All the King's Men is based loosely on the career of real-life politician Huey P. Long but it is not just a political tract. People raise their voice against Pillsbury but remember the warning given by Stark. Thus he conducts his election campaign on a note of idealism. This results in Willie getting nominated for the post of Governor.
The local big-shots responded by spreading the story that the lowest bidder would import black labor to construct the building, and, Mason County being redneck country, the people sided against Willie, who was trounced in the next election. Jack is the son of an aristocratic family who meanders aimlessly through life: he never finished his dissertation in history or married his first love, Anne Stanton. Sadie shows up, and tells the truth. He is tasked with digging up dirt on Willie's opponents, including his own family friend and mentor Judge Irwin, which leads to Irwin's suicide. This study guide contains the following sections: This detailed literature summary also contains Topics for Discussion on All the King's Men by Robert Penn Warren. The Harrison camp decided to split the MacMurfee vote by secretly setting up another candidate who could draw some of MacMurfee's support in the country. All the King’s Men Chapter Two Summary and Analysis | GradeSaver. We may judge results but not process. Copyright © 2023, Inc., a division of IXL Learning •. "It could be a girl. Furthermore, the qualities of Jack Burden are more sharply defined, and more pieces of the past come to the fore. Jack portrays Adam as Willie's polar opposite: a selfless person who exists truly to do good. But he also uses bullying and blackmail to achieve his goals and never curbs his personal desires.
Her father had a pleased look in his eyes. Willie Stark, now Governor, wants to see him. Willie broods, and then takes to pacing, as Lucy and Jack talk. All the kings men cliff notes. An elderly judge and father figure to Jack, whom he's known since childhood. Willie's bad speeches are OK in the county, where the fire drill incident had given Willie undying approval. She couldn't contain her joy. It follows the sudden rise and eventual assassination of a populist Southern politician named Willie Stark, as seen through the eyes of a writer named Jack Burden, who starts as a graduate student in history but takes a job as Stark's aide.
In the 1930 Democratic primary Willie ran for governor and won with the promise to serve the rural folks in the state. The farther those two you's are apart the more the world grinds and grudges on its axis. In trying to prevent this, Willie was slandered, with Pillsbury claiming that he supported the lowest bid, Jeffers Construction, which used Negro labor. The last time Jack was like this, he was almost finished writing the dissertation that would have earned him a Ph. Little kids couldn't get down the stairs fast, and big kids were crowded up behind them. He had already stated that he would only do so once the child was born, and she had no objection. MacMurfee wins the race, and Willie goes back to private practice, retaining his popularity. Quotes from all the kings men. Willie, for the first time in his life, gets drunk the night before a big speech, and Jack administers more alcohol as a hangover cure the next morning to get him to the event, a large backwaters barbeque in Upton. Then, when Willie became embroiled in a political controversy, the Chronicle sent Jack out to Mason City to cover the story. Thus, he establishes a rapport with the people and wins their support.
They would coincide perfectly, there would be perfect focus, as when a stereoscope gets the twin images on the card into perfect alignment. He also exposes the dirty plan of Harrison and withdraws his candidature in favor of MacMurfee. The chapter convincingly traces the growth of Willie Stark as a politician. When Lucy can't take the pacing anymore, she laughingly asks him to sit. "[A]nd soon now we shall go out of the house and go into the convulsion of the world, out of history into history and the awful responsibility of Time. Small Group Activity. Thus he uses Stark to split the votes of MacMurfee. He turned towards her, ordering the servants out after they had dressed him in his night clothes. All the king's men chapter 2 analysis. She could get all society by the ears. Willie Stark vs Huey Long exercise. This spurs Jack to call Anne, Adam's sister. The King would remarry.
Pillsbury's brother in law owns the "brick kiln" from which Moore would buy its bricks. But this thing in itself is not love. Willie seems obsessed by the fact that those old boys could treat him like "nothing, " and get away with it. She almost worried herself sick when Father admonished her. To unlock this lesson you must be a Member. It is not by chance that Jack first enters this sleepy state in college when he is finishing up his thesis on American history. Lucy Stark is a subdued character in contrast to her energetic husband. Jack says he's sorry for feeling the way he does about them. Willie's opponent in the election is using the news as a way of disrupting Willie's campaign. Between one point on the map and another point on the map, there was the being alone in the car in the rain. But if you loved and were loved perfectly then there wouldn't be any difference between the two you's or any distance between them. He gets down to business and acts according to his interests. Willie confides his worries in Jack, who is just a reporter, when his campaign goes poorly.
He set up his own law practice. "If you could not accept the past and its burden there was no future, for without one there cannot be the other. Prezi on Flashback and Foreshadowing. It was the second time Jack met Willie. In the process, he hurts the sentiments of a few good people like Irwin and Lucy too.
It is a great impersonal sincerity. These bricks were cheap, because convicts in the state penitentiary provided the labor. Teacher Background Notes. In spite of the obstacles and the opposition which he faces, he persists in trying to make his position known. She helps him in his transformation by ridiculing his idealism and exposing him to the reality of politics.
Willie is a charismatic politician whose outward populism masks his selfishness and cynicism. A woman only laughs that way when something has touched her way down in the very quick of her being and the happiness just wells out as natural as breath and the first jonquils and mountain brooks. It is where you go when you are told that you are a bubble on the tide of empire. Create your account. Willie points at him, calls him a "Judas Iscariot" and "Joe Harrison's dummy! Jack tries to remain detached from everyone and everything while the rich and powerful Willie becomes a wish fulfillment for his poor and powerless supporters. He believes all politicians are corrupt and that only dishonest means can produce results. However, as Willie gets elected, Jack loses his job. It may well be that without this thing which I am talking about there would not be any love.
Willie is hardly Christlike, however; he's now filled with anger and seeks revenge on the corrupt officials who fooled him. As Jack tells about what Willie Stark was like and what happened to Willie in those early days in his political career, we inevitably learn a great deal about Jack Burden. It is the thing which man has which distinguishes him from the happy brute creation. Even though Willie has grown up within this political tradition, he is idealistic enough to buck the system when he sees something going on that he thinks is wrong. He tells the people that the speech contains ideas for how the state can help the people. During the course of a conversation with the Sheriff and the Commissioner, Burden gets to know about the building of the Schoolhouse by J. H. Moore whose bid is high.
Tiny Duffy, an ally of Harrison, is sent to convince Willie to go ahead and manage his campaign. She has beautiful eyes, and is very smart. And when Willie learns he has been duped, he describes to Jack what it was like to lay awake at night yearning to be elected governor. He says, "You... get up in order that you may be able to go back to sleep. " Stunned, Will drank a large glass of whiskey, even though he hardly touched alcohol before. In that election, Jack leaves his job as a columnist after being asked to promote MacMurfee more forcefully. The fact that Willie uses corrupt methods doesn't faze Jack. Charming him should not be hard for you now. A guy named Harrison had been Governor in the past.
Everyone was still in the capital for the previous King's funeral. Include drawings when appropriate. He has stepped away from politics, and he is completing his book about Cass Mastern, Jack's Civil War-era ancestor. Thus, Willie Stark is helped to achieve his aim by his adversaries. It does not matter what kind of a face she has got either. Comprehensive K-12personalized learning. Soon after this Willie asked Jack if he wanted a job working for him. He selects Hugh Miller, a distinguished apolitical attorney equally intent on reform, as his attorney general, and he is willing to take Tiny Duffy, whom he mistreats, as well as Sadie Burke into his administration.