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.