Disclaimer: I had no idea which characters to choose, so I am stealing all of Alex Gordon's choices. If any of my characters seem like they don't belong, try to have some sympathy, and do not blame me. Instead, punish the man who corrupted my young, innocent mind.
Male Characters from Good to Bad
1. Adam Stanton: Jack Burden, Adam's best friend, holds him in high regard, and not just because they have known each other since childhood. Jack, and his boss, Willie Talos, believe that all Adam is is good. "He knows what you want. He knows your weakness, pal. You want to do good, and he is going to let you do good in wholesale lots." (332). Even though he is tempted to work in the hospital that has a foundation built from corruption, it is for all the right reasons. Adam doesn't want money, nor power. All he wants to do is help those who cannot help themselves, using the benefits that his birth has granted him. This is probably the most righteous act anybody in All the King's Men has done, and probably even thought of doing. I believe that Adam's attitude throughout the majority of the novel make up for the one bad thing he does where he (SPOILER ALERT FOR ANYBODY WHO ACTUALLY CARES ABOUT THE BOOK) flat our murders Willie. Sure, murder isn't the best thing somebody can do, but in Adam's case, I am able to let it slide.
2. Judge Montague Irwin: Irwin is high on the good side of things, which is refreshing, because people with really cool names like Montague are generally written to be bad people. Irwin would be tied with Adam as #1 good guy, if it were not for his taking of a bribe, that eventually led to the suicide of Mortimer Lonzo. "...Irwin was bribed to let up on the suit against the Southern Belle Fuel people and now he now has my place at a salary they never paid me and I gave them my heart's blood all these years." Seeing as how Irwin is regarded as a very moral person by most people of whatever state the book takes place in - seriously, just give us a name - his tucking away of his bribe feels even more vile than it already is.
3. Jack Burden: It figures that the central character who is narrating the story is the one in the dead center of the good versus bad battle. If he was already a good person, the story would suffer because he would be unable to grow as a person. Jack does whatever works best for Jack, which, although selfish, cannot be seen as inherently bad. People should always care for themselves, and Jack seems to do a lot of that. The worse quality that Jack possesses is his blatant disregard for personal responsibility. He can't see that the only reason Anne Stanton started sleeping with Willie was because he lacked any ambition with his life, not even being able to have sex with her when SHE WAS OBVIOUSLY 100% WILLING TO. Jack believes that by doing nothing, he can't be blamed for something that happens, which is pretty pathetic. He also starts cheating on his wife with whores, and then leaves her after weeks of not talking to her, which is a huge dick move.
4. Willie Talos: Willie is as immoral is they come. He sleeps with whores by the dozen, downs enough alcohol to kill one elephant (at least), and will do anything to keep his authority. Sure, he does a lot of the bad things he does for the betterment of the state he resides over, but I can't imagine that there isn't a better way to help out that doesn't involve incredibly shady dealings. Plus, he slept with one of his friend's(?) former lovers, which is way against the bro code. Although Jack seems to not talk much about his personal life, I find it hard to believe that he didn't mention anything about him and Anne.
5. Tiny Duffy: This guy sucks. Unlike Willie, who does immoral things for the betterment of the people, Tiny Duffy does immoral things for the betterment of Tiny Duffy. He is always around, looking for the proper chance to take a piece of power for himself. He is selfish, like Jack, but there is a time where selfishness is not a good quality to have. Tiny Duffy will probably be the ultimate victor in the book, just because he is willing to do anything that would get him power, which might even entail selling his soul.
Female Characters from Good to Bad
1. Lucy Talos: She is the kind of person that a man like Willie did not deserve. She did not allow the bonding vows she took with the governor to overshadow her moral compass. Very early on, she told Willie that if he helped out Byram White, she would leave him. Despite the backlash that she faced from her then husband, she did eventually leave him to live an easy life on a farm, away from the corruption that was consuming Willie.
2. Anne Stanton: Although Jack makes her out to be the bad guy/gal, he has a huge bias. He can't blame himself for his inaction, so Anne faces the brunt of his torment. She is absolutely not bad, and is able to be accountable for her actions. Anne leaves Jack because he is unsure of himself, and falls into Willie's arms because he has planned out the direction he wants his life to move in. Even though she does cheat on Jack while they are together, she admits it flat out, instead of leading him on.
3. Jack's mother: As of now, it seems like Jack's mom is extremely manipulative, and only marries men to gain their wealth. After the knot is tied, she divorces them, gathering an even bigger fortune. Other than that, there doesn't seem to be much more information that allows me to make an assumption on her character. She cares for Jack in a way that only a mother can, coddling him even though he is well past his diaper-wearing days. Jack's mom might be the perfect example of a loving mother, who would steal money in order to make sure her son had all he needed to be successful.
4. Sadie Burke: Willie and Sadie are a match made in heaven. Sadie was once against Willie, and only stuck around him because that was what she was paid to do. But after the unwavering support began to gather for Willie, she quickly switched sides to become one of his most devoted supporters. She is one the the reasons that Willie and Lucy's relationship began to falter, being one of, if not the, first woman to sleep with him while still being married. Sadie gets angry that Willie cheats on her with other women, yet is unable to see the blatant hypocrisy in her words and actions. Sadie is so spiteful that she sets in motion the events that (SPOILER ALERT AGAIN) kill Willie, and although she is apologetic, cannot really take back what she has done.
5. Annabelle Trice: Annabelle is a cheater, a slave-driver, and just a heartless person in general. She back stabs her loving husband after sleeping with Cass (who is also not the best person), which eventually leads him to suicide. She never once thinks of another person besides herself, and sells her slave Phebe to a bunch of bad people in the even deeper South, only because she didn't want to face other people finding out about her atrocious acts. Not only does she sell Phebe, but she does it without consulting Cass, who seems to be the only person she has in the world. Annabelle then goes on to give Cass an ultimatum, one of the most scummy things somebody can do. It shows that she is not able to make a compromise, and is completely self centered.
2. Judge Montague Irwin: Irwin is high on the good side of things, which is refreshing, because people with really cool names like Montague are generally written to be bad people. Irwin would be tied with Adam as #1 good guy, if it were not for his taking of a bribe, that eventually led to the suicide of Mortimer Lonzo. "...Irwin was bribed to let up on the suit against the Southern Belle Fuel people and now he now has my place at a salary they never paid me and I gave them my heart's blood all these years." Seeing as how Irwin is regarded as a very moral person by most people of whatever state the book takes place in - seriously, just give us a name - his tucking away of his bribe feels even more vile than it already is.
3. Jack Burden: It figures that the central character who is narrating the story is the one in the dead center of the good versus bad battle. If he was already a good person, the story would suffer because he would be unable to grow as a person. Jack does whatever works best for Jack, which, although selfish, cannot be seen as inherently bad. People should always care for themselves, and Jack seems to do a lot of that. The worse quality that Jack possesses is his blatant disregard for personal responsibility. He can't see that the only reason Anne Stanton started sleeping with Willie was because he lacked any ambition with his life, not even being able to have sex with her when SHE WAS OBVIOUSLY 100% WILLING TO. Jack believes that by doing nothing, he can't be blamed for something that happens, which is pretty pathetic. He also starts cheating on his wife with whores, and then leaves her after weeks of not talking to her, which is a huge dick move.
4. Willie Talos: Willie is as immoral is they come. He sleeps with whores by the dozen, downs enough alcohol to kill one elephant (at least), and will do anything to keep his authority. Sure, he does a lot of the bad things he does for the betterment of the state he resides over, but I can't imagine that there isn't a better way to help out that doesn't involve incredibly shady dealings. Plus, he slept with one of his friend's(?) former lovers, which is way against the bro code. Although Jack seems to not talk much about his personal life, I find it hard to believe that he didn't mention anything about him and Anne.
5. Tiny Duffy: This guy sucks. Unlike Willie, who does immoral things for the betterment of the people, Tiny Duffy does immoral things for the betterment of Tiny Duffy. He is always around, looking for the proper chance to take a piece of power for himself. He is selfish, like Jack, but there is a time where selfishness is not a good quality to have. Tiny Duffy will probably be the ultimate victor in the book, just because he is willing to do anything that would get him power, which might even entail selling his soul.
Female Characters from Good to Bad
1. Lucy Talos: She is the kind of person that a man like Willie did not deserve. She did not allow the bonding vows she took with the governor to overshadow her moral compass. Very early on, she told Willie that if he helped out Byram White, she would leave him. Despite the backlash that she faced from her then husband, she did eventually leave him to live an easy life on a farm, away from the corruption that was consuming Willie.
2. Anne Stanton: Although Jack makes her out to be the bad guy/gal, he has a huge bias. He can't blame himself for his inaction, so Anne faces the brunt of his torment. She is absolutely not bad, and is able to be accountable for her actions. Anne leaves Jack because he is unsure of himself, and falls into Willie's arms because he has planned out the direction he wants his life to move in. Even though she does cheat on Jack while they are together, she admits it flat out, instead of leading him on.
3. Jack's mother: As of now, it seems like Jack's mom is extremely manipulative, and only marries men to gain their wealth. After the knot is tied, she divorces them, gathering an even bigger fortune. Other than that, there doesn't seem to be much more information that allows me to make an assumption on her character. She cares for Jack in a way that only a mother can, coddling him even though he is well past his diaper-wearing days. Jack's mom might be the perfect example of a loving mother, who would steal money in order to make sure her son had all he needed to be successful.
4. Sadie Burke: Willie and Sadie are a match made in heaven. Sadie was once against Willie, and only stuck around him because that was what she was paid to do. But after the unwavering support began to gather for Willie, she quickly switched sides to become one of his most devoted supporters. She is one the the reasons that Willie and Lucy's relationship began to falter, being one of, if not the, first woman to sleep with him while still being married. Sadie gets angry that Willie cheats on her with other women, yet is unable to see the blatant hypocrisy in her words and actions. Sadie is so spiteful that she sets in motion the events that (SPOILER ALERT AGAIN) kill Willie, and although she is apologetic, cannot really take back what she has done.
5. Annabelle Trice: Annabelle is a cheater, a slave-driver, and just a heartless person in general. She back stabs her loving husband after sleeping with Cass (who is also not the best person), which eventually leads him to suicide. She never once thinks of another person besides herself, and sells her slave Phebe to a bunch of bad people in the even deeper South, only because she didn't want to face other people finding out about her atrocious acts. Not only does she sell Phebe, but she does it without consulting Cass, who seems to be the only person she has in the world. Annabelle then goes on to give Cass an ultimatum, one of the most scummy things somebody can do. It shows that she is not able to make a compromise, and is completely self centered.
Mr. Perrando brings up a good point in his hierarchy. Even though he rudely gives away a large part of the book It seems that almost every single person in this story has done something seriously wrong at some point in their life, and are either living in that sin currently or trying to reconcile it (or in the case of Jack Burden being so passive that its sin). Ranking them in a "good to bad" manor is really looking at who has done the least wrong based on our current knowledge (or in Mr. Perrando's case the knowledge that was provided to him by certain websites that contain the information stated prior). This is like life, though we may not all have done something as drastic as these characters, the mistakes that we make that do play a large part in how we live our lives going forward, and we see that play out in the decisions that the cast makes.
ReplyDeleteI am disgusted that you would even insinuate that I would use outside sources for information. Your assumptions make me sick.
DeleteSince I chose not to include Annabelle Trice in my hierarchy, I was intrigued by your description and ranking of her. It is interesting to see how her actions and morals compare to the other female characters, who lived some hundred years later. I think it is quite possible that time and bias in Cass' recollections have corrupted memory of Ms. Trice, but she is indisputably a bad woman. A woman cheating on her husband, even with a close friend of his, is not all that uncommon. But a woman that disregards the life and safety of another woman, bondage in slavery notwithstanding, because she cannot handle her own guilt, is a woman weak, cowardly, and selfish. You also point out the significance of Annabelle making drastic decisions without consulting Cass, showing that she truly does not value the feelings or opinions of others. She draws people in with her beauty and shoves them away with her horrible personality. Jack, Willie, Anne, Adam, and the other contemporary characters should feel fortunate to have been spared the displeasure of her company in their lifetimes.
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