Allusion Paragraph

Throughout Penn's All the King's Men, the author utilizes the Greek allusions of Telemachus and Cassandra to explain the experiences and happenings of Jack Burden. Cassandra demonstrates a Greek character that had the power to tell the future. However, after refusing Apollo's love, he placed a curse on her which entailed that no one would believe her predictions. This curse parallels to the curse of Jack Burden not acknowledging or understanding all the subtle clues to his past. For instance, Cass says, "I write this down...with what truthfulness a sinner may attain unto, that if ever pride is in me, of flesh or spirit, I can peruse these pages and know with shame what evil has been in me," which shows Jack how pride can make people arrogant. In turn, they are unable to realize how much they affect others and vise versa. The following excerpt reinforces this idea, "I have said that Jack Burden could not put down the facts about Cass Mastern's words because he did not know Cass Mastern...They could only be words t him for to him the world then was simply an accumulation of items, odds, and ends...one thing had nothing to do, in the end, with anything else." Jack is oblivious to all Cass tries to show him through his writings. This also demonstrates the introduction to the Spider Web Theory, meaning all acts are interconnected in some way. Throughout the story, Jack connects with the Greek allusion Telemachus. Once Odysseus, Telemachus' father, goes out on a journey, there are a bunch of suitors trying to marry his mother. Telemachus becomes forced to be the man of the house at a very young age in defending his mother. Once his father returns from his journey, Telemachus holds the inability to recognize him because so much time has passed. This plot reflects on Jack Burden's situation. Once the Scholarly Attorney, "abandoned" Jack and his mother, Jack was forced to be the man of the house while keeping an eye on his mother throughout her many following relationships. During Jack's entire life, Judge Irwin had been there acting as a father-figure. Jack, however, doesn't come to learn that the Judge was his real father until near the end of the novel. Burden's father was there the whole time; he just couldn't recognize him. This is depicted through, "'You ought to have led that duck more, Jack. You got to lead a duck, son. But, son, I'll make a duck hunter out of you yet,' the Judge said." Also, when Odysseus was able to string the bow to prove that he was worthy of marrying Penelope, Telemachus' mother, the son didn't want to recognize Odysseus as a hero. Jack, in sequence with this, never wanted to acknowledge the judge as a hero, despite his war efforts and good deeds. This idea is explained through, "I supposed that for a long time I took a snotty tone about the Judge as hero because it was a fashion for a while to take such a tone about heroes and I grew up in that fashion. Or perhaps it was because I had bad feet and never got into the Army, or even the S.A.T.C. when I was in college, and therefore had a case of the sour grapes that the wallflower always has." Robert Warren Penn utilizes the Greek Allusions of Cassandra and Telemachus to not only enhance the connection of the work to the outside world, but also further explain the situation of Jack Burden