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, Adam Stanton and Jack
Burden.
Willie Stark is a character that attempts to conquer knowledge,
even....
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