In "broken chain," alfonso is motivated to do fifty sit-ups a day because he wants sandra to go on a date with him. to be better than ernie in some way. the guys to think he is tough. to be able to balance sandra on his bike.

The answer is "he was bad enough in all conscience, but the devil himself could not temp him to turn slave-trader. satirical is a synonym for sarcastic. so when the author says that tom walker could not be tempted by the devil he does not literally mean "the devil" but he means that he is too morally upright to become a slave-trader.