Why Cass Mastern?

Many might question on why chapter 4 was ever included in the novel in the first place. Chapter 4 is essential to the whole novel, because it contributes to the theme of All the King’s Men. The story of Cass Mastern is the story of a man who commits an evil deed, and who finds the rest of his life shaped by his sense of responsibility for the outcome of that deed. Cass cannot simply forget about Duncan Trice and Phebe, and his sense of responsibility drives him to leave Annabelle, to try to free Phebe, and to try to become an abolitionist in the South. Due to the fact that Cass commits adultery with Annabelle and this causes her to cheat on her husband; Cass feels guilty for the rest of his life. This correlates to Jack Burden and how he tries to learn to accept responsibility for his own actions. As a young man, Jack is simply not ready to understand Cass Mastern’s motivations because he is not ready to confront the idea of responsibility himself. “Or perhaps he laid aside the journal of Cass Mastern not because he could nto understand, but because he was afraid to understand for what might be understood there was a reproach to him” (Warren 284). The story of Cass Mastern becomes an index against which Jack’s progress as a character can be measured. The closer Jack comes to understanding Cass Mastern, the closer he is to accepting the idea of human responsibility. Perhaps we can say that Jack is still ignorant at this point in his life, and once he is able to understand Cass, then he has gained knowledge.

Now the actual crime which Cass commits can be seen as an evil act. The focus of evil vs. good runs throughout the story and it can be greatly pin-pointed here. The actual sin gave “security as the strength of the desire seemed to give the sanction of justice and righteousness” (Warren 255). Therefore, Cass seems to think that their desire made the act less evil, almost good. Even Annabelle herself says “’Oh let’s not think about it now’”, once they are finished with their sexual actions. She seems to have an evil influence upon Cass, and this causes him to think that their act wasn’t so sinful after all. But later his conscious haunts him and his personality begins to disintegrate as he begins his long life journey of finding Phebe. This could foreshadow the fact that Jack will one day realize that he cannot run from life and responsibility, which might cause him to have a downfall just like Cass. Hopefully, Jack won’t die though.

Discussion About Ch. 3

In chapter 3, the Byram White scandal shows just how powerful Jack and Willie have gotten. It displays the corrupt political mastermind at work. “There was just the empty space which had been occupied by the empty space which went by the name of Mr. Byram White” (Warren 199). Due to the knowledge gained by Willie of Whites secrets, Willie was able to use the “dirt” he gained against Mr. White and remove him from office. Because Mr. White was ignorant, he lost his identity and position of power by becoming just an ‘empty space’. This lead to the “graft scandal” and Willie was able to blackmail MacMurfees men before the impeachment of Willie occurred. The scene in which Jack confronts the leaders of the rebel legislators really shows how powerful Jack and Willie have become. They are able to simply bully their enemies into submission in a sense that the enemies don’t even understand how they have done it.

From this I’d like to derive a theme for the book that knowledge moves power forward. So far I have witnessed that the more “secrets” and “dirt” that Jack is able to derive, the more power Willie gains. Due to the face that Willie was able to blackmail MacMurfee, Willie was able to stop the impeachment before it occurred and later he won the election. This makes me wonder is this what real politics is like? The more dirt someone picks up, the more power they gain? That does not seem to be fair. What would have happened if Jack had not dug up any dirt about the opposing party? Would MacMurfee have won and the whole novel would have taken a twisted turn the other way. Why is Jack the narrator? Why isn’t Willie telling the story from his point-of-view? All these questions are accumulating into my head and I cannot seem to find answers to them. This novel truly confuses me to the maximum and as we move forward more and more questions form in my head.

I’d like to also go over the role of women in this chapter. Jack’s mom uses affectionate ways to try to convince him to not work for Willie just as she tried to get him to go to Harvard by “putting her hand over his eyes and began to move it again upward over his forehead” (warren 168). Perhaps this is why Jack struggles with his relationships later in life, because he always assumes that people constantly want something out of him and that they expect him to do certain things. He is afraid to have a relationship because he thinks women will always desire him to do certain things and maybe he is afraid to lose his autonomy. These are the questions that haunt me. Hopefully, everything starts to come together soon.

Knowledge of Willie

I’d like to focus on Willie in chapter 2 of this novel. A sudden change occurs in Willie once he learns that he has been tricked and framed in politics. I’d refer to this moment as an epiphany that Willie obtains all the sudden. He drinks himself unconscious, and then the next day delivers a speech at the picnic, making Tiny Duffy appear as a fool. In this chapter Willie realizes that politics is not a game of ideals, it is a game of willpower and manipulation. With this knowledge, Willie focuses on learning how to play the ‘game’ and then becomes a powerful political figure. It is ironic how he begins the chapter “Cousin Willie from the country” and ends it by becoming Jack’s boss. This shows the transformation of Willie, which he was capable of achieving due to the fact that he gained the knowledge and was not ignorant anymore. This shows a gradual focus in the novel of knowledge vs. ignorance. The knowledge which he receives spurs him to reach for greatness.

Perhaps there is a significant reason and irony for why Willie marries a schoolteacher. He strives to obtain more knowledge, and as we all know teachers are symbols for knowledge, so with irony Willie portrays the typical stereotype. However, once he becomes successful, he decides that he does not need his wife anymore. So perhaps this shows the cruelty of political figures, how they drain everyone around them just for their benefit, and then once they achieve what they were after, they dump the useless, human bodies to the side.

To add more the knowledge of Willie, there is a time period when he focuses on studying law just for fun. He occupies himself with law and even builds his own law practice after he loses the election.  He could have taken a vacation and relaxed somewhere on the beach, but instead he took his time and put his effort into studying law and passing the bar exam. This helps portray the motif of knowledge running throughout the novel. Perhaps a theme that might emerge later would be that with great effort for knowledge comes success and fortune.

                Also, when Willie commands Jack to go and ‘dig’ up some ‘secrets’ about Irwin’s past, hints that knowledge is the key to success. Perhaps the ‘dirt’ that Jack must find will be the knowledge of the competition. Once dirt is known about the competition, then there will be a downfall of that competition (political figure). Is this how real politics works? Is this what the government is set up as? Knowing the secrets of others can lead to one’s success? I guess it must be that the ‘best man wins’.

"Cinderella"

The Archetypal Theory consists of shared human experience throughout time. Symbols, motifs, images, characters, are “collective unconscious”. So let’s take a look at the some of the most common aspects we hope will happen in a typical fairy tale.

First, would be the ultimate Princess that many of my childhood movies and stories seem to always have. The sweet, young, beautiful, and caring Princess is always present in almost any story you read for children. In this case, Cinderella is the Princess who is constantly turned down and mentally abused by her step-mother and her step-sisters. She asks to attend the ball, but her nasty step-mother just laughs at her. The step-sisters make her feel jealous by talking about what they will wear, “I shall wear my red velvet dress and my English lace” (10). Their clothes were bought from the latest designers and were very expensive. This shows the mistreatment of poor Cinderella.

Second, always present is of course the Prince. He is often times assumed to be young, handsome, rich, and oblivious to everything around him besides beauty. He falls in love with Cinderella from first-sight, but he knows nothing about her personality or background. Could this be true love? He has only one dance with her, but does that mean she is his soul mate? Of course, as in every other fairy tale, the Prince comes to rescue the Princess. He sends his servants out to search for the one whose foot fits into the little “glass slipper”.

Third, is the Evil character that is always after the Princess.  Almost every story I’ve read as a child, always had some evil witch or God-mother that wanted to harm the innocent one. As expected, in “Cinderella” the God-mother is mean, rude, old, and jealous. She takes her jealously out onto Cinderella and mocks the fact that it couldn’t have possibly been “Cinder-bottom” at the ball. To add to it, the step-sisters are also evil characters present in the story. “The very idea! Id have to be crazy to lend my dress to nasty Cinderbottom like you” (13). Ironically, enough as it is, I find it interesting how everyone views Cinderella as the most beautiful girl while she is at the ball, but once she takes all her luxurious clothes off, she is back to basics. What ever happened to people finding the beauty deep in? it isn’t all about looks. From a critical point-of-view I don’t see why they would show these kind of movies to little kids who should be taught otherwise: that beauty goes beyond what is on the outer surface. Clothes do no make Cinderella beautiful, but it is her personality that makes her so pure and innocent. Whereas, her evil companions are the ones who should be dressed in rags instead of those “velvet dresses” because they are the ones who are truly ugly inside and out.

Lonely and Isolated Themes of Winesburg

The novel Winesburg, Ohio by Sherwood Anderson consists of many shorts stories that complete to make the novel as one whole story. Even though some argue that the novel is just a set of different stories, I see it as one because it connects with the same motifs and themes running throughout the text. The themes of the inability to communicate, loneliness and isolation are portrayed throughout the novel and make the whole book connect. One of the characters in the novel is Elizabeth, who was once young and was considered a “stage-stuck” but later on she became a woman “who seeks some kind of release from her perpetual loneliness” (Anderson, 223). Even though she has an affair she is still emotionally unsatisfied. Therefore it shows that it is not sexual acts that can satisfy the women in Winesburg, but perhaps it is the connection and ability of people to express their emotions that can really fulfill them.

Another character is Enoch, who is lonely and sad most of the time in his apartment. The real people do not understand him fully, and he always gets frustrated by the way that people don’t understand him. He attempted to make his points clear “but he always ends up saying nothing” (Anderson, 170). He imagined that there are imaginary friends in his apartment, who understand his reason for words. They made him feel “bold” and he could feel as if he was powerful enough to be able to get his points across. They provided him a sense of communication and temporarily filled his emptiness and isolation inside, by allowing him to explain what he was never able to explain to real people. When Enoch got married, he soon realized that the woman was making him feel small. “I thought she would be bigger than I was there in that room” (Anderson, 176). Enoch wanted her to understand him, but then if she did then he would have nothing left inside of him that made him so ‘big’. He would feel as if he is “drowned” in that room and that would make him feel weak and small. He wanted to be almost like a God in that room, but having her mere presence there was a threat to him. When she left the room she took all his imaginary people with her. She took his ability to communicate and to gets his points across, away from him. She took all his power that he had created and this made him feel weak. When she was in the room, her presence made the bond between Enoch and his imaginary friends seem weaker and almost unreal. At the end, Enoch remained alone just as he was in the beginning and perhaps he soon returned to having imaginary friends in his apartment, who fully understand his motives and reasons behind the things he says.