In Robert Penn Warren’s All The King’s Men, The Case of the Upright Judge is used to show Jack firsthand how a person’s actions affect others and that every action has a reaction and that chains of events is never truly broken. An irreverent former student of history, Jack Burdren abandoned his dissertation on Cass Mastern because of his inability to connect with him and to see cause and effect, to understand why Mastern wanted to die. Jack did not come to understand the importance of the past until much later in his life, when his dealings with Judge Irwin rattle him to his core, making him question everything he had always known, both about Idealism and about Irwin, and making him face death once again. Because of the dirt that he was made …show more content…
His subject, Cass Mastern, was not real to him - he did not “know” Cass Mastern and without “knowing Cass Mastern, he could not put down the facts about Cass Mastern’s world” (Warren 282). He ends up abandoning the dissertation because the facts are not enough - he has to be able to connect to Cass Mastern before he can write his dissertation on him. For Jack to be able to write about Cass’s troubles during the Civil War, Jack would have needed ability to empathize with Cass despite the generations that separate them. Jack lacked this ability to empathize - with Mastern and with Duncan - because of his Idealistic views. By believing that history had no effect on the present because it was in the past, Jack distanced himself from taking responsibility for his own actions and what they caused. However, it was not that Jack “could not understand” the impact that history had, it was more that “he was afraid to understand for what might be understood there was a reproach to him” (Warren 284). Jack did not want to understand why Cass did what he did because it would mean understanding that actions have consequences and that those consequences live on, including his own. He was unable to write about Mastern because he had no emotional connection to the man, he failed to realize that nothing exists in a vacuum and …show more content…
History lives and breathes and controls those that it leaves behind, it creates a need for revenge, for reparations, for rage. History has not forgotten about Cass Mastern or Mortimer Littlepaugh just because they are dead because those that live after them continue their stories and further their consequences. “Nothing is lost, nothing is ever lost,” Jack explains after the fact, realizing with sudden clarity that history does not die, that “all times are one time, and all those dead in the past never lived before our definition gives them life, and out of the shadow their eyes implore us” (Warren 342). Through this epiphany, Jack realizes that history is important because humans give it importance, history lives through those that live it but also those that read it and carry it forward. History affects all people because its stories and its consequences survive the test of time, because “no story is ever over, for the story which we think is over is only a chapter in a story which will not be over” (Warren 534). A story does not end because it’s characters have died, it lives on eternally, without fail and without spite, to teach future generations the lessons of the
In conclusion, it is through these contradictions between history and memory that we learn not to completely rely on either form of representation, due to the vexing nature of the relationship and the deliberate selection and emphasis. It is then an understanding that through a combination of history and memory we can begin to comprehend representation. ‘The Fiftieth Gate’ demonstrates Baker’s conclusive realisation that both history and memory have reliability and usefulness. ‘Schindler’s List’ reveals how the context of a medium impacts on the selection and emphasis of details. ‘The Send-Off’ then explains how the contradiction between memory and history can show differing perspectives and motives.
No matter how bad the situations seem they all happen for a reason. Sharon Olds had to realize this through her own pain and suffering. She portrays herself as the speaker who goes back to May of 1937, and sees her parents. In “I Go Back to May 1937” she tells a story of when her parents were still just dating. They were just about to graduate and get married. Instead of feeling joyful or smiling at the sight of them she had a completely different reaction. She wanted to go up to them and stop them. Maybe they looked innocent then, but she knew that they would not remain that way for long. By telling the story of her parent’s ignorance, betrayal, and the difficult decisions that soon follow, Sharon Olds shows that the will to live helps people make life’s difficult decisions, in “I Go Back to May 1937.”
Jack was the problem that’s the real answer to all of this if it wasn't for Jack’s behavior and action just maybe there would be no
"What you don't know don't hurt you, for it ain't real"(30) is a quote Jack picked up during his college days as a history major, and which he cites as the building block for his entire worldview, a worldview that attempts to avoid the idea that actions have consequences and that people must take responsibility for their actions. This idealistic worldview seems to serve as Jack's defense against all that he doesn't understand, especially some key events in his life that influenced him greatly.
The death of Willie Starks and the circumstances force Jack to rethink the way he thinks. He rethinks a belief that no one can ever be responsible for the evil actions of another individual over time. In a way Jack feels responsible for Willie’s death. Jack eventually marries Anne Stanton and he feels orthodox about his decision to marry her. Jack restarts his long lost hobby of working on a book about Cass Mastern.
“If all of this seems long ago and far away, it is worth remembering that the past is never past.” (Faulkner cited in Ellison, P.274)
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 that. He isn't stupid. In many ways his reasoning about illegal immigrants makes a lot of sense. Illegal immigration does hurt the economy. Illegal immigrants do take away jobs from citizens. But Jack takes it to such an extreme that it is hard for one to feel that his views of illegal immigrants and his sentiments about them are purely a result of his concern about the economy and the state.
“The Strange Case of Silas Deane” creates a new perspective on what people see as history. Although many people would define history as something that occurred in the past, through “The Strange Death of Silas Deane”, the writers make evident that this average view on history can be intensely deceptive. History involves examining evidence and drawing connections. There are opposing opinions to what the truth really is, but given the evidence the case cannot be concretely proven.
There are countless ways to analyze F. Scott Fitzgerald’s short story “Babylon Revisited”, but what Fitzgerald wanted the reader to understand after reading this story through his use of symbolism, point of view, and tone, was that the mistakes one makes in the past stay with them forever, so one should live life well, and without regret. Works Cited "BABYLON REVISITED" BABYLON REVISED. N.p., n.d. Web. The Web. The Web.
The whole entire story could've had an entire different outcome if Jack didn’t have so many personality blemishes. Jack seems like he has something wrong with him as far as handling his emotions go. He is always very mean to Piggy and was the first to thirst for blood.
“If the human race didn’t remember anything it would be perfectly happy" (44). Thus runs one of the early musings of Jack Burden, the protagonist of Robert Penn Warren’s All the King’s Men. Throughout the story, however, as Jack gradually opens his eyes to the realities of his own nature and his world, he realizes that the human race cannot forget the past and survive. Man must not only remember, but also embrace the past, because it teaches him the truth about himself and enables him to face the future.
Bloom, Harold. “’The Case of the Upright Judge’: The Nature of Truth in All the King's Men.”
Jack is afraid of plots. DeLillo reveals this by splitting the novel into sections much like a person’s life: Plots have a beginning and end; they have a birth and a death. DeLillo sets up the first section as if someone
Trouillot divides the book into three main sections, describing Sans Souci, the Haitian Revolution, ending with the discovery of America and the overarching themes of “race, colonialism, and slavery in the Americas” (Trouillot 83). These examples showcase powerful actors silencing events in the historical past. Trouillot demonstrates that silencing of past events have taken place and continue to this day. Silencing refers to the omission and erasure of historical events and also denies a historical event its proper importance in the historical record (Trouillot 66). For the most past, history is made up of gaps in the narrative of the past. What is taught in school and the general knowledge most have of history makes up a tiny percentage of the trauma and hardships actually faced in history. Trouillot maintains that humans, as actors in history, need awareness of the silences to better
At the end of the story, Jack realizes that blending in with society is not ideal. He regrets the past decade that was full of loss and regret when it could've been full of trust and love. People may be tempted to make unwise decisions to blend in with society. But think about it: the world is like a crowded marketplace. If you don’t stand out, you are invisible. Unique qualities define your identity. Without them, you are not yourself. At least on Qingming, the mother’s poor spirit can rest easy, knowing her son is with her in heart, but that can never make up for the years of hurt and betrayal directed at