IOP Journal #5

I figured out the last folktale I am going to use. For the Personification of Death I am going to use the folktale, Jack and the Devil.
Jack was a cruel man "who treated his wife like a dog" and "his children like dirt." He also drank a lot. The Devil came to get him. When he saw the Devil, he begged the Devil to give him 1 more year on earth. He tricked the Devil into changing into a ten cent piece and locked the Devil in his purse. The Devil couldn't get out of it because the clasp was in the shape of a cross. Jack let the Devil out on the condition of him getting one more year on earth. After the Devil left, he said that he would repent. He didn't and a year later the Devil came to get him again. Again, he tricked the Devil. The Devil climbed a tree to get some apples and he couldn't get down because Jack etched a cross in the trunk. He took the cross off of the trunk on the condition that the Devil left him alone forever. When he died, he couldn't get into Heaven, and then at the gate of Hell, the Devil wouldn't let him in. The Devil told him to go back where he came from. He asked for a lantern to be able to see in teh dark. he still got lost. "Jack, he took the fire. But he got himself lost. They say he is still wanderin in the dark. Some say you can see his little light a-bobbin this-away and that-away when the night is the coldest and the chill is deepest." (The People Could Fly pg 126-132)

This story shows how death is inevitable. The Devil represents Death in this folktale. The Devil keeps coming back again and again until Jack finally dies. I am also using the quote Janie says about death. The quote shows the same thing.