All the King's Men | Style

All the King's Men Style

Point-of-View

The character of Jack Burden tells the story of All the King's Men from his point of view. While most of Jack's narration is first person, Warren occasionally switches Jack's narration to third person. In those few cases, the narrator is put at a greater distance from the story and the action, as if Jack is speaking about someone other than himself.

Chapter four includes an instance of Jack speaking of himself in the third person. Jack is telling about a time when his mother came to the university to visit him in his apartment, a filthy, rundown flat he shared with two other students. Upon leaving the apartment, Jack's mother asked him why he lived in such a place, to which he responded: " 'It's what I'm built for, I reckon.' " Another incidence appears at the end of chapter one, when Jack alters his name slightly,...
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