Wednesday, February 12, 2014
Christie #2
In Chapter 2 of All the King's Men, as Jack describes the evolution of Willie Talos and his relationship to him, much is revealed about Jack's character that comes to define not only his employment but the voice through which he tells his story. Jack begins as a newspaperman covering state politics, but this career comes to an end when he refuses to or is incapable of infusing more passion into his column in support of MacMurfee, and he his roused from his ensuing depression by a phone call from Willie, who offers him a vague and undefined position in his campaign. Jack's disinterested nature makes him the perfect right hand man for Talos in several ways. Jack has seemingly no ambition, and certainly no real interest in politics, so Willie has no reason to feel threatened, as many politicians do, by his assistant. Jack witnesses and is fascinated by Willie's transformation and ascension up the political ranks, but the relationship between the pair remains as it always was: one of honesty, confidentiality, and equality, to an extent. Willie confides in Jack and recognizes that his detached attitude makes him willing and able to dig up dirt on anyone to be used as blackmail. " 'Get over to Harmonville tomorrow and see if you can beat some sense into Simon Harmon's head.' 'That all?' … 'All, except get me together all you have on Al Coyle before you leave town. The boys are trying to run him down and I want to be heeled when they book him...' "(192). This exchange between Jack and Willie is characteristic of their relationship and Jack's employment. Words are blunt, behaviors are dubious, and Jack lives a "don't ask, don't tell" lifestyle, as if what he doesn't know can't hurt him.
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I agree with your idea that Jack and Willie have a unique relationship. When ever the two of them speak together, we are able to see the distinct friendship they share. Even from the beginning, when Jack is being hired by Willie, the two still are very casual and blunt, as if old friends. "'What am I supposed to do?' [Jack] asked him. 'Eat,' he said. 'Come at six-thirty and eat hearty. Call up Lucy and tell her what you want to eat.' 'I mean, what do I do for the job?' 'Hell, I don't know...something will turn up.'" This is one of their first times together and right off the bat we see the witty and sarcastic relationship they share further along in their coalition.
ReplyDeleteThe "Don't ask, don't tell" lifestyle perfectly describes Jack. I think another example of Jack's detached personality is his relationship with his mother. It is clear that they care about each other but Jack can't stand to see her without a long break in between. Somehow he lets her torture him about his job every time they see each other, without trying to fix the issue between them. As he said, "We always sooner or later got into a row about something, and in two and a half years that I had been working for Willie it usually in the end came round to Willie" (155). This seems to be his excuse for escaping and never getting too close to her, just like everyone else in his life. He has no intention of mending things between his mother because he needs an excuse to keep her at arms length. Jack always has one foot already out the door in every situation.
ReplyDeleteI can definitely see the distinct relationship between Willie and Jack thus far in the novel. Jack's detached personality is what makes the two men work so well together. Willie does not feel threatened by Jack in any sort of way, which is how Willie is able to assert dominance towards Jack so easily. On the other hand, Jack's disinterest in politics allows him to be open minded; therefore having a reliable outer perspective that Willie can rely on for advice. This side of their relationship comes out when Willie asks Jack, "How do you think it's going, Jack?" (101). Jack responds honestly, "You tell 'em too much. Just tell 'em you're gonna soak the fat boys, and forget the rest of the tax stuff" (102). Willie does follow his advice later on when he makes an intoxicated speech at a barbecue, as he starts the speech with, "I have a speech here.. It is a speech about what this State needs. But there's no use telling you what this State needs. You are the State. You know what you need" (127). Later we see that this advice turned out to be extremely effective. Willie had requested the audience to vote for MacMurfee oppose to Joe Harrison after Harrison's devious scheme of using Willie to split the votes. MacMurfee ends up being elected and, "Willie had something to do with it, for the biggest vote was polled in the sections Willie had worked that they had any record of" (135). Talos began to relate more towards his audience (as Jack advised earlier), tying it in with his background and similarities between his audience members. This simple piece of advice had pushed Willie to the next step of his career and made a huge impact on his stage presence with the crowd. Willie choses to have Jack by his side because of the structure Burden brings to his career.
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