Truth, Knowledge and Reconciliation

The search for knowledge and truth is a compelling theme woven throughout All the King’s Men, and it is especially evident in the story of Jack Burden. When Jack embarks on a quest toward self- knowledge, he realizes that most of his problems in life have risen out of his lack of knowledge and understanding of people, events, and ideas. Jack’s shortcoming in this area often leads him to think about the past and hinders his ability to grow emotionally, an aspect of Jack that has been in arrested development for twenty years. Another important aspect of this theme is how Jack’s incomplete picture of the world around him affects his actions and decision. In the end Jack gains vital knowledge but it comes at a costly price through the deaths of his friends and father. Jack concludes that “all knowledge that is worth anything is maybe paid in blood” and it is this knowledge that allows Jack to finally move on with his life and to come to terms with many issues such as life, love, and responsibility.

When the reader is first introduced to Jack Burden, he seems to be somewhat of an idealistic man with no real ambition for himself but who is not really satisfied or happy with his life and who refuses to see the world for what it really is.

“What you don’t know don’t hurt you, for it ain’t real”(30) is a quote Jack picked up during his college days as a history major, and which he cites as the building block for his entire worldview, a worldview that attempts to avoid the idea that actions have consequences and that people must take responsibility for their actions. This idealistic worldview seems to serve as Jack’s defense against all that he doesn’t understand, especially some key events in his life that influenced him greatly.

The first major event in Jack’s life that greatly affected him as a human being was his parent’s divorce, which led to his father leaving when Jack was only six years old. Jack’s mother explained to him that his father wasn’t dead but that he might think of him as dead, and that the reason he left was because he didn’t love her anymore, an answer that is not quite the truth, as Jack will discover later on. Six-year-old Jack’s answer to this is simple - “I love you Mother. I’ll love you always.” (114) This sets the stage for Jack to view his father as a weak man, a man called the Scholarly Attorney, who ran away from his family and his responsibilities only to crawl into a hole of solitude with religion as his only companion.

The second major event is Jack’s summer romance with his best friend’s sister, Anne. The romance seems to develop quite suddenly and progresses at a rapid rate only to fizzle out a few summers later when after repeated mentions of marriage Anne backs out citing her need for more time. What Jack can’t seem to grasp even after having amassed twenty years of experience is what qualities he lacked that seemed to keep Anne from accepting his marriage proposals even after he enrolled into Law School just for her because he thought she wanted to have a rich and successful husband.

Eventually Jack is kicked out of Law School, he is no longer with Anne and he wonders what his next move will be. All these changes lead Jack to question his role in the world and what he is supposed to do with his life. He tries to find some sense of direction by dabbling in history only to drop out school before finishing his thesis on Cass Mastern, Jack’s maternal great-uncle, and the responsibility that plagued his life. After his failed attempt at making something of himself as a historian, Jack has an unfulfilling marriage with Lois who he describes as a mix between a peach and filet mignon. This too comes to a dead end and Jack finds himself working for Willie Stark, a man who never seems to be lost and never lacks ambition.

Almost twenty years after his romance with Anne died; Jack learns a startling fact that sheds lights on his past. Jack discovers, thanks to Sadie Burke and her rage, that Anne has been having an affair with Willie. Jack is at first incredible hurt that Willie would betray him like that but he recovers enough to confront Anne about the affair. In turn, she tells him that she was drawn to Willie because he seemed to have a sense of purpose, a real goal in life. This, Jack realizes, is exactly the quality that he was missing when