Christie #1

 Robert Penn Warren's "All the King's Men" is a novel set in the 1860s Confederate South and narrated by political wingman Jack Burden, whose tone throughout the first chapter reveals his fear of moral responsibility and tendency to turn a blind eye to that which might pang his conscience. Early in the story, Willie's entire ensemble visits Mason City, where he is surrounded by a crowd clamoring for a speech, which he is reluctant to give. Jack describes watching Willie prepare to say something and feels a distinct sense of foreboding. He senses something evil and "glittering" growing inside his boss, insinuating that the seed of political corruption has been planted and is taking hold. This is terrifying for Jack and he often chooses to avoid these problems and shirk the mental burdens they would place upon him. "…it lifts up its sad little face and its eyes are blind, and it shivers cold inside you for it doesn't want to know what is in that envelope. It wants to lie in the dark and not know, and be warm in its not knowing. The end of man is knowledge, but there is one thing he can't know. He can't know whether knowledge will save him or kill him" (13). This shows that Jack fears equally the known and the unknown, for he does not know which, if either, will save him and which might be the death of him. He identifies with the small "foetus" inside himself that wishes to remain in peaceful naïvety and never open that envelope because he is fearful of its contents and the responsibilities they may place upon his head and heart. Warren also writes, through Jack, that "If the human race didn't remember anything it would be perfectly happy" (58), which suggests that he feels burdened also by his memories and that perhaps past events prey on his mind and prevent the ignorant bliss he so desperately seems to seek. Jack, as the assistant to a powerful politician, has found himself in a position where the knowledge he has access to could potentially cause damage to himself and many others, and this appears to be a great mental burden for him, one he wishes he could erase and ignore.