What is the plot and meaning of "The Devil and Tom Walker"?
What is the story about?
A cheap, hen-pecked husband who is constantly cheating his wife (just as she cheats him) out of money is met by the devil one day and is offered a large sum of money. Tom refuses the offer, knowing that his wife would also benefit if he takes the offer. One day, his wife mysteriously disappears, probably killed by the devil, and Tom finds the devil and takes him up on his offer. Tom becomes a rich usurer and lives to be a rich old man but is still just a cheap as he was before. As Tom becomes older he tries very hard to make sure that the dvil never comes back for him, but his plans fail. The devil comes one day and takes Tom and his soul away, never to be seen or heard from again.
What does it mean?
This is an American folktale,...
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and just as with all American folktales its purpose was to teach a lesson. The lesson of this story is that people should not be greedy; they should share what they have and help others out because there is no telling when they will need help one day.
What was the Devil's purpose in the short story "The Devil and Tom Walker"?
This depends largely upon how we define "purpose".
If we mean to ask if the Devil had a plan or objective, then, no, not really. It's generally accepted that a part of the Devil's nature includes the temptation and corruption of humans and anything good, but "purpose" usually implies some greater or overarching scheme, rather than a short-term action, so saying that his "purpose" was to corrupt Tom and capture his soul is, perhaps, using a word with too much emphasis for the circumstances.
On the other hand, we could say that the Devil's purpose was a literary one, in that he was included in the story for a particular reason and that this reason, or purpose, was related to the overall moral message and impact of the story. In this perspective, the Devil's purpose was to lend a supernatural element to the story and illustrate the depths to which evil has permeated the lives of the average person.
Scratch also mentions that he "amuses himself" through various corruptions, so his purpose may simply be entertainment, but this could also be a feigned tone to mislead Tom as to the severity of their arrangement.