Review of All the King’s Men

The nature of doodly-squat Burdens travel from the arid land of facts to the dream sea of ideas is what the spirit level is all(a) near. It goes on to spell whether the journey undertaken by the hero is indeed a spiritual one or an approach at self-discovery.An attempt has been made to explore the roots of this journey through Modernism (the breakdown of philosophical/moral consensus ab forbidden the nature of things, the turn toward myth) and Neo-Ro existenceticism (the search for a modernistic unifying principle amid the fragmentations of Modernity/Scientific Materialism), the parting of Willie behavior-threatening, Ellis Burden, Judge Irwin, and the heros journey through the turmoil and pleasures of life.The story revolves around the relationship amidst the themes of Death and Rebirth which occur in twats journey through incidences of tragedy and beyond. It ends on a note of positivism, when the hero, Jack Burden, transforms himself from being a pawn to his roots in ance stral lineage. literary works Review All the Kings Men, is the story of the rise and fall of Willie Stark, a political titan in the Deep South, who during the 1930s rose from hardscrabble poverty to become the governor of his state, and start-ditchly its close to powerful political figure.The story goes on to say how Willie, the anti-hero blackmails and bullies his enemies into submission, and using his keenforward office institutes a fundament series of liberal reforms which are designed to tax the rich and ease the burden of the states poor farmers. This leads to a conflict of personalities which includes the notable author governor, Sam MacMurfee, and other power mongers. Jack Burden, the scion of one of the states aristocratic dynasties, turns his choke on his genteel upbringing, against the wishes of his well-wishers, which includes the influential Judge Irwin.Throwing caution to wind, Jack joins Willie on his journey to stardom, earning him the name as, Willies right hand. Willie takes advantage of Jacks talent as a historical researcher to snapshot up the unpleasant secrets of his enemies, using this to blackmail and provocation. Cynical and lacking in ambition as he is, Jack walks away from many of his past interests the dissertation of American History, and marriage to Anne Stanton, the daughter of a former governor of the state.The scene when Willie asks Jack to look for skeletons in the closet of Judge Irwin, Jack is forced to exhibit his ideas concerning consequence, responsibility, and motivation. He discovers that Judge Irwin had accepted a bribe, and that Governor Stanton, his would-be father-in-law, had covered it up, resulting in Judge Irwins suicide. The story then turns to another interesting episode of Adam Stanton, Annes brother, taking up the directorship of a new hospital being built by Willie.The vicious turn of events leads Willie to Anne, who trustingly has an link leading to his ultimate murder. Jack, with nothing to gai n returns, an empty man. In this we see, the goal and rebirth of Jack through his tryst with mint and forlorn countenance of Anne transform to one of exuberance. Willies death at the hands of Adam, his loyal employee, jolts Jack to such(prenominal) an extent that he is left dumbfounded and brooding of the consequence of his future and a rethink of his belief.Jack returns to his senses and takes a major plunge towards society by accepting his long lost approve, Anne Stanton, and pursues his passion of research . 3. 0 Analysis Jacks journey from the arid land of facts to the dream sea of ideas can be best described as a journey towards truth which is emphasized when he says, And all time are one time, and all those dead in the past never lived before our definition gives them life, and out of the shadow their eyes implore us. That is what all of us historical researchers believe. And we love truth. It may be seen that the star characters in the novel Willie Stark, Judge Irwin, An ne Stanton though their personal lives have not been free from blemishes, they were in to a greater extent than a way, corrupt. Starting with his association with Willie to the displeasure of his near and dear, the moment he learns of the affair of his first love Anne Stanton with Willie, and to the moment he learns of Judge Irwins suicide, Jack had never endured a sign of negativism in Willies actions. It is only when Jacks mother reveals the true identity of his father, does Jack admonishes Willie for his deliberations, although not in public.This incident leads Jack through many a twist and turn in his endeavor to occur to the bottom of Willies motives. The sequence of events that followed, leading to the untimely murder of Willie, inculcated a sense of disbelief, and revulsion in him. The trudge back to his roots exemplifies the struggle and worship of humanity in all its glory. Jack for all his wiles, was an ardent follower of his master. Willie Stark, the Boss gave the impres sion of a man on the move. Never, did he pause to estimate the consequences of his actions. This ultimately led to his doom.Willie Stark, though he had a humble beginning, rose to a position of wielding ungoverned power in the process subjugating his opponents by brute force and of course putting to use the investigatory skills of Jack. Judge Irwin, revered as a father figure by Jack, has not been in the good obligates of Willie, who instigates Jack to dig into the past activities of Irwin, protested vehemently by him. However, when the facts were unearthed, a shocked Jack and a confused Willie confronted Judge Irwin. Judge Irwin was a man of honor. He was known to be a very straight man and never took the law into his hands.This revelation was too much for him to digest, and equally embarrassing, that he did what a man of his stature would have done, commit suicide. Strangely, for most part of the story, Jack believes that Ellis Burden, whom he refers to as his Scholarly attorn ey, to be his father, where in fact, it is Judge Irwin who is the real biological father. Ironically, Jack gets to know this only after the suicide of Irwin, which Jack believes was because of his action. Jacks aristocratic moorings unfortunately does not refrain him from joining hands with the immoral Willie Stark as we see in the story.Though Willie uses Jack as a formidable tool in his lift to power, using Jacks research skills to his greatest advantage of subjugating his opponents, was a crime most unsuspecting of such a character. Jack becomes a witness to Willies Machiavellian manipulations and misdeeds, albeit, unwittingly. However Jacks shunning politics at the end of the story and his return to his earlier passion is a fiction for Jacks return to his roots, his history, and his American past. In fact, Jacks research revolves around his discover of the life of Cass Mastern, a man of high moral standards and a student at Transylvania College in Kentucky.Even the equal to( p) Jack takes up for his dissertation is a reminder to the readers of Jacks search for the truth. Is death the last sleep? No, it is the last and final awakening, said W. Scott, a stark reminder synonymous of the characters in this book Judge Irwins suicide when he is confronted by Jack with facts about his acceptance of a bribe, and the violent death of Willie Stark by Adam Stanton. While for the major part of the story Jack believed that the Great embrace denoted actions in life and not words or deeds.The awakening on that morning at home, brought Jack to retract his thoughts on life, and once again believed that men were answerable for their actions and deeds. This rethinking in a sense is responsible for Jacks decision to marry Anne Stanton (a metaphor for rebirth) despite his knowledge of the fact that he she had an affair with Willie Stark. Reflecting philosophically he says, all the words we speak meant nothing and there was only the pulse in the blood and the twitch of th e nerve, like a dead frogs leg in the experiment when the electric authorized goes through, a true reflection of Modernism.This can be, in a philosophical sense be equated to the death of Jack figuratively, since Anne was Jacks first love, whom he loved more than anything else in the world. 4. 0 terminal In the ultimate analysis it may be inferred that Jacks life has been a life of journey towards the truth, towards his roots and eventually his self-discovery. The main characters in the story play an important role in molding Jacks character, the incidents in the lives of those characters enlightening the path Jack has taken to achieve his goal. 5. 0 Bibliography 1. 0 www. sparknotes. com/lit/kingsmen/summary. html