All the King’s Men
by
Robert Penn Warren
Created for:
Christian Classics
October 1, 2008
1
Dear Rod,
Thank you so much for ordering the All the King’s Men
book club kit from www.BookClubClassics.com. I sincerely
hope this guide adds to your enjoyment of the novel!
Please feel free to email any questions or concerns before
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that any suggestions will be used to strengthen future kits,
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By the way, all citations refer to the 1996 Harvest by
Harcourt Books edition (the cover is on the title page of this
kit).
Again, thank you for your support and feel free to order
another kit in the future!!
Sincerely,
Kristen Galles
Book Club Classics
LitGuides.com
2
Table of Contents
Fast Facts
4
Allusions
5
Chapter Summaries
6
Author Information
7
Menu Ideas
8
Warm-up Activity
12
Character Sketches
13
Bookmark – All Characters
15
Bookmark – Main Characters
19
Discussion Questions
20
Review
26
Films
27
What to Read Next
28
3
All the King’s Men – Fast Facts
Author – Robert Penn Warren
Pages – 661 (Harvest by Harcourt Books edition)
Date Published – 1946
Setting – Mason City; Burden’s Landing; Tyree; Upton (widely believed to be
set in Louisiana)
Point of view – First person (Jack Burden)
Genre – Historical Fiction (novel)
Issues/Conflicts – Politics / Power / Greed / Betrayal / Identity
_____________________________________________________________
Excellent resources:
 Website on Huey Long: http://www.hueylong.com/:
“Huey Long is one of the most significant, yet misunderstood political figures in American history. More than 70 years
after his assassination at age 42, the story of Louisiana’s legendary governor, U.S. Senator, and favorite son remains
more myth than fact.
Best remembered for his ‘Share Our Wealth’ platform, which swept the nation during the Great Depression, Huey
Long was demonized by the powerful as a dangerous revolutionary, yet revered by the masses as a champion of the
common man.
In a land of plenty, Huey Long believed that no American should be without an education, a home, an automobile, and
a job that paid a decent living wage.
Learn more about Huey Long's Share Our Wealth program.
Huey Long implemented an unprecedented program of modernization and reform in Louisiana – building roads and
bridges, providing free public education, expanding voting rights to all citizens, and creating economic opportunity for
a majority trapped in poverty.
Huey Long believed that government should protect and uplift its most vulnerable citizens and provide opportunity for
everyone, regardless of race or class. Our most cherished government institutions – from social security to veterans
benefits, student financial aid and public works – were causes first championed by Huey Long.”


1947 Pulitzer Prize: http://www.pulitzer.org/bycat/Novel
Time Magazine’s All Time 100 Novels:
http://www.time.com/time/2005/100books/0,24459,all_the_kings_men,00.html
4
All the King’s Men – Allusions
Billiken – good luck doll or charm
Barney Oldfield – racer and pioneer from early 1900’s
General Forrest – Confederate general
Nell Gwyn – English actress from 1600’s
Kubla Khan – poem by Samuel Taylor Coleridge: http://www.onlineliterature.com/coleridge/640/
the benzene ring – molecular structure in organic chemistry
Caedmon’s song – 7th century English poet:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caedmon's_Song
Paul on the road to Damascus – refers to Paul’s conversion:
http://www.beliefnet.com/story/142/story_14252_1.html
Queequeg – Cannibal befriended by Ishmael in Moby Dick
Luna moths: lime green Silk moth:
http://www.earthsbirthday.org/butterflies/bflys/activitykit/lunamoths.html
Judas – apostle who betrayed Jesus
Samson’s parable w/ the bees -http://www.swedenborgdigitallibrary.org/sower/jj12/judg22.htm
5
All the King’s Men – Chapter Overviews
Chapter 1 – Jack, Willie, Sugar Boy, Lucy, Tiny Duffy are introduced; photo shoot w/ Willie’s father and dog; Willie
chats w/ townspeople of Mason City and promises to help friend’s imprisoned son; flashback to Jack’s first meeting w/
“Cousin” Willie; Sadie discovers that Judge Irwin has endorsed Callahan, so Willie and Jack pay him a visit and threaten to
blackmail him.
Chapter 2 – Flashback to Willie’s rise to power (schoolhouse tragedy); Willie becomes lawyer; Willie unknowingly set up
to split the vote, but learns truth from Sadie and stumps for other candidate: MacMurfee; successful at law; runs for office
and becomes governor; Jack hired by Willie.
Chapter 3 – Jack visits his mother and reminisces about his childhood and mother’s three marriages; reminisces about
Anne and Adam and of his decision to go to the state university and not Harvard; dinner party: all guests are against Willie;
Jack returns to capitol to discover White controversy and impeachment attempt; Hugh Miller resigns and Lucy almost
leaves Willie; Jack reminisces about Willie’s affairs and reveals that Sadie is Willie’s mistress; due to White scandal, Lucy
leaves Willie to live w/ sister; Tom, Willie’s son, is revealed to be an arrogant college football star.
Chapter 4 – Jack reveals his first “great sleep” or depression was caused by his thesis on ancestors: Cass Mastern had
affair w/ friend, Duncan’s, wife, Annabelle; Duncan committed suicide when he discovered affair; Phebe, Annabelle’s
slave, knows truth of suicide so Annabelle sells her; Cass tries to free Phebe, but fails; Cass farms plantation and frees
slaves, but joins army on Confederate side, vowing not to kill anyone; Jack deserts thesis because he doesn’t understand
Cass’s motives or feeling of responsibility for Duncan and Phebe.
Chapter 5 – Jack tries to find dirt on Judge Irwin; Anne meets Willie in order to fund her charity; Willie begins to build
hospital; Jack discovers that Judge received stock and position at American Electric Company in exchange for dismissing
court case brought against Southern Belle Fuel Company (same parent company); Littlepaugh, former attorney for
American Electric, appealed to Governor Stanton to intervene, but he protected his friend the Judge (who did not know
this); Littlepaugh commits suicide, yet Governor Stanton still protects Judge Irwin and threatens Littlepaugh’s sister, who
remains silent.
Chapter 6 – Tom Stark is in drunk driving accident, gravely injuring his passenger whose father is very upset but is soon
quieted by Willie; Lucy is upset and wants Tom to stop playing football; Willie refuses to let Tiny Duffy soil hospital by
giving contract to Gummy Larson; Jack convinces Adam to head hospital by revealing his father’s former cover-up; Jack
also tells Anne, who decides to have an affair with Willie; Jack flees West upon learning of affair.
Chapter 7 – Jack drives West, reminiscing about his childhood relationship and inability to sleep w/ Anne, who refused
to marry Jack due to his lack of ambition; he then remembers how his marriage w/ Lois was based on sexual compatibility;
Jack fears that the news about her father drove Anne to Willie.
Chapter 8 – Jack heads home and picks up old man with a twitch which leads to his Great Twitch theory that life is
random and without cause (his “secret knowledge”); Jack watches Adam perform lobotomy; Jack learns about Coffee trying
to bribe Adam and Adam’s reaction; Marvin Frey’s brings paternity suit against Tom, who may or may not have
impregnated daughter Sibyl; in reaction, Willie begrudgingly gives hospital contract to Gummy; Jack reveals blackmail
information to Judge Irwin who then commits suicide; Jack discovers his true paternity and becomes the sole heir to Judge’s
estate; due to the inter-related nature of these events, Jack decides he must discard his Great Twitch theory.
Chapter 9 – After the Judge’s death, Jack refuses to do any more blackmail for Willie and works on a tax bill instead;
Tom is injured in a football accident and becomes paralyzed (and eventually dies); Willie cancels Gummy’s contract and
recommits to wife and to doing good; Adam discovers Anne’s affair w/ Willie and kills Willie before Sugar Boy kills Adam.
Chapter 10 – Jack learns from Sadie that she told Tiny Duffy about Willie’s affair with Anne, who told Adam about
Anne; Jack confronts Tiny, who offers him a job; Jack visits Lucy and sees Tom’s son, named Willie; Jack sees Sugar Boy at
the library and contemplates revealing that Tiny was behind Willie’s murder, but decides not to; Jack visits mother who is
leaving her husband; Jack now respects his mother since she loved Judge Irwin, his father, and lies to her about why the
Judge killed himself, citing poor health; Jack marries Anne and the Scholarly Attorney moves in w/ them at Judge Irwin’s
house; Jack decides to continue thesis on Cass Mastern.
6
All the King’s Men -- Author Information
Robert Penn Warren was born in Guthrie, Kentucky on April 24, 1905, but spent much of
his youth in Tennessee. He graduated from Vanderbilt University in 1925. He also attended
University of Berkeley and Yale University, and was a Rhodes Scholar in 1930. He taught at
Vanderbilt, LSU, The University of Minnesota, and Rhodes College.
He married Emma Brescia in 1930 and divorced in 1951. He then married Eleanor Clarck in
1952 and fathered two children, a daughter and a son. He eventually lived in Fairfield, CT
and Stratton, VT before succumbing to bone cancer on September 15, 1989.
Warren’s most famous work was All the King’s Men, which won the Pulitzer Prize. Warren
won two more Pulitzers for his poetry and remains the only writer to win multiple Pulitzers
in literature and poetry. He was also the Poet Laureate from 1944 – 1945. In addition, he
was very influential in the field of literary criticism, co-authoring Understanding Poetry with
Cleanth Brooks. He is considered to be one of the founders of New Criticism, an approach
to interpreting literature that seeks to gain meaning from a close reading of the text, rather
than any biographical significance or authorial intent.
A review in the New York Times described Warren:
“Robert Penn Warren, Kentucky born and Tennessee educated, poet, professor,
critic and novelist, is a Southerner who hates the shortcomings of the South, as do so
many Southern writers. But he writes about such shortcomings with an eloquence
and an elemental rage worlds apart form the sordid bitterness of some of his literary
colleagues.”
For biography and further background info:

Poets.org: http://www.poets.org/poet.php/prmPID/17

“No Kentucky author comes close to being as distinguished as Robert Penn
Warren”:
http://www.english.eku.edu/SERVICES/KYLIT/WARREN.HTM

RobertPennWarren.com: http://www.robertpennwarren.com/
7
All the King’s Men – Menu Ideas
Here are a few menu ideas from the state of Louisiana, courtesy of VernaLisa and
http://www.classbrain.com/artstate/publish/louisiana_recipes.shtml
SIMPLE CHICKEN AND SAUSAGE GUMBO
Perhaps the simplest of the gumbos, but a hearty one and a classic combination. If you can't find andouille, use
a local smoked sausage or kielbasa or whatever smoked sausage you like. This one's easy to knock off quickly
for a great evening's meal.
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1 cup oil
1 cup flour
2 large onions, chopped
2 bell peppers, chopped
4 ribs celery, chopped
4 - 6 cloves garlic, minced
4 quarts chicken stock
2 bay leaves
2 teaspoons Creole seasoning, or to taste
1 teaspoon dried thyme leaves
Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
1 large chicken (young hen preferred), cut into pieces
2 pounds andouille or smoked sausage, cut into 1/2" pieces
1 bunch scallions (green onions), tops only, chopped
2/3 cup fresh chopped parsley
Filé powder to taste
Season the chicken with salt, pepper and Creole seasoning and brown quickly. Brown the sausage, pour off fat
and reserve meats.
In a large, heavy pot, heat the oil and cook the flour in the oil over medium to high heat (depending on your
roux-making skill), stirring constantly, until the roux reaches a dark reddish-brown color, almost the color of
coffee or milk chocolate for a Cajun-style roux. If you want to save time, or prefer a more New Orleans-style
roux, cook it to a medium, peanut-butter color, over lower heat if you're nervous about burning it.
Add the vegetables and stir quickly. This cooks the vegetables and also stops the roux from cooking further.
Continue to cook, stirring constantly, for about 4 minutes.
Add the stock, seasonings, chicken and sausage. Bring to a boil, then cook for about one hour, skimming fat
off the top as needed.
Add the chopped scallion tops and parsley, and heat for 5 minutes. Serve over rice in large shallow bowls.
Accompany with a good beer and lots of hot, crispy French bread.
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NEW ORLEANS BEIGNET DOUGHNUTS
1 pk active dry yeast
1 1/2 c warm water (105 deg. f.)
1/2 c sugar
1 ts salt
2 ea eggs
1 c evaporated milk
7 c sifted all-purpose flour
1/4 c soft shortening
1 x oil for frying
In large bowl, sprinkle yeast over water; stir to dissolve. Add sugar, salt, eggs and milk.
Blend with rotary beater. Add 4 cups of the flour; beat smooth. Add shortening; beat in
remaining flour. Cover and chill several hours. Deep fry at 360 degrees 2 to 3 minutes or
until lightly browned on each side. (If beignets don't rise to the
top immediately when you drop them into the oil, the oil isn't hot enough.) Drain on paper
towels. Sprinkle heavily with confectioner’s sugar. Serve hot.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Cajun Meatloaf
Ingredients
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2 whole bay leaves
1 tablespoon salt
1 teaspoon ground red pepper( cayenne)
1 teaspoon black pepper
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
4 tablespoons unsalted butter
cup finely chopped celery
1/2 cup of celery finely chopped
1/2 cup finely chopped bell pepper
1/4 cup chopped greens onions
12 teaspoon of minced garlic
1 tablespoon tabasco sauce
1 tablespoon worcestershire sauce
1/2 cup milk
2 pounds ground beef
1/2 pound of ground pork
2 eggs lightly beaten
1 cup very fine dry bread crumbs
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Cooking Instructions
1. combine the seasoning mix ingredients in a small bowl and set aside.
2. melt the butter in 1 quart saucepan over medium heat.
3. add the onions, celery, bell pepper, green onions, garlic, tabasco, worcestershire and
seasoning mix.
4. saute until mixture starts sticking excessively, about 6 mins, stirring occasionally and
scraping the pan bottom well.
5. stir in the milk and 1/2 cup catsup.
6. continue cooking for about 2 mins, stirring occasionally.
7. remove from the heat and allow mixture to cool to room temperature.
8. place the ground beef and pork in an ungreased 13 x 9 inch baking pan.
9. add the eggs, the cooked vegetable mixture removing the bay leaves, the bread
crumbs.
10. mix by hand until thoroughly combined in the center of the pan ... shape the mixture
into a loaf that is about 1 1/2 inches high x 6 inches wide and 12 inches long.
11. bake uncovered at 350 for 25 minutes, then raise heat to 400 and continue cooking
until done, about 35 minutes longer.
12. serve immediately,
Enjoy the taste of New Orleans!
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BAKED BRISKET FROM NORTH LOUISIANA
1 TB garlic powder
2 TB celery seed
2 TB black pepper
1 TB Mrs. Dash (any flavor)
1 TB seasoned salt
2 TB liquid smoke
2 TB worcestershire sauce
1 large brisket
Mix in a small bowl until you make a paste. With a pastry brush pat on large brisket. Wrap
in foil tightly, then cook for five hours at 300 degrees.
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LOUISIANA ROLLED STUFFED MEAT LOAF
2 cups herb seasoned stuffing mix, crushed
1/2 cut shredded carrot
2 TB parsley
1/4 cup water
2 pounds ground chuck
2 cans cream of mushroom soup, undiluted and divided
1 egg beaten
1/3 cup finely chopped onion, optional
1 tsp salt
1/2 cup milk
Combine 1 1/2 cups stuffing mix, carrot, parsley and water, stir well and set mixture aside.
Combine beef, 1/2 cup soup, egg, onion, salt and remaining 1/2 cup stuffing mix. Shape
into a 9 x 12 inch rectangle on a sheet of waxed paper. Spread reserved stuffing mixture on
top, leaving a one inch margin around edges. Begin at long end and roll jelly-roll fashion,
lifting waxed paper to help roll. Press edges and ends to seal. Place roll, seam side down in
a lightly greased baking dish. Let loaf stand 10 minutes before serving.
Combine remaining soup and milk in a saucepan. Cook over low heat and serve sauce over
meat loaf. Bake for one hour or until done at 350 degrees. Serves 8
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
BEST EVER CHICKEN 'N DUMPLINS' - NORTH LOUISIANA
6 boneless chicken breasts
3 cups flour
1 1/2 cup milk
little salt
1/4 cup butter
6 cups of water
Boil chicken breasts. Save the broth and cool
and cube chicken. Put the chicken aside. Mix flour, salt and butter together and slowly add
the milk to the flour mixture. Blend well. This dough will be thick but roll out thinly on
well floured board. Cut into squares with pizza cutter. Drop each square single into water
and broth to keep the dumplings from sticking together. Cook the dumplings and chicken
together for 15 to 20 minutes (covered).
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All the King’s Men – Activities
Throughout the novel, Warren occasionally uses animal imagery to bring out different
qualities of the characters, especially Willie Stark:
“Willie stopped pacing and swung his head at her with the forelock down over
his eyes to give him the look of a mean horse when he’s cornered in the angle
of the pasture fence with his head down a little and the mane shagged forward
between the ears, and the eyes both wild and shrewd, watching you step up
with the bridle, and getting ready to bolt” (93-4).
Jack’s mother:
“She sank down on the couch with an easy motion, vaguely suggestive of a
flutter and preening as when a bird touches a bough, and took a sip, and
lifted her head as if to let the liquor trickle into her throat” (166).
He does not associate an animal with Jack Burden, Adam or Anne Stanton, Tiny Duffy, or
Judge Irwin.

What animal would fit each of them?

Which animal would you choose to describe the experience of reading the novel?

What type of animal would best describe the perfect reader of this novel?
12
All the King’s Men – Character Sketches
Jack Burden – Born in Burden’s Landing to wealthy parents; childhood friends w/
Anne and Adam Stanton; father, Ellis Burden, abruptly leaves his mother when young;
endures several step-fathers; Judge Irwin is his neighbor and surrogate father-figure; his
childhood love is Anne, but when he proposes she thinks he has no ambition; he drops out
of law school and becomes a student of history, but abandons research paper on his
ancestors, the Masterns; invents nihilistic theory of “Great Twitch” after learning about
Willie and Anne’s affair; blackmails Judge Irwin, which leads to the Judge’s suicide; discovers
Judge was his father and inherits his estate; marries Anne at end and decides to complete
thesis on the Masterns.
Willie Stark – Raised poor on a pig farm; becomes successful lawyer; manipulated into
running for governor in order to split the vote after he fights a corrupt building contract that
results in disaster; after Sadie tells him about his role in splitting the vote, he stumps for
McMurfee, the other candidate; eventually becomes governor himself; married to Lucy, but
has many affairs; father of, and very proud of, Tom; hero to the masses for standing up to
the old guard; uses blackmail to do good; desires to build hospital honestly.
Tiny Duffy – Former tax assessor; “city hall slob”; sets up Willie to split vote for
candidate Joe Harrison; hired by Willie and abused by him; becomes lieutenant governor;
tries to get Willie into corrupt bargain with Gummy Larson for kick-back; uses info from
Sadie about affair w/ Anne to facilitate Willie’s murder; becomes governor and offers Jack a
job.
Lucy Stark – Willie’s wife; former schoolteacher who lost her job when Willie stood up
to corrupt builders and politicians; criticized Willie’s methods; disagreed about Tom’s
behavior and whether he should play football; eventually moves to sister’s place, but
reconciles with Willie after Tom’s accident; after Tom dies, she adopts Tom’s alleged lovechild and names him “Willie” who she must believe was a great man.
Tom Stark – Willie and Lucy’s son; talented, but arrogant college football player; drunk
driving results in grave injury of passenger; alleged to be father of child of Sibyl; disdainful of
father; paralyzed in a football accident and eventually dies.
Sadie Burke – Grew up in poverty; face is scarred by smallpox; Willie’s secretary and
mistress after she tells Willie that he was being used to split the vote; only woman in Willie’s
inner circle; reveals affair with Anne to Tiny Duffy out of jealousy; checks herself into a
sanitarium afterwards, then leaves state.
13
Sugar-Boy O’Sheean – Young Irishman with a love of sugar who stutters; serves
as Willie’s loyal driver and bodyguard; kills Adam after he shoots Willie.
Adam Stanton – Childhood friend to Jack and brother of Anne; son of former
governor; becomes renowned surgeon; chooses to live in poverty; agrees to head Willie’s
hospital after learning about own father’s bad deeds; kills Willie after learning about affair
with Anne.
Anne Stanton – Childhood sweetheart of Jack who refused to marry him due to his
lack of ambition; volunteers at children’s home; begins affair with Willie after learning of her
father’s bad deed; marries Jack at end.
Judge Irwin – Jack’s childhood neighbor and surrogate father; disdainful of Willie’s
politics; while Attorney General under Governor Stanton, in need of money, he took a bribe
from American Electric Power Company, which caused the suicide of their current attorney;
Governor Stanton protected Judge Irwin, without his knowledge; he commits suicide when
information is revealed and leaves estate to Jack, his biological son.
Ellis Burden – Jack calls him “The Scholarly Attorney;” Jack is raised to believe he is
his father; after learning of wife’s affair, he leaves her and Jack commits himself to helping
poor and writing Christian tracts; eventually moves in with Jack at end.
Jack’s mother – Unnamed mother of narrator; grew up poor in Arkansas where she
met and married Ellis Burden and moved to Burden’s Landing; had an affair w/ Judge Irwin
that resulted in Jack; upon learning this, Ellis leaves her; she subsequently marries “The
Tycoon,” “The Count,” and “The Young Executive;” raises Jack in wealth and privilege;
leaves “Young Executive” after death of Judge, and never learns Judge’s true motivation for
suicide, believing it was due to his failing health.
Cass Mastern – Jack’s great uncle; brother of Gilbert; sleeps with friend’s wife,
Annabelle; when friend, Duncan, finds out he kills himself and leaves his ring under his
pillow which Phebe, a slave, discovers; Annabelle sells Phebe out of embarrassment; Cass
tries to free her, but is unsuccessful; becomes an abolitionist; runs a plantation without the
use of slaves; volunteers to serve the South in Civil War in non-combat role; dies of gunshot
wound.
14
All the King’s Men – Bookmark: Characters
Printable Bookmark! Please print and then cut to use as a reference as you read!! When
possible, only basic information has been provided to avoid “spoilers.” “Ch.” Refers to the
chapter in which the character was first introduced.
Character
Jack Burden
Willie Stark
Tiny Duffy
Lucy Stark
Tom Stark
Sugar-Boy
O’Sheean
Sadie Burke
Malaciah Wynn
Doc
Slade
Alex Michel
Albert Evans
Callahan
Masters
Theodore
Murrell
Adam Stanton
Anne Stanton
Joel Stanton
Ellis Burden
“The Scholarly
Attorney”
Jack’s mother
Judge
Montague M.
Irwin
Jim Madison
Description
Ch.
Narrator and protagonist;
Stark’s right-hand man
“The Boss;” governor of
state
Former tax assessor who
convinces Willie to run for
governor and eventually
becomes his lt. governor
Willie’s wife; former
school teacher
18 year old son of Starks
Willie’s driver and
bodyguard
Willie’s secretary and
mistress
Friend of Willie whose son
is in jail
Runs soda fountain
Owns The Crescent Cove
Deputy sheriff; dies
Attorney
Senate candidate endorsed
by Judge Irwin
Senate candidate endorsed
by Stark
Jack’s current stepfather;
the “Young Executive”
Jack’s childhood friend;
famous surgeon
Jack’s childhood
sweetheart; Adam’s sister
Former governor; father of
Anne and Adam
Jack’s absent father who
left Jack’s mother; now a
missionary of sorts
Raised in poverty;
beautiful; marries four men
Father-figure to Jack;
friend of the Stantons and
Burdens; former Attorney
General
Managing editor of
Chronicle newspaper
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Dolph Pillsbury
J.H. Moore
Jeffers
Construction
Mr. Sandeen
Joe Harrison
Sam
MacMurfee
Sen-Sen
Puckett
Hugh Miller
Daddy Ross
Chairman of county
commissioners who
opposes Willie on school
house
Bid on school house
Low bid on school house
2
Father of boy killed in
school house accident
Former governor who uses
Willie to split the vote
Former two-term governor
and Willie’s political rival
Friend of Harrison’s; has
affair with Sadie
Willie’s Attorney General;
quits after White scandal
Jack’s first step-father
2
Jack’s second step-father
Neighbors of Jack’s
mother
Woman Jack’s mother sets
him up with
Judges appointed by Willie
2
2
State auditor caught in
scandal that leads to
impeachment attempt
Tax Lands Bureau
administrator caught in
scandal
Chicago businessman
Sugar Boy’s pals
2
One of MacMurfee’s boys
Jack’s great-uncle
Jack’s grandmother; Cass’s
sister
Cass’s brother; wealthy
landowner
Cass’s mistress
Annabelle’s husband
Gilbert’s neighbor;
suggests Cass go to college;
president of Confederacy
Jefferson’s father
Lavinia’s husband
Annabelle’s slave who
knows about affair and is
therefore sold
3
4
4
2
2
2
2
2
2
2
“The Tycoon”
Count Covelli
Pattons
Dumonde
Armstrong and
Talbott
Byram B. White
Hamill
Josh Conklin
Henry Harris
and Al Perkins
Lowdan
Cass Mastern
Lavinia
Mastern
Gilbert Mastern
Annabelle Trice
Duncan Trice
Jefferson Davis
Samuel Davis
Willis Burden
Phebe
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2
2
3
3
4
4
4
4
4
4
4
16
Mr. Robards
and Mr. Simms
Fielding L.
Turner
Caroline Turner
Richard
Albert Calloway
Gummy Larson
Cousin
Mathilde
Mabel
Carruthers
Le Moyne
Carruthers
Mr. Percy
Poindexter
Mr. Charles
Pettis
Wilbur
Satterfield and
Alex Cantor
Mortimer
Lonzo
Littlepaugh
Miss Lily Mae
Littlepaugh
Mrs. Dalzell
Cavesse Jones
Lois Seager
Aunt
Sophonisba
Hubert Coffee
Marvin Frey
Sibyl Frey
Dr. Bland
Mrs. Daniell
Mr. Pettus
Billie Martin
Thad Mellon
Gup Lawson
Slave traders
4
Wealthy lawyer from
Lexington
Fielding’s wife; from
Boston; abused servants
Abused servant who kills
Caroline
Kept Cass’s papers
Wealthy businessman;
MacMurfee supporter
Anne’s cousin
4
Judge Irwin’s first wife
5
Mabel’s father
5
President of Seaboard
bank
Percy’s son-in-law
5
Officials of American
Electric Power Co.
5
Lawyer for American
Electric who commits
suicide
5
Mortimer’s sister;
clairvoyant
Leads Jack to Miss
Littlepaugh
Involved in car wreck with
Tom
Jack’s ex-wife
5
Nanny
7
Gummy’s man who tries to
bribe Adam
Sibyl’s father
Possibly impregnated by
Tom
Doctor at Burden’s
Landing
Judge Irwin’s neighbor
Judge Irwin’s lawyer
Tom’s football coach
Substitute tackle on
football team
Regular guard on football
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9
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Jimmy
Hardwich
Axton
Mr. Burnham
Calvin Sperling
Morrisey
Dr. Simmons
Katy Maynard
Mrs. Sill Larkin
Jo-Belle
team
2nd string end
Backup quarterback
Special doctor brought in
for Tom
Commissioner of
Agriculture
Attorney General
Fellow doctor and friend
of Adam
Old friend of Anne
Sadie’s cousin
Burdens’ cook
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All the King’s Men –Bookmark: Main Characters
Character
Jack Burden
Willie Stark
Tiny Duffy
Lucy Stark
Tom Stark
Sugar-Boy
O’Sheean
Sadie Burke
Theodore
Murrell
Adam Stanton
Anne Stanton
Joel Stanton
Ellis Burden
“The Scholarly
Attorney”
Jack’s Mother
Judge
Montague M.
Irwin
Joe Harrison
Sam
MacMurfee
Mr. Byram B.
White
Gummy Larson
Mortimer
Littlepaugh
Miss Lily Mae
Littlepaugh
Lois Seager
Hubert Coffee
Marvin Frey
Sibyl Frey
Description
Ch.
Narrator and protagonist;
Stark’s right-hand man
“The Boss;” governor
Former tax assessor;
Willie’s lt. governor
Willie’s wife; former
school teacher
18 year old son of Starks
Willie’s driver and
bodyguard
Willie’s secretary
Jack’s current stepfather;
the “Young Executive”
Jack’s childhood friend;
famous surgeon
Jack’s childhood
sweetheart; Adam’s sister
Former governor; father of
Anne and Adam
Jack’s absent father who
left Jack’s mother and is
now a missionary
Beautiful; raised in poverty;
marries four men
Father-figure to Jack;
friend of the Stantons and
Burdens; former Attorney
General
Former governor who uses
Willie to split the vote
Former governor and
Willie’s political rival
State auditor caught in
scandal that leads to
impeachment attempt
Wealthy businessman;
MacMurfee supporter
Former lawyer for
American Electric
Mortimer’s sister;
clairvoyant
Jack’s ex-wife
Gummy’s man; tries to
bribe Adam
Sibyl’s father
Possibly impregnated by
Tom
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All the King’s Men Discussion Questions
The following questions approach the novel from a number of different angles, i.e.,
how the novel functions as a work of art, how it reflects the time period, how it
addresses fundamental questions of humanity, and how it engages the reader.
A good discussion tends to start with our “heads” and end with our “hearts.”
Therefore, you may want to save subjective opinions of taste until after you have
discussed the more objective elements of the work’s merits. (It is tempting to begin
with, “What did everyone think?” But if a number of people really didn’t like the
novel, their opinions may derail a discussion of the novel’s merits).
On the other hand, I recommend starting with a few accessible questions and asking
every member to respond to ensure that all voices are present and heard from the
beginning. Just a few suggestions! Enjoy…
Warm up questions:
1)Reread the epigraph, a quote from Dante’s Divine Comedy: “Mentre che la speranza
ha fior del verde” (As long as hope still has its bit of green). Now that you have finished the
novel, what understanding do you have of this quote? Why do you think Warren chose this
quote to be our first impression of his novel? What is hope’s bit of green at the end of the
novel?
2) Thinking back, what were your first impressions of the novel? Had you read a summary
or seen a movie version before beginning the actual novel? In what ways did the novel fulfill
your expectations? In what ways did it disappoint?
3) Reread the first few sentences:
“Mason City. To get there you follow Highway 58, going northeast out of the city,
and it is a good highway and new. Or was new, that day we went up it. You look up
the highway and it is straight for miles, coming at you, with the black line down the
center coming at and at you, black and slick and tarry-shining against the white of
the slab, and the heat dazzles up from the white slab so that only the black line is
clear, coming at you with the whine of the tires, and if you don’t quit staring at that
line and don’t take a few deep breaths and slap yourself hard on the back of the neck
you’ll hypnotize yourself and you’ll come to just at the moment when the right front
wheel hooks over into the black dirt shoulder off the slab, and you’ll try to jerk her
back on but you can’t because the slab is high like a curb, and maybe you’ll try to
reach to turn off the ignition just as she starts the dive. But you won’t make it, of
course. Then a nigger chopping cotton a mile away, he’ll look up and see the little
column of black smoke standing up above the vitriolic, arsenical green of the cotton
rows, and up against the violent, metallic, throbbing blue of the sky, and he’ll say,
‘Lawd God, hit’s a-nudder one done done hit!’”
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Many important elements that continue throughout the novel are present in this first
paragraph – rich imagery, a definite sense of time and place, a feeling of speed and
carelessness, a sense of “luck,” an awareness of mortality, a sense of foreshadowing and
foreboding. What is the effect of beginning this novel with the juxtaposition of the jarring
scenery, the sense of being out of control and the horrifying potential of violence? Why
does Warren begin his novel by asking the reader to imagine his/her own death? With the
use of “nigger” on the first page we are jarred into noticing the time and place of the
setting. How did you react to the use of this word throughout the novel?
4) Soon after the above passage, we meet Jack Burden, our narrator:
“That was the way it was the last time I saw Mason City, nearly three years ago, back
in the summer of 1936. I was in the first car, the Cadillac, with the Boss and Mr.
Duffy and the Boss’s wife and son and Sugar Boy.” (4)
What were your first impressions of Jack and how did these impressions change? We are
conditioned, as readers, to empathize with and “like” narrators, especially when they address
us directly like Jack does. Did you “like” Jack? In what ways was he a credible narrator –
and in what ways was he not? Notice his last name (Burden) – what where Jack’s burdens
throughout the novel? He tells us his story in a circuitous manner, spiraling through the past
and the present. How was this effective?
5) If the author is speaking through Jack, what do his values seem to be? If there is a “call
to action” in this novel, what would it be? What aspects of human nature and politics does
Warren seem to celebrate? What aspects does he criticize?
6) Throughout the novel, Jack struggles with how much responsibility people should feel for
their actions. He discards his thesis on Mastern when he cannot understand Cass’s sense of
guilt over Duncan’s death and Phebe’s fate. After he learns about Willie and Anne’s affair,
he embraces what he describes as the “Great Twitch” theory:
“The twitch was simply an independent phenomenon, unrelated to the face or to
what was behind the face or to anything in the whole tissue of phenomena which is
the world we are lost in… it occurred to me, as I reflected upon the thing which
made him remarkable, that if the twitch was all, what was it that could know that the
twitch was all? …And if I was all twitch how did the twitch which was me know that
the twitch was all? Ah, I decided, that is the mystery That is the secret knowledge…
the twitch can know that the twitch is all Then, having found that out, in the mystic
vision, you feel clean and free. You are at one with the Great Twitch…” (473)
Do you believe that Jack is responsible for his father’s death? Is Jane responsible for
Adam’s death? Who is responsible for Willie’s death?
Jack also believes “meaning is never in the event but in the motion through the event” (407)
and considers himself an “Idealist”: “If you are an Idealist it does not matter what you do or
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what goes on around you because it isn’t real anyway.” (45). What does being an Idealist
mean to Jack? Do you agree?
7) Jack is scornful of his stepfather’s religion throughout most of the novel. He states:
“For God and Nothing have a lot in common. You look either one of Them straight
in the eye for a second and the immediate effect on the human constitution is always
the same.” (150)
“For Life is a fire burning along a piece of string – or is it a fuse to a powder keg
which we call God? – and the string is what we don’t know, our Ignorance, and the
trail of ash, which, if a gust of wind does not come, keeps the structure of the string,
is History, man’s Knowledge, but it is dead, and when the fire has burned up all the
string, then man’s Knowledge will be equal to God’s Knowledge and there won’t be
any fire, which is Life. Or if the string leads to a powder keg, then there will be a
terrific blast of fire, and even the trail of ash will be blown completely away…” (226)
How would you describe Jack’s spirituality? What effect does Jack believe God /
Nothingness has on humans?
8) Jack has a number of father-figures in his life, including Willie, and struggles with his
identity throughout the novel. At one point Jack believes:
“They say you are not you except in terms of relation to other people. If there
weren’t any other people there wouldn’t be any you because what you do, which is
what you are, only has meaning in relation to other people.” (192)
Eventually he decides:
“Perhaps the only answer, I thought then, was that by the time we understand the
pattern we are in, the definition we are making for ourselves, it is too late to break
out of the box. We can only live in terms of the definition…” (529)
How does Jack define himself? Do you agree with either of the above theories?
9) Other than Sadie and Lucy, Jack struggles with his relationships with women:
“I had loved Lois the machine, the way you love the filet mignon or the Georgia
peach, but I definitely was not in love with Lois the person… But the paradox is that
as long as Lois was merely the machine-Lois, as long as she was simply a welldressed animal, as long as she was really a part of innocent nonhuman nature, as
long as I hadn’t begun to notice that the sounds she made were words, there was no
harm in her and n o harm in the really extraordinary pleasure she could provide.”
(457)
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“It was always the same way when I came home and saw my mother. I would be
surprised that it was the way it was but I knew at the same time that I had known it
would be this way. I would come home with the firm conviction that she didn’t
really care a thing about me, that I was just another man whom she wanted to have
around because she was the kind of woman who had to have men around and had to
make them dance to her tune…” (164)
“There is nothing women love so much as the drunkard, the hellion, the roarer, the
reprobate. They love him because they – women, I mean – are like the bees in
Samson’s parable in the Bible: they like to build their honeycomb in the carcass of a
dead lion.” (550)
Is Jack misogynistic?
10) If the climax of any novel is the turning point of the action, which all major conflicts
lead up to, what do you consider to be the climax of this novel? Who do you consider to be
the protagonist of the novel: Jack or Willie? If "the story of Willie Stark and the story of
Jack Burden are, in one sense, one story," then what is that story?
11) Revisit Jack’s first impressions of Willie Stark:
“Willie is the fellow from the country with the Christmas tie… He is Cousin Willie
from the country. He is Willie Stark, the teacher’s pet, and I met him in the back
room of Slade’s… and he told me Lucy didn’t favor drinking.” (77)
“He [Willie] became a martyr, not through ignorance, not only for the right but also
for some knowledge of himself deeper than right or wrong… He knew something
about human nature, but something now came between him and that knowledge…”
(104)
How does Willie change throughout the course of Jack’s acquaintance of him? Willie’s
motto was My study is the heart of the people (9); what do you believe Willie discovered or
believed about the heart of the people?
12) Robert Penn Warren stated: “Willie Stark was not Huey Long. Willie was only
himself….” Would it affect your enjoyment of the novel if Willie was completely fictional?
13) Just before Adam agrees to head Willie’s hospital, Willie tells him:
“Goodness. Yeah, just plain, simple goodness. Well you can’t inherit that from
anybody. You got to make it, Doc. If you want it. And you got to make it out of
badness. Badness. And you know why, Doc? …Because there isn’t anything else to
make it out of.”
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Adam answers: “If, as you say, there is only the bad to start with, and the good must
be made from the bad, then how do you ever know what the good is? How do you
even recognize the good?”
Willie answers: “You just make it up as you go along.” (386-7)
How did you react to this concept of “making up the good out of the bad as you go along”?
What seems to be Willie’s motivation for staying in politics?
Why does Adam agree to head the hospital?
14) In chapter one, Willie tells Jack that he has spent his life pouring swill: “And… by God,
I’m still doing it. Pouring swill.”
Later, Jack explains politics to his stepfather in the following passage:
“… Politics is action and all action is but a flaw in the perfections of inaction, which
is peace, just as all being is but a flaw in the perfection of nonbeing. Which is God.
For if God is perfection and the only perfection is in nonbeing, then God is
nonbeing. Then God is nothing. Nothing can give no basis for the criticism of
Thing in its thingness…” (303)
Why do people feel so strongly about politics? How do you define “politics”?
15) At the very end of the novel, Lucy tells Jack, “He [Willie] was a great man… You see,
Jack… I have to believe that.” (643) In what ways is Willie a “great man”?
16) Jim considers Willie’s greatness in the following passage:
“…it is possible that fellows like Willie Stark are born outside of luck, good or bad,
and luck, which is what about makes you and me what we are, doesn’t have anything
to do with them, for they are what they are from the time they first kick in the womb
until the end. And if that is the case, then their life history is a process of discovering
what they really are, and not, as for you and me, sons of luck, a process of becoming
what luck makes us.” (94)
Do you agree that Willie was simply following his destiny?
17) Beyond Adam’s gun, what is Willie’s death caused by? Arrogance? Naïveté? Lust?
Tiny’s treachery? Adam’s principles?
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18) In many respects, Jack and Adam are foils.
“…what we students of history always learn is that the human being is a very
complicated contraption and that they are not good or bad but are good and bad and
the good comes out of bad and the bad out of good, and the devil take the hindmost.
But Adam, he is a scientist, and everything is tidy for him, and one molecule of
oxygen always behaves the same way when it gets around two molecules of
hydrogen… All tidy. All neat. The molecule of good always behaves the same
way…” (373)
At the end, Jack states “As a student of history, Jack Burden could see that Adam
Stanton, whom he came to call the man of idea, and Willie Stark, whom he came to
call the man of fact, were doomed to destroy each other, just as each was doomed to
try to use the other and to yearn toward and try to become the other, because each
was incomplete with the terrible division of their age.”(656)
Do you agree with this conclusion?
19) Was it believable that Anne would have an affair with Willie? Why does this affair
prompt Adam to kill Willie? Was it believable that Jack and Anne would marry at the end?
Why don’t they marry initially? How would each have been different if they had married
young?
20) After Jack inherits the Judge’s money he states “…that particular money, which would
have made [leaving] possible, was at the same time, paradoxically enough, a bond that held
me here [with Willie].” (541). Why does he believe his inheritance ties him to Willie?
21) At the end, Jack believes the Judge’s death saves his mother’s soul:
“So I went back down and stood in the garden among the black magnolia trees and
the myrtles, and thought how by killing my father I had saved my mother’s soul.
Then I thought how maybe I had saved my father’s soul, too. Both of them had
found out what they needed to know to be saved. Then I ghouth how all knowledge
that is worth anything is maybe paid for by blood” (647).
Why does he believe this and do you agree?
Wrap up Questions!
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Would you recommend the book to others? (Why/not)
If you could change anything, what would it be?
Would you read a sequel of this novel (about Jack and Anne’s life)?
Should this novel be taught in political science or literature courses?
Does it seem to deserve the Pulitzer Prize?
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All the King’s Men -- Review
From the New York Times:
All the King's Men
By ORVILLE PRESCOTT
Books of the Times
he summer fiction doldrums are over. An exciting new novel is published today. It isn't
a great novel or a completely finished work of art. It is as bumpy and uneven as a corduroy
road, somewhat irresolute and confused in its approach to vital problems and not always
convincing. Nevertheless, Robert Penn Warren's "All the King's Men" is magnificently vital
reading, a book so charged with dramatic tension it almost crackles with blue sparks, a book
so drenched with fierce emotion, narrative pace and poetic imagery that its stature as a
"readin' book," as some of its characters would call it, dwarfs that of most current
publications. Here, my lords and ladies, is no book to curl up with in a hammock, but a book
to read until 3 o'clock in the morning, a book to read on trains and subways, while waiting
for street cars and appointments, while riding elevators or elephants…
This review was published the year the novel was published.
 How would today’s reviewers treat it?
 Do you agree with the above review?
 Did you find the novel to be a “page turner”?
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All the King’s Men – Films
A couple of film versions have been made of All the King’s Men, including an
Academy award-winning version from 1949 and a Hollywood version from
2006.
Your group could watch a version of the movie together and discuss your
impressions, or group members could watch a version before the meeting and
then discuss impressions as a group. Time permitting, both versions could be
viewed and then compared. Here are a few possible movie questions:
 While viewing the movie, which characters were most unlike how
you pictured them while reading the novel?
 Which characters seemed “right on” in their portrayal?
 What plot elements were left out or changed in the movie?
 How was your enjoyment affected by what was left out/changed?
 Was the film able to recreate Warren’s tone and Jack’s sense of irony?
 The 1949 version, starring Judi Densch, Rufus Sewell, and Juliet
Aubrey won Best Picture, Best Actor and Best Supporting Actress.
If you viewed this version, did these awards seemed well earned?
More information on the film(s):
Here is a list of movie versions:
1949 version: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0041113/
2006 version: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0405676/
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All the King’s Men – Further reading!
If you enjoyed learning about history through fiction, consider checking out:
Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck
From Amazon.com:
When The Grapes of Wrath was published in 1939, America, still recovering from the Great
Depression, came face to face with itself in a startling, lyrical way. John Steinbeck gathered
the country's recent shames and devastations--the Hoovervilles, the desperate, dirty children,
the dissolution of kin, the oppressive labor conditions--in the Joad family. Then he set them
down on a westward-running road, local dialect and all, for the world to acknowledge. For
this marvel of observation and perception, he won the Pulitzer in 1940.
The prize must have come, at least in part, because alongside the poverty and dispossession,
Steinbeck chronicled the Joads' refusal, even inability, to let go of their faltering but
unmistakable hold on human dignity. Witnessing their degeneration from Oklahoma farmers
to a diminished band of migrant workers is nothing short of crushing. The Joads lose family
members to death and cowardice as they go, and are challenged by everything from weather
to the authorities to the California locals themselves. As Tom Joad puts it: "They're aworkin' away at our spirits. They're a tryin' to make us cringe an' crawl like a whipped bitch.
They tryin' to break us. Why, Jesus Christ, Ma, they comes a time when the on'y way a fella
can keep his decency is by takin' a sock at a cop. They're workin' on our decency."
The point, though, is that decency remains intact, if somewhat battle-scarred, and this, as
much as the depression and the plight of the "Okies," is a part of American history.
Book Club Kit Available!
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