In All the King's Men by Robert Penn Warren, three main characters, Jack Burden, Willie Stark and Adam Stanton, embark on a whirlwind journey of self-discovery that leads to tragedy for some and optimistic enlightenment for others. Throughout the novel, everyone learns something different about themselves and must realize their moral position and role in the world. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get the original essay Willie Stark, political powerhouse and Jack's employer, is unfortunately enlightened just before his death. For most of the book, Willie is both politically and personally corrupt, running the state through manipulation and having numerous extramarital affairs. As governor, Willie treats people kindly as long as they listen to his point of view and support him. However, Willie is just as determined to punish his enemies. A firm believer in the principle that “the ends justify the means,” Willie resorts to blackmail and manipulation to do what he believes is best for the state and its administration. Willie tries to persuade the moral Adam Stanton that goodness is not simply "inherited." "You have to get there Doc, if you want to. And you have to get there because of evil... And you know why? Because there's nothing else to get out of it" (367) . Stark tries to justify his bad actions because the ending is good. Willie maintains this philosophy and continues to manipulate people until his son Tom is paralyzed during a football game. For the first time in the book, Willie cannot control the situation and is at his weakest. Willie does everything he can to pretend the situation is within his control, continually saying Tom will be fine and declaring his son's toughness at the hospital. Eventually, when Willie can control some of the situation, like when he decides to name the hospital after Tom, he jumps at the chance. He simply doesn't know how to act when he can't force circumstances to conform to his desires. After Tom's injury, Willie begins to turn over a new leaf by breaking off his affair with Anne and trying to reconcile with Lucy. He even wants to rid his office of corruption, canceling a dishonest construction contract and telling Tiny Duffy and Jack that things would be different from now on. Unfortunately, Adam Stanton, upset after learning that his sister and Willie had had an affair, shoots Willie the same day. Dying in a hospital bed a few days later, Willie tells Jack "if that hadn't happened (Adam's shooting), it might have been different, even still" (573). Adam Stanton, a skilled surgeon and Jack's closest childhood friend, is the most moral of the three characters and possesses great integrity as well as sensitivity. His high principles and desire to do good are easily thwarted by people he considers unscrupulous or possessing inferior character. So, Adam naturally despises Willie Stark. When Willie offers Adam a job as director of the new hospital, Adam accepts only because he knows it's a promising opportunity to help as many people as possible, his ultimate goal. From this point on, Adam receives blow after blow against his virtue until his morality is shattered and he collapses. The first blow comes when Jack exposes the dishonesty and corruption of Adam's late father, a former governor whom Adam revered as an honorable man. Adam doesn't take the news well, because his delicate attitudevirtuous begins to crack. After an attempted hospital bribe and learning of Willie's affair with his sister Anne, Adam is broken. He believes he only got the job as hospital director because he was the brother of Willie's mistress. This is the kind of corruption Adam can't tolerate, and the fact that it involves both him and his sister pushes him over the edge. His ego and sensitive spirit are crushed. In desperation, he kills Willie and dies himself when Willie's friend Sugar-Boy shoots him. Unfortunately, what Adam learns about himself is not positive; his enlightenment is only his realization that he simply cannot stand the corrupt and darker aspects of life. Jack Burden, the novel's narrator and protagonist, is the political right-hand man of southern Governor Willie Stark. He lacks initiative and enthusiasm to pursue his goals and simply acts like a puppet, conforming to the people around him and whatever life throws at him. For example, after months of working on a biographical study of his grandmother's brother, Cass Mastern, he stopped working and had no desire to finish it. Likewise, when he loses his job, he does not try to look for another one, simply because he does not want to, and fills his empty days with sleep and leisure. The future and responsibility mean nothing to Jack. Even if it does not bother him, his lack of initiative troubles his companion and lover Anne Stanton. Once she brings this to his attention, he thinks about it a bit, but takes no action, and Anne leaves after their summer fling. Most of the novel follows Jack in his work for Willie, which involves digging up dirt on political enemies and blackmail. Never becoming emotionally involved in his work, Jack remains detached from any sense of responsibility. This detachment carries over into Jack's personal life, where he decides that everything that happens is the result of the whims of nature and not the actions of any one person. By adopting this theory, called the “Great Twitch” (events are jerks, random and uncontrollable), Jack frees himself of blame and responsibility for his actions. Jack Burden is only transformed from a callous man into a caring individual after the death of his close friend and mentor, Judge Irwin. During one of Willie's blackmail pursuits, Jack discovers that Irwin had taken a bribe because he needed the money to save his estate. After Jack tries to blackmail the judge with this information, Irwin shoots himself. Later, Jack discovers that Judge Irwin was actually his father and that Jack is the sole heir to the estate. After mulling over the turn of events in his mind, Jack realizes in disbelief how undeniably logical the situation was. Judge Irwin accepted the bribe in order to save the estate, then fathered Jack, who attempted to blackmail his father with information about the bribe, causing Judge Irwin to commit suicide, leading to Jack inheriting the estate. If Judge Irwin had not accepted the bribe, Jack would not have had anything to inherit, and if Jack had not tried to blackmail Judge Irwin, the judge would not have committed suicide and Jack n would not have inherited the estate when he did. This incident proves to Jack that the Great Twitch theory must be wrong and that people are actually responsible for the actions they take. His ability to escape the idea of ​​responsibility is broken by this situation. Jack is sincerely sorry for his role in the death and cries, his first sincere emotional reaction. Another death has a lot to do with Jack's inner enlightenment, that of.