All the Kings Men: Jack Burden Analysis Essay

All the Kings Men begins on the road. It begins in the transient state of movement, where the fine line between the continuation of ones journey and the awful crash that could end it is ever present. Jack Burden finds himself on such a journey. A journey of departure, a long winding road of exploration as he searches for the essence of truth, and then a return. A return so enigmatic that it is impossible to nail it down as either a fulfillment or a submission.

Jack Burden begins his life in the bosom of family and wealth. Yet he, unlike many around him, is very confused. He sees a father go, a mother marry and marry and marry. Even his name suggests that from the moment of Jacks birth, he would carry with him a weight, a burden that would shape his life. This burden is his ability to reason and learn about the past, which brings the weight of the past upon his shoulders

Jacks departure begins after the burning fire of love is slowly extinguished within Anne and he finds himself even further confused. Although the causes of the ill-fated romances ending are speculative, Jack undeniably begins his voyage into the great sleep. This lost love is at the root of Jacks problems, his whole life is built around understanding why the romance failed, weather it was his responsibility, hers, or if it was simply the way things happened.

The Cass Mastern story, which is symbolized as Jacks first journey into the enchantments of the past, is actually the first time that Jack can define his beliefs and justify his actions. He studies this work that so dramatically violates everything he believes that he quits his pursuit of a Ph. D because he can not bring himself to believe that the spider web Cass speaks of could be real. Jack cannot bring himself to believe that his actions have consequences.

Here is where Jack begins to shed all responsibility. He cuts himself off from others (or so he believes) and proceeds to do what he pleases.

The novel itself is set as a swirling series of events that, taken chronologically, create a flowing tale. Yet Penn Warren tells Jacks story noncronologically, where the past is as much the present as today is. This mirrors Jacks character, a man of the past who prefers to be retrospective in the most unobservant of ways; he searches in the past only for confirmation of what he already believes to be true.

Willie is central to Jacks search for truth because, as his shady leader and seemingly only true (opposed to childhood) friend, he can actually affect Jacks thinking in small ways. Willy is a man of action, and is intensely invested in the present. He understands that at times it is necessary to use the force of the past to get things done here and now. This is the essential arc of the story, Willie is not so much a character as a device used by Penn Warren to guide Jacks story. Willie pays Jack to do what he is already doing, scouring the past to find the desired solution to a problem.

Jacks search for the bad in people culminates in his second trip into the past: the case of the upright judge. When Jack uncovers the dirt on Irwin, he confirms his belief in the inherent ambiguity in people. "And what we students of history always learn is that the human being is a very complicated contraption and that they are not good or bad but are good and bad and the good comes out of the bad and the bad out of the good After telling Anne the truth, in all its misery, soon finding that his actions do, however indirectly, have consequences, Jack runs. This is when Jack begins his return, begins his fulfillment. Immediately, Jack begins to believe in the Great Twitch, the belief that ones actions are completely ineffectual, yet this is a last resort. It is an attempt at an excuse for the tremendous pain that he has caused with his search for truth

Returning to Burdens landing Jack thrusts the burden of the evidence upon the Judge thus causing his suicide. Jack later learns that not only did he have his mentors blood on his hands, but also his fathers blood. This is the scream that Jack is awoken by (metaphorically and literally) on that night in Burdens landing, this is his waking from the great sleep. Where, as the towns name suggests, a burden is landing upon Jacks shoulders, the burden of truth and responsibility. Here is the fulfillment of understanding, for from understanding, all things follow. Jack is required to understand that his actions do have consequences, that life is not simply uncontrollable motor movements.

Then in the final chapter we see the return, told as Jack makes preparations to move on from the landing, and to finish his dissertation. Nothing about his new life is perfect, yet he can begin to peruse a new truth: the truth of love and responsibility, rather than the confirmation of the great twitch and randomness. Yet Jack has, in many ways, given up the search for the ultimate and unattainable truth. This final return to Burdens landing is all we need to see of Jack, to follow the title; jack has been put back together again. He has love in Anne, rekindled after some period of doubt and carelessness, he has begun to work toward finishing his work, and he has accepted the undeniable, he has accepted the awful responsibility of time, the burden has once again landed on his shoulders, yet he understands its necessity.

Thus Jack steps out of the story; he ends his tenure as our narrator, and begins his life as a human being. He finds, in his departure, fulfillment, and return that out of this mess of time and swirling unknown we can make happiness, that the spider web can allow us to destroy, but also to connect in love.