue walls of firmament,/ No cloud above, no earth below-/ A universe of sky and snow” (50-54). The author could have said that he was simply trapped by snow but instead he conveys emotion by his use of rhyme and the description of nature and the storm. Throughout the poem, Whittier shows the warmth of family even in the coldest of the winter storms: “The great throat of the chimney laughed;/ The dog on his paws outspread/ Laid to the fire his drowsy head” (164-166). This fireside poet literally uses the fireplace to describe the comfort, warmth, and happiness of family.
While reading Devil and Tom Walker, I was impressed with how Irving expresses the dangerous outcome of material things. Irving tells the tale of a man who sells his soul to the devil and has to live a life of greed and deception instead of honesty and humbleness. Irving writes “ Such was the end of Tom Walker and his ill-gotten wealth. Let all the groping money brokers lay this story to heart. The truth of it is not to be doubted” (245). Irving points out the truth by using symbolism. He uses the quarrels between the man and his wife, the greediness of the wife that led to her destruction, and the shortcut the man makes in the beginning of the story that led him to the devil to symbolize that greed, and cheating are never the answer. Washington Irving wants man to be hardworking and loving creatures; He knows there are no shortcuts in life.
