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All the King’s Men is not the story of one man’s political rise and fall, but the story of two men. Willie, whom many take as the main character, may not even be the main character, but Jack Burden. But in all, Robert Penn Warren’s novel is not the story of a singular man or two men, but a complex story of human achievement, failings, errors, and ideals. Jack Burden distinctly goes …

…s story is. Stark’s innate goodness is twisted and covered up by his position, but arises in his hopes for tomorrow, the hospital that people will be able to come to for years after his death and not pay a thing. Willie sees what he has become, as Jack sees what he was. Both are pivotal characters in this story, but the characters were not the story, but the rise and fall of hopes.