All the King's Men

Jack meets Willie for the first time

Willie tries running for governor and is largely unsuccessful until: he finds out he was betrayed, gets drunk, gives an incredible speech that sways the people in his favor.

All the King's Men

Judge Irwin

Setting

Jack discovers that he took a bribe and Willie tries to blackmail him with that information.

Childhood hero of Jack, Anne, and Adam

He.. does not handle the threat well.

The South 1810-1939

Majority of novel spent in Louisiana

Jack Burden

Narrator of the book. Majority of book takes place in his memories. Self-proclaimed functioning alcoholic. His own attempt to detach himself from the rest of the world the main and most meaningful conflict.

Jack's loss of his Anne Stanton (only thing he ever truly loves) turns him cynical. He lives in the past (he is a historical researcher) because he is in a constant struggle to find truth there.

All the King's Men

Jack considers himself an Idealist. He thinks that no actions truly have consequences in the grand picture of time and history. He changes this view after the climax of the story because he finally fines something that gives meaning to his life.

-Robert Penn Warren

Adam Stanton

Brother of Anne. Famous surgeon that Willie uses to help open his free hospital

Willie Stark

Live isolated from the real world. Lives by a code of honor and doing good. Adam shuts out the world and lives solely by the ideals of a perfect world

Main character of the plot. Rises from the bottom of the political pole to become governor. Uses blackmail and bullying to get what he wants.

Sees the world as inherently corrupt. Believes that the only way to achieve good in the world is through the use of evil

Near the beginning of the book Stark understands the balance between good and evil. But falls further and further into corruption as the plot progresses

Willie attempts to blackmail Judge Irwin

Anne Stanton

Literary Merit

All the King's Men is a novel of literary merit because of two reasons: one, because of the way that the story is told, and two..

Daughter of Governor Stanton who Jack Burden finds out helped cover up the bribe Judge Irwin took.

First love of Jack Burden. Eventually has an affair with Willie Stark which leads to her brother killing him.

Jack's Philosophy

Willie and Jack persuade Adam to direct the free-hospital that Willie is creating

Jack struggles with a number of things. The first is the abandonment of the man he thought was his father.The greatest pain for Jack to deal with is the loss of Anne Stanton

Although there are many reasons why this book is significant and as incredible as it is, I believe that all of the internal conflict that Jack deals with lead to the greatest reason.

He believes that we are all just electric pulses, and that in the scope of history no action has any consequences. He lives an empty life numbing himself with alcohol and dwelling in the past to escape his present. At the end of the book he changes his view on the world and believes that actions do have consequences and that are lives do have meaning.

Through the use of Jack, Warren says that both views that he takes are correct. On one hand nothing does really have meaning and we are just pulses that will soon die out and be forever forgotten. But on the other hand he says that this is no way to live ones life. While believing this Jack lives empty and depressed. But when he finally marries Anne at the end of the book that gives meaning to his life and his view on the matter changes. Warren is saying that while the grim reality is that nothing has meaning, there are things in the world that can give it meaning to us, for Jack this is Anne

Crucial to the philosophical parts of the novel.

Jack and eventually Adam find out about Anne's affair with Willie