Who Is Jack Burden In All The King's Men

For example, the events in Chapter One take place in 1936, and characterize Willie Stark as a man who is highly respected amongst the common people, while at the same time, also intimidating and ruthless. The next two chapters cover events that happen between 1922 and 1936; they highlight the events which allowed Willie Stark came to be a political figure, known as ‘Boss’. The two chapters also provide the reader with insight concerning Jack Burden’s past and how he came to be involved with now-governor Willie Stark. Chapter Four is devoted entirely to a time frame between 1918 and 1921, when Jack Burden was a history graduate student, recalling the life of a man known as Cass Mastern. This excursion into the past offers the reader with an in-depth understanding of Jack Burden's character— a person who is incapable of accepting responsibility for his actions. Chapter Five is a continuation where Chapter One ended, introducing the characters Anne Stanton and Adam Stanton, in

Jack has been known as the antagonist in this book, and finally lets his id take over because he does not have anyone guiding him. Due to him not having a “Piggy” of his own, he does not have anything keeping his conscience holding away his

Jack Burden is known as the “student of history” ( Warren 372). The very fact that he is a historian is ironic, as he has come from an aristocratic and reputable family and grew up in Burden’s Landing. However, Jack lacks the ambition needed to excel in life and works for Willie, despite the

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.

But Jack cannot change the past. Rather, he must reflect on it as it really happened, allowing those reflections to guide his future conduct and to enrich his relationships with those whom he has helped or hurt. By the end of the story, instead of running from his past, Jack has begun to make restoration for its mistakes by finally marrying his beloved Anne and opening his home to Elliot Burden, the man he long believed to be his father. Jack’s contemplation of the past leads him not to despair, but to a deeper understanding of and compassion for the human race.

Throughout the book, Jack is heavily influenced by the male figures in his life. His father leaving his mother left

The three men his mother chooses impact Jack’s life greatly, mostly in a negative way. All three are abusive, and treat him badly. They all also clearly have some sort of psychological problem. However, the most common theme shared by all, ih how similar they are to Rosemary’s father. Everyman she goes after

This causes Jack to be driven off the edge in hatred, which also causes his family to be in danger of abuse yet again.

On the contrary, Jack chooses how to act regardless of his role models, meaning that he can be held accountable for his own actions. From the beginning of the memoir Jack is depicted as an immature child whose dream it was to transform into someone different. Jack’s dreams of transformation get further and further from reality predominantly due to how he decides to act and the people he chooses to spend his time with. Jack is responsible for his own actions as he is the one who actually decides how he acts. A moment in the memoire where Jack’s delinquency is depicted is when Jack states that “[he] was a thief.

In our society we have our system for power set up making the understanding of who is in charge easy; However, when the boys are stranded on an island they are forced to come up with their own system, causing rivalries and corrupting rights and values. Before being stranded on an island Jack was an innocent, well-behaved child, however, when thrown into a foreign place with no society and no system of power it is very easy to destroy all of your innocence when obtaining most power. Jack was a hunter and was in charge of all the hunter, he eventually made his own tribe and almost everyone followed him, giving him a mass amount of control. Golding shows that Jack uses his power in ways only beneficial to him, easily seen when the remainder of Ralphs tribe approach Jacks and see him, “ painted up and wearing garland around his neck” (54). Jack uses his power to idolize himself and make the other

This quote shows how the importance of dictatorial power in a “savage” society. Power is the most important thing when there are no boundaries to society.

Although Jack admits that Susie has left, he shifts his attention to another desire, the desire to bring her death to justice through an unlawful path. “‘We’ve just built a tent,” Mr.Harvey said. ‘The neighbors saw us. We’re friends now’ ‘You know something,” my father said. (57). Jack, like everyone else has flaws and his stubbornness leads him to doing something he would not normally do. His unextinguishable passion to find Susie’s murderer leads him to coincidently believe that Mr.Harvey is Susie’s killer. However Mr.Harvey is the murderer of Susie, the evidence shown to Jack and the police show no evidence that Mr.Harvey committed the murder, which further proves that Jack is chasing a blank slate. Jack needs a scapegoat for his grief and chooses to find revenge in unproven subjects. “‘A father’s suspicion’ she began. ‘Is as powerful as a mother’s intuition” (87) says Jack. Once again Jack is trying to find a reason to make his illogical suspicion logical. Jack refuses to believe that Susie’s death occurred without a killer. He puts himself in denial and by doing so he will grieve forever. Jack’s perpetual grief will go on as long he finds things to place guilt on. Furthermore Sebold shows that rage and denial can be used to deal with the death of a loved one.

Jack is filled with an internal evil that strives for power and dominance through the fear and trust of the weaker children. The littluns are swearing their trust to Jack in return for protection. Maurice even confesses that Jack says, “I mean when Jack says you can

It is easy for readers to categorize Jack as a cruel, cold hearted, upper class bigot considering his actions and words. I have to admit I think he comes off that way sometimes. But he also is a lot more than just

Jack’s creation of a fictional brother Ernest gives audience an impression that he is a hypocritical person who ignores the consequences of being dishonest. Only when his desire to marry Gwendolen is threatened does he learn that he cannot escape from responsibility or “come up to town as often as [he] like[s]” (Act 1, p.8). Suffering from the dilemma, his hidden sincerity and kindness are discovered. This makes him become a rounder character. As a consequence, the rest of the plot will be affected and advanced by his unique traits and