Essay on Robert Penn Warren's All the King's Men

Memories from the past are shown throughout our environment. Sometimes, recalling memories from surroundings are simple, like looking into the eyes of your father. As people proceed in their lives, they encounter moments that affect them deeply. Sometimes, a discharge of memories occur, showing a recognition of righteousness in people. In a short story called “Aero Bars” by Robert Hilles, the narrator acknowledges his father’s love through recalling the past. By reminiscing memories of remarkable values or behaviours, one is able to develop a moral conscience.

This constant presence of a man who abused him and his mother can only add to the grief which the repeated trauma experienced by Jack caused. The relief Jack must have felt when he watched Roy pack his trunk and leave was only to be short lives as his moved onto another abusive man.

Violence begins to emerge in Jack at the end of the novel. This is the last quality that shows Jack is a dynamic character. By the end of the book, Jack has become a murderer. Not only

The Past, an ever growing pool of time, is always biting at the heels of a person. It reminds him of what they have done wrong, done right, or when he did nothing. For most people, recalling the past leads to loose ends and blanks where memories should be. No matter how much a person may want to return to the past, it is not possible. It is lost forever. These forgotten moment lead to uncertainties and confusion in the present, and chaos in the future. Forgetting the past leads to spirals, spinning downwards as people look to what they have lost. They retrace their steps hoping to find a sliver of who they are and what may become of them. In the poem, Itinerary, Eamon Grennan shows how an individual searches through his past, but can never return to it. Through the poem and with a personal experience I will explain how individuals deal with uncertainties in their pasts.

Memories are important, they are a personal record of our past experiences, and could be called the history book for our life. In the poem "The Heroes You Had as a Girl", author Bronwen Wallace tells the story of a woman who meets her high school hero later in her life, reflects on her memories of him, and ultimately decides not to talk to him. The effect that this topic has on everyone is the knowledge that we can be captivated and let our memories control us, and by knowing that our memories hold that much power, it may make it more mentally efficient to make accurate, and personal decisions in a fraction of the time. The topic and overall meaning that this idea holds convey a message that resonates with the idea that memories are in fact the central hub of our decision making. People remembering memories can affect their perspective on their lives to such an extent, that they prefer to immerse their mind in their past memories rather than the current reality.

He has difficulties recognizing when to express emotions, causing his family members to continually feel like he is not emotionally present. His constant guilt for not being able to save his daughter causes him to withdraw from his family. Although he keeps himself busy, Jack still becomes overcome with grief at times, leading him to break the bottled ships that he and Susie worked on. He also attempts to replace the emptiness by developing a relationship with Lindsey. Jack tries to make up for the absence of Lindsey’s mother by helping her learn to shave, although the subject is quickly changed to Susie. Jack’s determination to catch the killer clouds his sense of parental judgment as he encourages Lindsey to break into Mr. Harvey’s house. This instance shows how lost and out of touch with reality he has become. His grief also prevents him from developing a strong relationship with his son, Buckley, who constantly feels overshadowed by his older sister’s death. His severe reactions greatly affect the relationships he still has, driving his wife away and forcing Lindsey to grow up prematurely. By holding so tightly to his memories with Susie, he fails to create new, happy memories with his two children.

Without Ian’s perseverance to dissuade Jack, he may have never been able to put his life back on track and start a fresh life in the west coast of USA.

A person’s past life is really important because it shapes the individual to be the kind of person he/she will be in the future. No matter how much we try, we can’t rid ourselves of our past nor can we run away from it. It’s embedded in our memories and will always remain to do so. In the short story “Xmas”, by Russell Banks, we meet the protagonist, Gregory Dodd who tries to run away from his past and avoid it. Eventually, the reader will learn what the consequences of such an action can lead to. Through the epiphany that the protagonist, Gregory Dodd, undergoes, Banks illustrates the consequences of avoiding one’s past; the nature of the epiphany is defined by the car collision, and ultimately leads Gregory to a wakeup call and a deeper self-realization, leaving him with some heavy thinking to do about his life. The forces that contribute to intensifying the moment of epiphany are seen in the plot and symbolism.

Even when he does meet the Scholarly Attorney, he does not question him. If he did delve into his past, then he could have found out that Judge Irwin was his real father. This could have prevented Judge Irwin’s death, as Jack may have refused or would have not even been asked to find “dirt” on him (Warren 74). In addition, it is ironic that despite being a historian, Jack believes in the “Great Twitch,” which is that life must be viewed in a “mystic vision,” as life is unpredictable (Warren 473). This allows man to “feel clean and free,” as their actions have no effect (Warren 473). The irony exists in that historian study deep into the past to find the reasons for things, and now, Jack has started to believe that these reasons do not exist.

Ames says that “I don’t know how one person could cause so much disappointment without ever giving anyone grounds for hope” (72). Ames shows sign of irritation, distrust, and dislike toward Jack but after hearing about Jack’s life during the past years of absence, Ames begins to see Jack as a different person. Jack is now married to a black woman and he is struggle to find a good environment to raise his family. Ames begins to have hope for Jack as he shows some kind of maturity as he is now showing love for his family. Ames, for the first time, shares with Jack his regret for not open his mind and heart yet allowing grudges to stop him from forgiving

Jack Burden, the narrator of the novel, ultimately learns to accept responsibility by realizing the inevitability of making decisions. As a historian, Jack frequently and desperately clings to the past throughout the novel. Often, he dangerously substitutes the past of others for his own present, believing that he can evade change by dwelling in the stagnant world of the past and never proactively making his own choices. However, after the death of Judge Irwin, Willie Stark, and Adam Stanton, Jack realizes that his insistence to live in the past— his indecision in the present— has major consequences in his own life and in the lives of those he cared for. Jack ultimately discovers that change— the very

Jack had to changed places again, so he went to Aunt Da. It was miserable, he slept badly and was beaten, whether it was because he wanted his mom or because he didn’t want to eat, he used to cry himself to sleep. After all the beatings they gave him, he sort of forgot his name.

This is the first time jacks true feelings come out and he turns into psycho jack which is connected with the theme. This Scene we get with jack shows the importance of this topic and how it has a deeper meaning.

Jack illustrates the purpose of deception by using Earnest to escape his role of Cecily’s warden. When Algernon finds Jack’s cigarette case, he is shocked to find the name Jack graven inside. Jack attempts to explain by saying, “[M]y name is Ernest in town and Jack in the country” (Wilde Act I). As Jack, he has to be a responsible adult and take care of his niece Cecily but as Ernest he is able to live the wild life of a young bachelor. By pretending to be Ernest in town, Jack is freed from the restrictions of being a caretaker, yet he still fulfills the duties of one as he resides in the country. While explaining why he has two identities to Algernon, Jack states that being a guardian does not “conduce very much to either one’s health or one’s happiness” (Wilde Act I). Jack has to take care of Cecily, be responsible for her, and set rules and guidelines for her to follow. In his role of guardian, he finds himself unable to have fun, so he creates an irresponsible, carefree

So in recounting "the smell of panties" etc., and viewing such encounters with either "irony, sympathy and fond amusement," Jack is able not only to affirm the present and escape the past, but accomplishes something much larger: namely the ability to affirm the "realness" of such feelings. Thus the family, in this instance Babette, serves as the medium through which Jack is able to overcome Heinrich's skepticism (which is representative of modern "science" (24)) as to the "reality" of human emotions. DeLillo's image, moreover, of Jack and Babette "rescuing" themselves "from the past" also suggests that without family or someone to commune with, man can become lost in the past.