CliffsNotes on Warren's All the King's Men

Cliff Notes

• Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
• ISBN:
  9780544179462
• Edition: 0
• Topic: Study Aids
• Subtopic: Study Guides

Chapter 1

All the King’s Men is, on one level, a novel about a political strong-man in the South during the 1930s. This aspect of the novel focuses on the political situation into which this man thrusts himself, the conditions from which he arises and tries to change, his rise to power, and the resulting changes that occur in him. If this were all that the novel did, it would be an interesting study of politics and of a political figure.

All the King’s Men, however, is more than simply a political novel, for it is also the story of another man, a former newspaper reporter who works for the politician. As he tells us the story of the politician, the reporter also tells us about himself, about finding himself. Because the reporter was once a student of history, he also explores the effects of the past on the present; indeed, his discovery of the truth about his own past leads him to a new understanding of himself and of the political figure. The result of this second strong character in the novel makes All the King’s Men into a rich and powerful, moving book, one that does not suffer in comparison with any other novel written in America.

The first chapter introduces several important elements. One of the most important of these elements is the setting, the place of the action and the situation out of which that action grows. One thing to note about this novel is that it does not name the state in which it takes place, nor does it name the capital of that state. Many who have read this novel have assumed that it takes place in Louisiana (with Baton Rouge its capital), but it is obvious that Robert Penn Warren wished to avoid this kind of narrow identification; instead, he would have us view the events of the novel as events that could occur in any state in which the same conditions prevailed. Another reason for avoiding a narrow identification of the state involves a narrow identification of the main character, Willie Stark. If the state is Louisiana, then Willie Stark must be considered a fictionalized portrait of Huey Long. While there is evidence that Warren had Huey Long in mind when he created Willie Stark, there is also evidence that he drew from other sources in creating the fictional character. By avoiding having his novel set in a definite state, Warren forces the reader to think of Willie Stark as a man who is formed by the conditions in which he was raised and by the situation which he feels he must fight against. Willie Stark is more than just one political figure in one particular place; he is a person who could exist wherever human beings live.

The novel opens with a two-and-a-half page description of the highway from the capital city to Mason City. This description is important because it does more than simply tell us about a highway; it tells us a good deal about a particular part of the state, the part of the state in which Willie Stark grew up. The dominating impression is of the heat, the heat that shimmers up from the roadway and obscures whatever is further down the road. It is a heat that dazzles people and makes them forget what they are doing. (This shimmering mirage-like quality of the roadway in the heat is also characteristic of the way that Jack Burden views life and experience.) A second quality of this highway is that it is new; it is a road on which cars can whiz along at high speed, unlike the bumpy, rutted dirt road that Jack later describes when he tells of his first trip to Mason City fourteen years earlier.

Along the highway, during this trip in 1936, are the cotton fields worked by blacks, and these fields are in the southern part of the state. The further north one travels, the red hills emerge, and the stands of pine, many of them burned-over, are reminders of the days when the pine trees were milled until there were no more pine logs to take to the mills. It is poor country. This is the country in which Mason City is located, and it is the country in which Willie Stark grew up.

Of course, the main purpose of this chapter is to introduce Willie Stark, Governor of the state. The chapter does this by showing Willie in two different situations, one in which he is among “home folks,” the other in which he is involved in a piece of political in-fighting; he appears to be quite a different man in each situation.

Standing in front of the people of Mason City, people whom he has known all his life and who elected him to office in the first place, Willie Stark is a “good ol’ boy.” He enters the drugstore quietly, without a fuss. He waits until he is recognized instead of loudly demanding service. He chats with the people, calling them by name. And when he is called upon to make a speech, he does so very subtly. He talks about how a man has to come home at times and about how he himself is not “politickin’” now, although he will be back another time to ask them for their votes. Now, it is true that Willie did come back to see his father, but it is also true that he brought a carload of reporters and a photographer with him. In short, Willie is a shrewd politician, using this occasion to make a visit to the farm and to his home county but also to remind the voters of the state where his roots are and how devoted he is to his family.

While Willie Stark may seem to be simple and easy-going when he comes into town that day, he becomes hard and decisive after he learns that Judge Montague Irwin has endorsed a MacMurfee candidate for the Senate. He gets rid of the reporters and the photographer as quickly as possible. Then after eating the evening meal with his family, he leaves immediately with Jack Burden and Sugar-Boy for Burden’s Landing to have a talk with the Judge. His conversation with the Judge is quiet and drawling, but there is no mistaking the threat behind what he says. He means to have his way, and he means to make the Judge regret opposing him. He makes this very clear when he and Jack and Sugar-Boy are in the car again: he tells Jack to find something which will be politically damaging about Judge Irwin, no matter what it is and no matter how long it takes. Willie Stark is the political power in the state, and he intends to remain at the top, no matter what it takes to do so.

Although the main focus of this first chapter is on Willie Stark, Jack Burden is also introduced to the reader. Jack is of sufficient value to Willie to ride in the car with him and his family, rather than in the other car. He is also close enough to be kept at the farm when the others are sent back to town. He is the person to whom the assignment of finding incriminating information about Judge Irwin is given. At the same time, however. Jack Burden comes from the old aristocracy of the state; Burden’s Landing was named for his ancestors, and he is close to Judge Irwin, close enough for the Judge to prod him about his political associations. Thus, although Jack Burden might seem like just another political henchman at first, by the end of the first chapter, enough information has been provided about him to suggest that he is a much more complex character than that.

Finally, this chapter introduces the motivation for the subsequent action: Jack’s search for information about Judge Irwin’s past is one key idea; the results of the use of that information is another; and Willie Stark’s political activities form yet another. There is, however, a fourth idea that winds itself throughout the novel, an idea that seems to have little to do with the subsequent action. This concept involves an exploration of the past, partly in search of Judge Irwin’s secret dealings, but it also introduces an exploration of the past that Jack Burden must achieve if he is to see his past in relation to his present and thereby find himself and give some meaning to his life. This concept is introduced in this chapter, as Jack recalls his growing up in Burden’s Landing when they arrive in town that night, as well as Jack’s remembering his first meeting with Willie Stark at Slade’s pool hall in 1922.

Chapter 2

The stories of Jack Burden and Willie Stark become almost inextricably intertwined when Jack first meets Willie, just after Willie became Treasurer in Mason County. Then, when Willie became embroiled in a political controversy, the Chronicle sent Jack out to Mason City to cover the story. Later, the Chronicle also sent Jack out to cover Willie Stark’s first campaign for Governor.

Chapter One described events that, for the most part, took place in 1936, and we later learn that this novel is being written (or the story is being told by Jack Burden) in 1939. This chapter, in contrast, focuses primarily on events that occur between 1922 and 1932. As Jack tells about what Willie Stark was like and what happened to Willie in those early days in his political career, we inevitably learn a great deal about Jack Burden. We also learn a great deal about the political tradition that shaped Willie Stark.

In the nameless southern state in which this novel is set (obviously Louisiana because of Warren’s geographical references to neighboring states and also because of the topography), the county political organization seems to be exactly like the state organization, except that it operates on a smaller scale. In Mason County, for example, the political “boss” is Dolph Pillsbury, who is also the Chairman of the County Commissioners. It is he who determines who runs for office and who wins; he decided what post Willie would run for, and whether or not Willie would win; Willie thus became County Treasurer after Pillsbury and the incumbent had a falling out. Pillsbury also determines who receives county contracts. Political ties and family ties are more important than the legal requirements for letting bids. In the county organization, the political boss is the absolute ruler—at least until he makes a mistake.

Even though Willie has grown up within this political tradition, he is idealistic enough to buck the system when he sees something going on that he thinks is wrong. (He is also idealistic enough to believe that a lawyer should actually know something about the law in order to be admitted to the bar.) Thus, when the County Commissioners pass over several lower bids to award a contract for a new school to a contractor who happens to own, in partnership with Pillsburg’s brother-in-law, a brickyard that was cited for producing poor quality bricks, Willie protests. Indeed, he mounts a campaign against Pillsburg’s candidate, disregarding the political consequences.

The strength of the political machine during the 1920s and 1930s is clearly shown in the failure of Willie’s campaign. In response to Willie’s charges, Pillsbury and his cronies spread rumors that the low bidder on the contract will bring a lot of “niggers” into the area—ignoring the fact that there were two other bids between the low bid and the one that was accepted. This story is effective in distracting people’s attention from the real issue, and it is all the more effective because Pillsbury supports it. In addition, Pillsbury’s influence is great enough that the newspaper in Mason City will neither print a story on the controversy nor print leaflets for Willie so that he can present his views. When he does manage to get the handbills printed elsewhere, he must deliver them himself, since the boys whom he hires to deliver them are “persuaded” not to do the job. Willie’s voice is the voice of a man crying in the wilderness.

In addition to being an idealist, Willie Stark is also stubborn and single-minded. In spite of the obstacles and the opposition which he faces, he persists in trying to make his position known. Furthermore, at the next election, he runs again for County Treasurer, even though Pillsbury has given his support to a more tractable candidate. Willie is of course soundly defeated, but it is interesting to note that, in the course of these struggles, Willie comes to take this opposition to him as a personal matter, becoming less concerned with the crookedness of the situation.

This entire episode serves to establish the political environment that shapes Willie Stark. It also provides the impetus for Willie Stark’s rise as a state-wide political figure, for Willie’s opposition to Pillsbury is proved to be right when three children are killed and several others severely injured when a fire escape collapses during a fire drill—because of the shoddy bricks that were used to construct the schoolhouse. People remember that Willie had tried to warn them, and when Willie campaigns against a Pillsbury-backed Senatorial candidate, the candidate loses convincingly.

Then Willie becomes a candidate for governor of the state. The fact that he does so at all is due to the machinations of one faction of the state Democratic party machine. Indeed, it becomes obvious that the only difference between the county machine run by Dolph Pillsbury and the state machine is that the state machine is large enough to have several factions competing for power. The Harrison faction picks Willie as a dummy candidate in an attempt to split MacMurfee’s rural support. They use Willie as a dupe, giving him a fraudulent show of support, a smooth organization, and sufficient people to assure him that he can be governor.

For most of the campaign, Willie exhibits the same qualities which he demonstrated in Mason County, and he is idealistic enough to believe that he does have a chance to become governor, even though he knows about the crooked machinations of the political system of the state. He is also idealistic enough to think that what the people want to hear is the truth and a program for good government, backed with dry facts and statistical figures—even though he knows how the people in Mason County responded to his campaign against giving the contract for the schoolhouse to J. H. Moore. Willie Stark is dazzled by the prospect of becoming governor, and he is stubborn enough and single-minded enough to keep polishing his speech and delivering it, even after he becomes aware that it is not effective.

When Willie Stark discovers that he is being used, however, several things change, and when he gets drunk for the first time in his life, he changes. As he did in Mason County, Willie takes this new situation personally; he doesn’t like it that “they” have treated him like a hick, a clod, and a dolt, and this time he does something about it. He remembers what he knows about people, and he uses it effectively to campaign—strictly on his own—against Harrison. He also serves notice that he will return to politics if MacMurfee does not keep his rhetorical promises. The jolt of his discovery that he has been politically “used” strips away Willie’s idealism and unleashes his natural flair for practical politics. As a result, the success of his campaign against Harrison establishes him as a potent political force in the entire state, rather than merely in the region around Mason County.

In this chapter, Willie Stark becomes a dynamic character, one who learns and changes. Jack Burden on the other hand, is a static character. He is not an actor, as Willie is. Instead, Jack is an observer who simply watches the people around him. He does his job, and he drinks. When Willie talks to him about his campaign, Jack listens and makes soothing noises; when he does give Willie advice, it is cryptic, cynical, and non-committal. Nevertheless, Willie has a magnetism, a certain electric quality that attracts Jack, and so Jack takes care of Willie the morning after Willie’s first drunken binge, and Jack also quits his job at the Chronicle during Willie’s second campaign for governor (which he wins) because Jack cannot compromise; he refuses to write editorials supporting MacMurfee, the paper’s candidate. Indeed, Jack Burden has no direction and no motivation of his own; he needs someone to give him that direction. After he quits his job at the Chronicle, Jack moves without purpose, and he sleeps a great deal. It is only after Willie Stark offers him a job that Jack emerges from a meaningless drift.

Chapter Two of All the King’s Men, then, does several things that are important to the novel. It provides a vivid portrait of the political climate and system in the state, and it shows the e...

Table of contents

• Title Page
• Contents
• Copyright
• About All the King’s Men
• Character List
• Summary and Analysis
• Chapter 1
• Chapter 2
• Chapter 3
• Chapter 4
• Chapter 5
• Chapter 6
• Chapter 7
• Chapter 8
• Chapter 9
• Chapter 10
• Character Analysis
• Jack Burden and Willie Stark
• Robert Penn Warren Biography
• Critical Essays
• A Chronology of Events in All the King’s Men
• The Cass Mastern Episode
• Study Help
• Essay Questions
• Quiz