All The Kings Men :: essays research papers

The amount of change people go through in their lives is remarkable. One day, you can be a devious criminal, while the next you could turn a new leaf and become a saint. The change that Jack goes through in All the King’s Men, is comparable to that of the patient who receives a lobotomy. Although Jack undergoes no physical change, the events he witnesses rock his personality, and transforms him into an entirely new man. His metamorphosis from the beginning of the story to the end has as many parallels to the faceless patient’s operation as it does differences. Besides the obvious fact that no one ever operated on Jack, there are still many differences between him and the lobotomy patient. The most significant difference, however, lies in the reason for both men’s change. Adam remarks that the man will have a completely â€Å"new personality†, and when Jack brings up the concept of baptism, Adam adds that a baptismal is different because it does not give you a new personality, it merely gives you a new set of values to exercise your personality in. Here is where Jack and the patient differs. Jack is the complete opposite. While the man will have a new personality, Jack will go on to have the same personality, but exercise it in a different set of values. The man the reader comes to know in the final pages of the novel is still recognizable as Jack. In these final pages, Jack notes that Hugh Miller â€Å"will get back into politics,† and that Jack himself will â€Å"be along to hold his coat.† One will recall Mill er as the Attorney General who resigned to keep â€Å"his hands from getting dirty.† This is a clear example of Jack’s new set of values. Jack will keep doing what he has done for so many years -working in politics - because his personality has not changed. Nevertheless, his new set of values will not allow him to work for someone who is amoral any longer. Although there are such discernible differences as the one previously mentioned, one must also realize that there are prominent similarities between Jack and the anonymous patient. The leading similarity, strangely enough, is connected to the change cited earlier. Jack’s new set of values is what is equivalent to the new values the patient receives along with his new personality. Jack