Dramatic Monologue

Jack

As I look back over the journey i have just completed,

I realize that he was absolutely right.

It could have all been different.

We should have been more careful,

We should have realized that people have limitations.

It is partly my fault, I should have not participated

In his blackmail and evil schemes.

I began to realize that the Boss was not

Perfect. He was turning into the politicians

That he sought to destroy early in his career.

I have realized that those who have come before

Me have gone through the same things as I have.

I should have heeded their advice when the time 

Was right but I thought I was above all that,

I thought that it didn't apply to me. 

I have learned the lesson that no one is perfect

And I learned it the hard way.

People can put on disguises, but eventually

Their real selves shine through.

The theories that I thought I was pioneering had 

Already been formulated long before my existence.

I shouldn't have gotten involved in this long journey.

I thought I would rise through the ranks and become

Successful, but instead I became a crook and lost

Many of my good friends. 

What's the point of becoming successful if 

You have no good friends left to share it with.

The journey has had its ups and downs.

I have realized who I am and who my ancestors were.

I have learned who my real father was and I realized

It came as a surprise but I felt that I had always known it. 

I am glad that this journey has finally come to an end 

I will erase the painful memories from my memory,

But there is one thing I cannot erase, the final words of my boss

It could have all been different.

Allusion Paragraph

Allusion Paragraph

 

            In the novel All The King’s Men, Robert Penn Warren utilizes allusion to help explain the relationship between Jack Burden and Cass Mastern. In Greek mythology the God of the sun, Apollo, gave Cassandra the power to foretell the future. Eventually Apollo placed a Curse on Cassandra so no one would believe the things she foretold.  Cass Mastern could be considered a type of Cassandra for Jack. When Jack was conducting his scholarly research he read through the journal of Cass Mastern. After studying the journal Jack later realizes that Cass himself came up with the spider web theory long before Jack came up with the theory. Jack reads about events that happened in Cass’s life that were similar to happenings in his own life. At first he does not realize this, but Cass’s life can be considered to foreshadow some of the events in Jack’s life. Warren also utilizes allusion to make another connection between characters.  Warren alludes to Telemachus and how he was left responsible to care for his mother until his father returned from battle. When his father does finally return Telemachus does not recognize him, but later he realizes that he is his father.  This can be applied to Jack’s relationship with Judge Irwin. Even though Jack had always considered the judge to be a father figure, Jack does not learn the truth about the judge until it is too late, “  ‘ Your father’ she said ‘you killed your father’. At the moment the finding out simply numbed me, when a heavy caliber slug hits you, you may spin around but you don’t feel a thing, not at first anyways.” 

AKM Poem

Against the brass-and-blood colored summer sunset of Arkansas

The black Cadillac made its humming sound through the night.

Under the flood of words and the snapping eyes

The water was very still and suddenly dark.

The blood began to climb up in Hugh Miller's face

Defecated in delicate little lime-white pinches.

Above the swollen palpitating tangle of light

On the bright arsenical-green turf.

With the firelight splashing and undulating over them

She clicked the pavement with authority.

I laid back and closed my eyes and took the sway of the car

We were beyond the sound of Adam's music now.