Male Characters: Good to Bad
George "the Baby" (Unfortunate) - George is a breath of fresh air in this novel which seems to be chock full of corruption and greed. When Jack goes to talk to the Scholarly Attorney, he meets George and observes him innocently making tribute angel statues to his dead wife out of chewed up bread. This act is simple and yet shows the stark contrast between George and any other characters in All The King's Men. "George emptied the crusts into one of the bowls, then stuck a piece into his mouth and began to chew, soberly and purposively...[he] leaned forward over one go the bowls and let the thoroughly fletcherized bread drop from his mouth into the bowl" (p. 277). He's simple, he's interesting in the sense that his mundane motions convey his emotion, and, to put it simply, he's good.
Scholarly Attorney - While the Scholarly Attorney was involved in some shady business with Judge Irwin, he's put his darker past behind him and now cares for George and himself with integrity. He says, "'The sinful man I was who reached for vanity and corruption is dead. If I sin now it is in weakness and not in will. I have put away foulness'" (p. 283). The Scholarly Attorney took George in and cares for him because he wants to, he even "poured some soup into a bowl, took a spoon, and went to [him]..." and leaning in with a spoon said, "'good, it's good soup -- soup -- take some soup'" (p. 280).
Cass Mastern - Cass Mastern, in my eyes, has reached a point of neutrality when it comes to being "good" or "bad". He started out as a slave owner, running a plantation, went on to cheat with his friend's wife, Anabelle, unknown to everyone but Phebe, a slave girl, eventually causing her husband to take his own life (so it seems) and Anabelle then sells Phebe into sex slavery; but in the end, Cass realizes the wrong he's done and goes to save Phebe and eventually becomes, amazingly, an abolitionist. He righted himself, in a sense, which doesn't delete the wrongdoings from his personal history, but it certainly aids in his moral recovery.
Willie Talos (The Boss) - Willie is corrupt. He's immoral. He's unscrupulous. But, hey, he's a politician. A politician is concerned with one thing: how they look and come off in the public eye. Willie is constantly leapfrogging from woman to woman, not caring about his wife or the last woman he left in his dust.
Female Characters: Good to Bad
Phebe - Poor Phebe is a victim in this book. She did nothing wrong to deserve being sold into sex slavery by her mistress, Anabelle. She is an innocent girl who, surprise, knew that her mistress was having an affair with Cass in the house, because she works in the house. It wasn't exactly a secret to begin with and the fact that Anabelle couldn't deal with Phebe's golden eyes looking at her, silently showing that she knows of her deception, shows how terrible Anabelle really is (see below).
Ms. Lily Littlepaugh - Ms. Littlepaugh is a smaller character but gives Jack some solid proof (her brother's suicide note) that shows how the Judge manipulated Mortimer. She's fairly innocent throughout and lives off of her brother's little insurance money, in a run down home. She feels terrible having to keep her brother's real cause of death a secret from the public, but also doesn't want to believe it herself. Ms. Littlepaugh is religious and sees suicide as a sin and she simply wants her brother to have a proper burial. She says, "'It was the disgrace. I wanted him buried from the church'" (p. 315). Her religious morals guide her and leave her doubting herself. While she does accept a $300 bribe from Jack, she isn't a bad person, just misguided and desperate.
Anabelle Trice - Anabelle Trice is arguably one of the most terrible people in this book. She cheats on her husband with Cass Mastern and once one of her slaves, Phebe, shows the slightest inkling that she knows of her infidelity, she sells her...into sex slavery. If that's not the definition of a horrid human being you should get a new dictionary. When Cass tries to find poor Phebe and save her, he asks Anabelle, "'To whom did you sell that girl?'" to which she answers, "'What's it to you?'" and "'I'll not tell you'" (p. 252). She takes great joy in having power over her surroundings, whether it be her boy toy or her innocent slave girl.
Jack's Mother, Mrs. Murrell - Mrs. Murrell is like a love leech. She can't stand the thought of not being with her son, which helps to demonstrate her maternal archetype of not wanting her child to have any freedoms that doesn't include herself. She has had many husbands and manipulates them into giving her the love and attention that she craves. When Jack returns home she can't let go of him and treats him like her pet, petting him and holding him in her lap. Jack tells his mother that he'll "'love her always'" and she says, "'Yes, son, yes, you love your Mother...'" (p.160). She has a weird infatuation with her son, perhaps because he's the only man that has consistently stayed in her life, but I'm guessing that's because he's forced to.
For this character analysis you and I had very similar responses to the "goodness" and "badness" of each character. The character I agree the placement of the most is George (the "unfortunate") and listing him as the most good and pure of the men. There is of course something tragic and awful about the response he has over the death of his wife and the inability he has to over-come the pain of the event but it is one of the most beautiful scenes of the book. In the middle of a novel full of corruption and indecency is a man who is purely laying with his grief. He wants nothing, no pity, no manipulation for any higher power, he only wants to think of his wife and keep her life going with the creation of spit-ball angels made out of chewed up bread.
ReplyDeleteThe character that you placed as the worst for the women, Jacks mother I thought to be a very interesting point. She was not in my list of women but after reading the reasoning behind your thought process I agree with the point you are making and can understand how you got there. I never understood much about her as a character but I have a better idea after reading your description.