Essay Archive - All the King's Men: Man As a Slave to Knowledge
All the King's Men: Man As a Slave to Knowledge
In Robert Penn Warren's novel, All the King's Men, Jack Burden states, “
The end of man is knowledge, but there is one thing a man can't know. He can't
know whether knowledge will save him or kill him (9).” Jack's statement reveals
that man is enslaved by knowledge. Familiar sayings such as, “Ignorance is
bliss,” and, “what you don't know can't hurt you” also state this point.
Examples of knowledge enslaving man are seen in the novel through the characters
of Willie Stark, Ad....
|