In the adapted excerpt from Herman Melville’s short story "The Lightning-Rod Man," which three parts best support the view that the narrator equates the salesman with an evil entity?

Who has empowered you, you Tetzel, to peddle round your indulgences from divine ordinations? The hairs of our heads are numbered, and the days of our lives. In thunder as in sunshine, I stand at ease. False negotiator, away! See, the scroll of the storm is rolled back; the house is unharmed; and in the blue heavens I read in the rainbow, and will not make war on man's earth."

"Impious wretch!" foamed the stranger, blackening in the face as the rainbow beamed, "I will publish your infidel notions."
The scowl grew blacker on his face; the indigo-circles enlarged round his eyes as the storm-rings round the midnight moon. He sprang upon me.

I seized it; I snapped it; I dashed it; I trod it; and dragging the dark lightning-king out of my door, flung his elbowed, copper scepter after him.
But spite of my treatment, and spite of my dissuasive talk of him to my neighbors, the Lightning-rod man still dwells in the land; still travels in storm-time, and drives a brave trade with the fears of man.

Question

In the adapted excerpt from Herman Melville’s short story "The Lightning-Rod Man," which three parts best support the view that the narrator equates the salesman with an evil entity?

Who has empowered you, you Tetzel, to peddle round your indulgences from divine ordinations? The hairs of our heads are numbered, and the days of our lives. In thunder as in sunshine, I stand at ease. False negotiator, away! See, the scroll of the storm is rolled back; the house is unharmed; and in the blue heavens I read in the rainbow, and will not make war on man's earth."

"Impious wretch!" foamed the stranger, blackening in the face as the rainbow beamed, "I will publish your infidel notions."
The scowl grew blacker on his face; the indigo-circles enlarged round his eyes as the storm-rings round the midnight moon. He sprang upon me.

I seized it; I snapped it; I dashed it; I trod it; and dragging the dark lightning-king out of my door, flung his elbowed, copper scepter after him.
But spite of my treatment, and spite of my dissuasive talk of him to my neighbors, the Lightning-rod man still dwells in the land; still travels in storm-time, and drives a brave trade with the fears of man.

KyledaGreat · Answer

The three parts that best support the view that the narrator equates the salesman with an evil entity are:

1. "False negotiator, away!" - The use of the term "false" to describe the salesman suggests that he is deceitful and untrustworthy, which are qualities commonly associated with evil entities.

2. "The scowl grew blacker on his face; the indigo-circles enlarged round his eyes as the storm-rings round the midnight moon." - The description of the salesman's physical appearance as he becomes angrier and more threatening suggests that he is becoming more demonic or evil.

3. "But spite of my treatment, and spite of my dissuasive talk of him to my neighbors, the Lightning-rod man still dwells in the land; still travels in storm-time, and drives a brave trade with the fears of man." - The fact that the salesman is still able to operate and profit from people's fears despite the narrator's efforts to expose him as an evil entity suggests that he has a supernatural power or influence over people.