“All The King’s Men” is a book that intimidates. It has been coined as the quissessential read on American success and the supposed inevitable corruption that comes with it.
It follows the rise of Louisiana Governor Willie “Boss” Stark, through the eyes and mind of his hired man, Jack Burden.
The synopsis seems like a clichÇ: A country boy rises from the dirt through his ideals and becomes a successful lawyer and politician, becoming completely consumed by the process.
The readers wonder why they would need to read an entire fiction novel on a subject that is easily covered on a front page news article on any given week. But it is neither the corruption nor the politics that drive this book, it is the uncontrollable forces that drive the two together.
The title of the book is so iconic, that the readers are placed in a mindset as though they are going to try to tackle “The Grapes of Wrath”, or “War and Peace.” The problem with novels given the label of being ‘one of the classics,’ is that they are now placed in the same category as books that are excerpted for required high school reading. This makes the idea of reading the book more of a chore than a pleasure.
To compound this problem, the novel does not have enough sex, violence, and cussing in the first chapter to break into that simple place in the imagination where a reader is easily hooked. But, if the reader is willing to pay attention not only to the story being told, but to the storyteller, they will be rewarded with incredible suggestions and subtleties.
Jack Burden as the narrator is a former newspaper reporter and columnist. He is embittered, and haunted by a lack of success that he seems to feel is his due. He is intelligent, talented, and resourceful. He notices, but does not focus on, his own corruption. This is where the novel finds its application.
If the readers focus on Jack instead of Willie Stark, they find that human connection that is needed for a novel to take its grip. Jack was unwilling to take an up-front responsibility in the cause of his own corruption. Because he followed Stark, he is corrupted in the same way that most everyday people who are corrupted.
As individuals, we are most often corrupted not by our own personal motivation and greed, but because we choose to follow the policies and procedures of whatever organization or individual we have joined. In this way, we can shirk some of the responsibility off of our consciences by the feeling that we having been acting only by proxy.
The premise of being a political novel is also intimidating, given that politics are a subject that many Americans are intimidated by. Everyday people who are political junkies are given the stereotype of being polarized, argumentative, and standoffish.
Most political junkies are not fascinated only by the political process, but are largely interested only in one party’s domination over the other. These are people who are very in touch and vocal about their ideals.
In the same way, the label of a ‘political novel’ tends to make the reader think that this is a book that is supporting a particular political view. However, this book does not support any political movement, past or present. It is by and large an exploration of ethics.
This is not a political novel. Whoever decided to coin this book as a ‘political novel’ should be cast into shame, along with whoever it was who decided to call a political organization a ‘party’ (Republican Party? Republicans don’t know how to party!). This is a novel about power and the people who wield it.
Politics, in abstract terms, is the contest of one idea over another. In more concrete terrms, it is the pursuit of power by organizations and individuals. While these terms justify the motives behind the characters’ actions, they do not sum up its theme. This book examines motivations and processes that make us feel helpless to stop once we make certain choices.
The book is also respected by many intellectuals. This can be a death knell in any medium where the work is supposed to have a universal appeal.
In the simplest explanation possible, something that intellectuals like is probably going to be interpreted as boring for the rest of us. This is the reputation that plagues National Public Radio and PBS, and is probably the same reason why a guy who is really into AC/DC is never going to buy a Coldplay CD.
I will admit that this book does have its moments where one can get lost in some introspective rambling. It makes up for this with a solid plot that moves forward progressively while giving a steady input of flashbacks and relations.
Jack Burden is the key to this book. His last name describes something that he carries throughout the novel, and it is something that all of us feel. Jack is burdened by his feelings that he has not lived up to his potential.
His potential was the ideal he failed to stand up for. We have a burden because we are unwilling to stand up for all of our ideals at all times. In varying degrees, this causes all of us to become corrupted in some way. Whether we choose to accept this corruption by proxy, process, or personal responsibility depends on our own interpretation of occurrences.