The tone of the story is heavily didactic; in other words, its primary goal is to teach a lesson. Irving openly states his intention to instruct the reader about moral and immoral behavior, particularly concerning the topic of greed and selfishness. The reader is therefore positioned both as a listener and as a “student” to a tale in which the greedy will be punished if they fail to change their ways.
Little subtlety is required of a didactic story, and Irving articulates his intended message clearly, even identifying the audience that would most benefit from it: “Let all gripping money-brokers lay this story to heart. The truth of it is not to be doubted.” If those who work in the financial sphere don't want to meet a fate like Tom's, Irving suggests, then they ought to hearken to his admonitory tone and heed his warning about the perils of avarice. The narrator's occasional tongue-in-cheek remarks about Tom's generosity, religious piety, and devotion as a husband only serve to strengthen the overall didacticism, sprinkling it with a dose of irony to make the moral lesson more palatable. Despite the many fable-like, fantastic, and even funny elements of the story, then, the narrator nonetheless makes a claim for its overall truth, giving the story a sense of authority.
