All the King's Men- Reflection

 The deaths of each person seemed to have been connected in sort of a web pattern. One dramatic event lead to another and so on. That is how life seems to be. The way Jack attempted to escape reality is often times the same way people in the real world try to escape their problems. But running from your own mistakes is not the answer. Good thing Jack realized this in towards the end and finally became “motivated”. If he hadn’t, perhaps he and Anne Stanton would have never gotten married. It is sad to see though, that she had an affair with Willie just because he represented power and ambition. Or did she do it for the money? We may never come to a conclusion. Whatever the reason was, I’m glad they made it work in the end because Jack truly seemed like a lovable character.  Moreover, I do not usually enjoy books that have to do with politics, but I must say this one was quite fascinating. It seems to me that the purpose of this work was to show that everyone is responsible for his or her own actions. Jack refused responsibility and tried to escape reality by heading out to the West, but when it all came down; he was forced to face the truth in the East. He sort of received a wake-up call and the “vibrations” of the spider web, which were the deaths of certain people he knew, caused him to see the reality. In many ways this is my life every day and it is clearly obvious that no one must ever run away from their own responsibility. The plot of the story itself was confusing at times, but things seemed to clear up as the novel progressed forward, such as the story of Cass Mastern. At first I was not sure how it related to anything going on in the book at all, but later I drew the parallel between Jack and Cass. In many ways the story of Cass was a foreshadowing of Jack’s future. The tone of some of the characters seemed as if they were angry at times or powerful, such as Willie. He asserted himself in a very dominant manner and people became submissive under his power. This type of tone made me feel repressed under Willie’s dominance and I too became submissive. The author’s style of writing this novel at first seemed annoying, because he often times wrote long and descriptive sentences. But as I continued to read the novel, I became accustomed to such details and it made the book flow as I read. All the characters and random stories, such as the one of Cass, tied up in the end and gave the novel a meaning.

 

Significance of Chapter 10 in ATKM

I’d like to discuss some of the significant quotes from the last chapter of ATKM.  The first quote that catches my attention says “…and soon now we shall go out of the house and go into the convulsion of the world, out of history and into history and the awful responsibility of Time” (661). The Cass Mastern story, which takes up most of Chapter 4, is not relevant to the novel's plot, but it is very important to the novel's theme. Cass Mastern's journals describe a man who slowly learns the same lesson of responsibility that Jack must learn during the course of the story. At first, Cass is nonchalant about his hedonistic behavior, but after his friend's suicide and Annabelle's selling of Phebe, Cass goes to great length to make amends and to undo the consequences of his actions. As a young man, Jack is unable to understand Cass's motivations; by the end of the novel, he writes that he "now may come to understand" them. Thus the Cass Mastern story works as a kind of index of Jack's development--the closer he comes to understanding it, the closer he comes to being ready to step into the "awful responsibility of Time."

Moreover, another quote that is worth a discussion says, “she gave me a new picture of herself, and that meant, in the end, a new picture of the world” (652). Here Jack is referring the knowledge that his mother gives him right before she decides to move away. The knowledge that she gives him, which is that she is still in love with Irwin, proves to jack that his mother is capable of love and this helps jack overcome his numbness. Jack is then able to return to Anne. His numbness was caused by confrontation of responsibility. Also, the quote saying “Duffy was the villain and I was the averaging hero. I had kicked Duffy around and my head was as big as a balloon with grandeur. Then all at once something happened and the yellow taste was in the back of my mouth “ (628). Here Jack realizes that he has blamed Duffy in full for willies death, and that blaming Duffy is an admission that someone was directly responsible for what happened. If someone’s responsible for an action, then great twitch theory cant hold up. And if someone’s responsible for willies death, jacks forced to face the measure of responsibility that he himself bears.

A Doll's House

At first, Nora believes that the true meaning of being “free” is not what she considers it to be later in the play. By telling Ms. Linde “Free. To be free, absolutely free. To spend time playing with the children. To have a clean, beautiful house, the way Torvald likes it,” (1226).  In this quotation from her conversation with Mrs. Linde in Act One, Nora claims that she will be “free” after the New Year, after she has paid off her debt to Krogstad. While describing her anticipated freedom, Nora highlights the very factors that constrain her. She claims that freedom will give her time to be a mother and a traditional wife who maintains a beautiful home, as her husband likes it. But the message of the play is that Nora cannot find true freedom in this traditional life. As the play continues, Nora becomes increasingly aware that she must change her life to find true freedom, and her understanding of the word “free” evolves accordingly. By the end of the play, she sees that freedom entails independence from societal constraints and the ability to explore her own personality, goals, and beliefs. This is triggered by Nora’s sudden realization that Torvald is not who he seems to be. She used to see him as this noble man, but once he refuses to protect her back against a bad reputation, Nora realizes that she is not happy with him and their marriage. This leads her to further seek an independent life as a woman. In Act three, at the end Nora states, “I have been performing tricks for you, Torvald. That’s how I’ve survived. You wanted it like that. You and Papa have done me a great wrong. It’s because of you I’ve made nothing of my life,” (1230). Nora speaks these words, which express the truth that she has gleaned about her marriage, Torvald’s character, and her life in general, to Torvald at the end of Act Three. She recognizes that her life has been largely a performance. She has acted the part of the happy, child-like wife for Torvald and, before that, she acted the part of the happy, child-like daughter for her father. She now sees that her father and Torvald compelled her to behave in a certain way and understands it to be “great wrong” that stunted her development as an adult and as a human being. She has made “nothing” of her life because she has existed only to please men. Following this -realization, Nora leaves Torvald in order to make something of her life and for the first time to exist as a person independent of other people. She shuts the door as a symbol of giving up on the “fantasy” world that she used to live in with Torvald and she seeks out to find her true self in the “real” world.

Reflection on "Hairball" Essay

I had good ideas in my paper, but as it turns out I needed more support for them. Perhaps I could blend in more quotes into my sentences in order to help support what I am trying to say. For example, when I mentioned that “her co-workers disregarded her aspects and failed to realize the importance of Kat’s view”, I should have supported that statement with some evidence. Moreover, some of my sentences had fragments in them, so I should have someone read over my essay next time more closely in order to have the maximum amount of editing possible. I noticed that some of my sentences were labeled as “awkward”. I do get that a lot, but I am not sure how I can fix that. To me my sentences seem alright, but I guess when another person reads them, he or she does not feel the same way I do. Also, I need to use double quotation marks instead of single ones. I thought we used single ones when we are mentioning the same word we previously used in a quote, but I guess not. I need to work on my transitions in between points and paragraphs, as they seem to be weak. Sometimes I feel like I am being repetitive if I keep using similar transition words. So that is a bit of a problem for me. I also see that commas should go inside quotes, not on the outside. I think I knew that, but it was just a mistake on my part. I see that I had a few passive voice comments on my essay. Well I do try to use active voice as much as possible, but again, sometimes it is hard to notice your own mistakes.  As I see, I should not mention “in conclusion” at any point in any essay for this class. I use it in environmental science because we are told to do so, so I guess I got a bit confused on which class is for what.  It seems that I am missing a lot of commas. Well, I do try to use them as much as I can, as I perceive that there is a need for them. However, I guess I need to work on pausing in my sentences or perhaps making them shorter. I also see that “taxi” does not need to be capitalized. I thought it should be, because it is a type of a car? Hmm. Well good to know. I did try to analyze a lot of my work, and I think I got that part down pretty much. But as I focused on one thing: analyzing, my other sections went down. Sometimes I have a hard time getting across what I am trying to say, so that makes my sentences seem awkward and grammatically wrong.

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’.