Knowles Blog Three

1. Men:
1. Adam Stanton:  Adam Stanton is the highest on the hierarchy of good to bad for the male characters in All the Kings Men.  He hasn’t done anything bad to anyone (that Jack has told us).  Adam is a doctor, and when Willie decides he wants Adam to lead his hospital, Adam is at first reluctant, partly because he does not wish to get involved in the corruption of Louisiana’s politicians, but he eventually agrees to be the head of the hospital, as he believes it will do good for a lot of people.
2. Scholarly Attorney: The Scholarly Attorney is fairly high on the “good” end of the hierarchy for of several reasons.  First of all, he does not try to do anything harmful to anyone, and instead occupies himself with spiritual and religious pursuits, as well as by taking in “unfortunates,”  who he feeds and provides with shelter and care.  When Jack see’s the Attorney taking care of George, one such unfortunate, he explains, “the old man…was holding out another morsel of chocolate…[his] face was happy” (281).  The Scholarly Attorney seems to truly find pleasure in taking in these people.
3. Judge Irwin:  Judge Irwin is not all “good” or all “bad”.  He has not done many bad things in his life, or at least in his career, as Jack finds out when the Boss assigns him to “dig up dirt” on the Judge.  Jack does discover that Judge Irwin took a bribe that benefited the Southern Belle Fuel company and had negative effects for various other people.  This shows that although the Judge had strong morals and made just verdicts, it was possible for him to make a mistake and not always be so good.
4. Jack Burden:  Jack, as he is the narrator of the story, is difficult to place on the hierarchy of good to bad, but seems to have a little bit of both qualities in his character.  He claims to be an idealist, and works with Willie as he is a politician who is trying to do good for the people (although he is corrupt), which shows that he has some good in him.  On the other hand, the work that Jack does for Willie is damaging to other people (as he is in charge of finding ways to discredit Willie’s opponents), but he continues to do this work anyway.
5. Willie Talos:  The Boss is not the worst of the male characters, as he does have some interest (or seems to have some interest) in doing good for the people, but he has no concern with being corrupt, and it is with corrupt schemes that he gets to where he wants to be.  Also, he has several mistresses, and he turns his back on the unruly actions of his son, Tom.
6. Tiny Duffy:  Tiny Duffy is very “bad”, because he is only driven by a quest for money and attention from the Boss.  Jack claims that Tiny Duffy, “was not credible… and had obviously consulted the cartoons by Harper’s Weekly… to discover exactly what the successful politician should be, [and] do” (299).  This description illustrates that Tiny Duffy is corrupt and acts like politicians of the 1890s political machines.
2. Women:
1. Lucy Talos: Lucy Talos has not done anything to hurt anybody, or been involved in any corruption herself, and because of this, she is at the top of the “good” section of the hierarchy of female characters.  Lucy is loyal and and patient, and seems to have good values.  Jack explains, “Lucy Talos did not leave the Boss after the settlement of the impeachment trouble. Nor even after the next election…” (221).  Despite disagreements with decisions and priorities of the Boss, she stayed with him, if only to keep their family together.  Also, Lucy is able to see her son’s obnoxious ways, and after he gets in a car accident, she says it’s “bad enough, thinking he’s a hero…he’s wild and selfish and idle…” (322).  Here, we can see that Lucy has good moral values, as she can see the wrong which her son has gotten into.
2. Lois:  Lois, Jack’s wife (for a short period of time), is not a “bad” person, but she did not have many “good” qualities or strong morals.  Louis was faithful and not harmful, but as Jack explains, “Lois didn’t have the slightest interest in wit, intellect, and learning” (422).
3. Anne Stanton:  Due to his relationship with her, Jack sometimes makes Anne seem like the best female character in the book, but at other times she appears to not be so good.  There seems to still be some mystery surrounding Anne Stanton, but for now this has not been revealed.  Anne blocks Jack’s affection by saying to him, “It’s because you are the way you are, Jackie” (417).  Anne is manipulative, and her values are not as good as some, because she turns around and sleeps with Willie Talos.
4. Jack’s mother:  Jack’s mother has the least amount of good among all the female characters in All the Kings Men.  She seems to be desperate, and she is even more manipulative and controlling than any of the women, especially in the ways that she acts towards Jack and her relationships with the other men in her life.