The moral hierarchy of selected characters in All the King's Men, through the eyes of Jack Burden.
MALE
Adam Stanton: My childhood friend Adam Stanton, who is still my friend today and therefore more accurately my lifelong friend for we are no longer children, is a man of frustratingly impeccable morals. He defies the law of man and in his inability to be corrupted neither by money nor ambition, nor love nor fear. He seeks only to do good, which in itself becomes his greatest and only potential weakness. Adam Stanton lives, talks, and acts modestly and indiscriminately despite immense success. He has yet to treat me as inferior; in fact he takes a slightly self-deprecating, distorted, unrealistic perspective on the world and either does not realize or politely ignores the fact that we were once equals and we swam and watched sparks dance into the sky on the beach in Burden's Landing and he has now surpassed me on all planes of goodness and by all measurements of success.
Judge Irwin: Judge Irwin and I built models in the sitting room of his white house in my neighborhood. Judge Irwin was a man of the law, neither preacher nor prayer but nonetheless a man of God. Quirky, quick, and quiet, his eyes glittered with childish delight when the tiny cannon fired successfully. I thought him to be pure as the crystal glass of his whisky, but it was money, alas, that pushed the Judge over the line. I was disillusioned by the only real father figure I knew as a child and a fool to think and declare, as I did to the Boss, that there would be no dirt on Judge Irwin.
Scholarly Attorney: The man that hands out God-fearing flyers on the street corner that man that was once the Scholarly Attorney is a man full of guilt. He sat in the living room of the big white house before he became another piece of furniture in the attic of my mother's home but he may as well have been a sofa for all of the good he did for me and for the world. He thinks he's become a new man and washed the sin from his soul, his soul that was too long ago lost behind spectacles and outlandish beliefs to be cleansed from 'foulness' with scripture and throwing away the Scholarly Attorney's career, family, and life. I do not respect the man that once was supposed as my father and no amount of bible reading and street corner preaching will make him a respectable man.
Willie Talos: I may be an Idealist or any other philosophical identity that suits my fancy, but I am not an idiot. I could turn a blind eye to the bribes, the blackmail, the backdoor deals and bargaining, but no amount of acid could burn from my mind's eye his banging of Anne. His intentions were good, that country hick Cousin Willie from up in Mason City that landed himself the Treasurer position from sheer luck, he was a good man. I miss that man.
FEMALE
Anne Stanton: Anne was a girl and my friend and then suddenly or perhaps very slowly she was no longer a girl and I was hopelessly in love with the woman she had become. She was beautiful, generous, pure of heart and mind, fun, and mine. But a woman that lieth with Willie Talos is a woman no longer pureth of body, body that she said was thine forever and always but alas I am incapable of keeping a woman and drove her thus into his dirty arms that soiled my precious Anne.
Lucy Talos: A simple woman, the schoolteacher in Mason County, sweet and moral, a good wife and protective mother, conservative, and altogether far too good for the Boss. She is painfully oblivious, or else too weak and timid to stand up for herself. Ethically she is sound but I find it hard to respect a woman that lets herself be used and overrun by a cheating husband.
Sadie Burke: I do appreciate a woman that knows what she wants and knows how to get it. Granted, she's an idiot for choosing Willie, but Sadie Burke is unstoppable, self-assured, and dangerous. That pointed nose of hers reminds me of a pock-marked vulture eyeing its prey. She is good at her job and she knows it, Willie would be failing treasurer of Mason County without the crazy Sadie Burke. Crazy indeed.
Mother: I've lost track of how many men have come and go in my mother's life. I suppose I could go to the attic and count the furniture they've left behind, but I'd rather not know. She's a disagreeable woman. I do not know precisely why it is that we cannot seem to get along for more than a few hours at a time, but it is the nature of things. She was not the nurturing type, and perhaps I could have used more parental guidance but I think little Jackie turned out just fine. She is, in any case, far better than my father, but not someone who's company I would advise one to seek out intentionally.
Scholarly Attorney: The man that hands out God-fearing flyers on the street corner that man that was once the Scholarly Attorney is a man full of guilt. He sat in the living room of the big white house before he became another piece of furniture in the attic of my mother's home but he may as well have been a sofa for all of the good he did for me and for the world. He thinks he's become a new man and washed the sin from his soul, his soul that was too long ago lost behind spectacles and outlandish beliefs to be cleansed from 'foulness' with scripture and throwing away the Scholarly Attorney's career, family, and life. I do not respect the man that once was supposed as my father and no amount of bible reading and street corner preaching will make him a respectable man.
Willie Talos: I may be an Idealist or any other philosophical identity that suits my fancy, but I am not an idiot. I could turn a blind eye to the bribes, the blackmail, the backdoor deals and bargaining, but no amount of acid could burn from my mind's eye his banging of Anne. His intentions were good, that country hick Cousin Willie from up in Mason City that landed himself the Treasurer position from sheer luck, he was a good man. I miss that man.
FEMALE
Anne Stanton: Anne was a girl and my friend and then suddenly or perhaps very slowly she was no longer a girl and I was hopelessly in love with the woman she had become. She was beautiful, generous, pure of heart and mind, fun, and mine. But a woman that lieth with Willie Talos is a woman no longer pureth of body, body that she said was thine forever and always but alas I am incapable of keeping a woman and drove her thus into his dirty arms that soiled my precious Anne.
Lucy Talos: A simple woman, the schoolteacher in Mason County, sweet and moral, a good wife and protective mother, conservative, and altogether far too good for the Boss. She is painfully oblivious, or else too weak and timid to stand up for herself. Ethically she is sound but I find it hard to respect a woman that lets herself be used and overrun by a cheating husband.
Sadie Burke: I do appreciate a woman that knows what she wants and knows how to get it. Granted, she's an idiot for choosing Willie, but Sadie Burke is unstoppable, self-assured, and dangerous. That pointed nose of hers reminds me of a pock-marked vulture eyeing its prey. She is good at her job and she knows it, Willie would be failing treasurer of Mason County without the crazy Sadie Burke. Crazy indeed.
Mother: I've lost track of how many men have come and go in my mother's life. I suppose I could go to the attic and count the furniture they've left behind, but I'd rather not know. She's a disagreeable woman. I do not know precisely why it is that we cannot seem to get along for more than a few hours at a time, but it is the nature of things. She was not the nurturing type, and perhaps I could have used more parental guidance but I think little Jackie turned out just fine. She is, in any case, far better than my father, but not someone who's company I would advise one to seek out intentionally.
