Hello and welcome to the Discourse. Edgar Allan Poe and Nathaniel Hawthorne were the prominent American authors representing the genre of Dark Romanticism; the literary movement that rose to oppose the increasing impact of Transcendentalism. Transcendentalists too, were romanticists who believed in the good of nature and stressed that men are inherently good. Transcendentalists unequivocally denied the presence of evil in nature. The Transcendentalists were proponents of Poetic Justice and stressed too much demonstrating and discerning the moral ideas from the fiction and often expressed their disbelief in devils.
Poe was often criticized for failing to succeed in writing a short story that embodies a moral tale. In response, Poe wrote a short story that satirically mocks the journals called “Dial” and Down-Easter”, which represents the transcendentalists, for their obsession with unraveling the hidden meanings in novels, specifically, the moral of the fiction. The story was titled “Never Bet the Devil Your Head.” and it was published in the year in 1841. The narrator of the poem acknowledges the complaint that he doesn’t write literature that may offer some moral insight and thus he decides to write “a history about whose obvious moral there can be no question whatever, since he who runs may read it in the large capitals which form the title of the tale.” Poe declares that the moral of the story is in the title itself.
Characters of Never Bet the Devil Your Head:
The narrator of the story is presumably Edgar Allan Poe himself. He is the friend of Toby Dammit who is the protagonist of the story. The narrator satirically targets the school of Transcendentalism and offers a tale of his friend Toby. The character of Toby Dammit symbolically represents the ideas of Transcendentalists. Toby is a reckless man who believes everything is good. Though he is abundant with human vices, he considers himself a good person. The narrator tries to change Toby and make him better but he doesn’t improve. Yet, the narrator maintains his friendship with him. Toby’s mother is a strict left-handed lady. The narrator and Toby once met a mysterious figure while passing over a bridge. This mysterious figure appears to be a little old man wearing black clothes. He symbolizes the devil himself.
Summary of Never Bet the Devil Your Head:
The story begins as the narrator, who is presumably Edgar Allan Poe himself, acknowledges the complaint of the critics that he often writes stories with no moral message. Then he turns around the table and says that it is certainly not true because critics are capable of finding a moral in any work of fiction, whether the author intended it to have that moral or not. However, he concedes that the morals in his stories may have been ambiguous and thus, he decides to write a story now whose moral will have its moral clearly set out in the title itself.
The narrator then introduces Toby Dammit, one of his childhood friends, and claims that they knew each other since they were both babies. He informs that Toby’s mother was a strict lady who tried her best to raise Toby well and will often spank him. Unfortunately, she was a left-handed lady and thus, she always used her left hand while beating Toby. The narrator claims that it is general knowledge that beating with the right hand makes the children behave better. This follows that beating them with their left hand will make them misbehave, and that’s what happened with Tony. As he grew old, he acquired many vices and became lustful, boastful, and addicted to alcohol. Yet, the narrator maintained his friendship with Tony. Though he tried to help Tony get rid of his bad habits, the narrator claims that he fell under the influence of the Transcendentalists and believed that there is nothing bad with him. Gradually, he continued accumulating more vices and became addicted to gambling. However, Tony is very poor and thus, he never bets money. Yet, he is very fond of swearing, cursing, and using phrases that sound like he is laying a bet.
The narrator exclaims that nobody ever took Tony’s bets seriously who made it a habit of using phrases like "I'll bet you what you please", "I'll bet you what you dare", or "I'll bet you a trifle."
One of the recent phrases that Tony acquired and constantly used was “I’ll bet the Devil my head.”
Gradually, Tony stopped using any other phrases and only ever said, "I'll bet the Devil my head".
The narrator claims that he never liked that phrase as he found it vulgar and inappropriate. The narrator tried to convince Tony not to use that phrase but he never listened to the narrator’s pleas. Still, the narrator maintained his friendly relationship with Tony.
One day, the narrator and his friend Tony were going somewhere together. On their way, they found a long covered bridge crossing over a river, They had to go on to the other side and thus entered the bridge. The bridge was gloomy and dark as there were hardly any windows and there were many obstacles on the floor. While the narrator was cautious, Tony felt playful and would often jump over obstacles. As they reached the other exit of the bridge, the narrator saw a high turnstile and decided to carefully go through it. Tony, who was following him, decided to jump over the turnstile. The narrator tried to stop him but Tony claimed that he can easily jump over the turnstile. The narrator warned him and said that he should not boastfully claim that he can do something impossible for him. Tony was adamant, he shouted that he will bet the Devil his head that he can jump over the turnstile.
At the same moment, the narrator suddenly realizes that they were not alone on the bridge. He saw a mysterious figure in the dark of the bridge, standing near the exit. On seeing, carefully, the narrator saw that the mysterious figure was a little old man wearing a black suit and a black silk apron. The old man started encouraging Tony Dammit and said that he is certain that Dammit can easily jump over the turnstile in a flamboyant manner. The old man ignored the narrator and told Tony to move back a little bit and then he can run over before taking a big leap to jump over the turnstile. The old man said that he will say “One, Two, Three,” and that Dammit should start running when he says, "and away". The narrator wonders what business the old man has in getting Toby Dammit to jump. He says to himself that he will not jump if the old man asks him to do so, adding that he does not care who the devil the old man is.
As he thought about it, he got startled and looked towards the old man, his last words echoed in his mind, “Who the devil the old man is.”
By that time, Tony had begun running towards the turnstile. He takes the plunge as the old man says ‘and away.’ He almost jumps over the turnstile but then he falls down on the same side of the turnstile from which he began. The old man then goes to Dammit and bows over him. He takes something from him and then carefully wraps it in the black silk apron and goes away. The narrator is startled, trying to fathom what just happened. He regains his composure and goes to check on Tony Dammit. He observes that Tony Dammit didn’t have his head. He sees that there is an iron bar over the exit to the bridge and decides that Toby Dammit must have struck his head against it.
The narrator notices that Tony isn’t dead yet, and takes him to the homeopathists. The homeopathist tries to revive Tony and his treatment continues for several days. Nevertheless, Dammit eventually dies. After his death, the narrator arranges for his decent funeral. He then sends the bill for Dammit's funeral to the transcendentalists. When they refuse to pay, the narrator has Toby Dammit's body exhumed to be sold for dog food.
So this is it for today. We will continue to discuss the history of American English literature. Please stay connected with the Discourse. Thanks and Regards!
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