History Literature / AllTheKingsMen

* IDidWhatIHadToDo: Stark justifies his illegal and unconstitutional actions by saying that he's done a huge amount of good for the state, and everyone just makes up morality as they go along anyway. The former is definitely true, and [[RuleOfCautiousEditingJudgment you can decide the latter yourself]].

* BittersweetEnding: [[spoiler:The Boss and Adam Stanton both die, but Jack has gotten over his nihilism, accepted the past, and is even married to Anne Stanton. Lucy Stark also seems to have dealt with grief fairly well by raising Tom's probable son..]]
* ClingyJealousGirl: Sadie is this to Willie, getting worked up into a frothing rage every time Willie takes another lover. Jack even has to remind her that he's two-timing ''Lucy,'' his wife, and not her. [[spoiler:[[{{Yandere}} this comes to a head when Sadie orchestrates Willie's assassination because he was planning on leaving her.]]]]
* ConvenientComa: [[spoiler:Averted with Tom. His spine is crushed during a football game and he doesn't regain consciousness, and after an operation he ends up in a vegetative state where he ends up dying of pneumonia.]]

* DeathByWomanScorned: [[spoiler:Willie leaves Sadie, his mistress, who is unable to cope with the idea of being cast aside, and she arranges his murder because of it.]]

* DrivenToSuicide: Duncan Trice, Mortimer L. Littlepaugh, [[spoiler:Judge Irwin]].

* GoldDigger: Jack's mom is indicated to have been this and a LadyDrunk. [[spoiler:In reality both are fueled by her suppressed love for Judge Irwin, who is Jack's real father.]]
* GoneHorriblyRight: Jack says his investigation into Judge Irwin was successful. It's enough to convince Adam to betray his idealism and become Willie's hospital director. Jack just also happens to find more than he was bargaining for, [[spoiler:cause Irwin to kill himself, and send Anne into the arms of Willie, which ends up getting both Willie and Adam killed.]]

* HeWhoFightsMonsters: Willie starts honest, but quickly is corrupted when he realizes what he needs to do to become Governor. Adam's fear of being corrupted is part of what leads him to [[spoiler:assassinate Willie]].

* TheHeroDies: [[spoiler:Willie is shot, lingers for a few days, and dies, regretting about how things might have turned out differently.]]
* HopeSpot: [[spoiler:After Willie is shot, the doctor says that he might live and muddle through it, as he's strong and an operation is possible. The operation is a success, but he gets an infection and dies a few days later anyway.]]

* IfICantHaveYou: [[spoiler:Willie tells Sadie that it's over between them, as he's going back to his wife. She can't take him leaving for good and arranges his death.]]

* KarmaHoudini: [[spoiler: Duffy. Though Jack figures that his career in politics is over, since Stark pitied him enough to keep him on the political team.]]
* KnightTemplarBigBrother: [[spoiler:Adam goes after Willie when he learns that Willie's been sleeping with Anne as part of a deal involving him.]]
* LaserGuidedKarma: [[spoiler:Tom Stark paralyzes a girl in a car accident he caused, walking away scot-free. He himself becomes paralyzed during a football game.]]

* LukeIAmYourFather: [[spoiler:Jack's real father is Judge Irwin. Jack doesn't learn this until after Irwin's death.]]
* MayDecemberRomance: [[spoiler:Mrs. Burden had a love affair with Judge Irwin, who was quite a deal older than her, a companion of her already-older husband.]]

* NotSoDifferent: [[spoiler:Jack is about to sic Sugar-Boy on Tiny Duffy, knowing that he was the one to have goaded Adam into killing Willie, but stops at the last moment, knowing that it's the same dirty tactic that Sadie and Duffy used.]]
* ParentalNeglect: Willie is a pretty poor father to Tom, focusing more on his political career than being a parent, and his few attempts at disciplining are completely ineffectual. [[spoiler:When Tom is knocked unconscious during a football game and has to be carried off the field, he ''doesn't even get up,'' just keeps on watching the game and makes an offhand comment about his son's injury, with Jack remarking that he might as well have been talking about the weather. An official has to eventually come out and ask him to come to the field house to review his son's (mortal) injury.]]
* ParentalSubstitute: Irwin for Jack. [[spoiler:Subverted in that Irwin is Jack's actual father.]]
* ThePollyanna: Lucy, who ignores her husband's infidelity and assorted antics [[spoiler:at first]].

* SmallNameBigEgo: [[spoiler:After Willie's death, no one cares about Jack Burden's name anymore, and he becomes this, ruefully reminiscing on the time where his name made people sit up and take notice.]]
* SomeoneToRememberHimBy: [[spoiler:Lucy ends up adopting a baby who could be Tom's, and names him after Willie.]]

* VictoriousChildhoodFriend: [[spoiler:Jack and Anne end up marrying.

* FatSweatySouthernerInAWhiteSuit: Tiny Duffy
* FoodSlap
* InfantImmortality
* LadyDrunk
* TimePassesMontage

* YourCheatingHeart: The Boss has an extramarital affair with Sadie Burke, and then cheats on ''her'', first with a random prostitute in Chicago, then with [[spoiler:Anne Stanton, which triggers Jack's HeroicBSOD]].

* TheStarscream: Tiny Duffy. [[spoiler:A successful example.]]
* StepfordSmiler: Duffy takes Stark's abuse and mockery with a dumb smile, but Jack catches him with his facade dropped and ruminates that he really is human. [[spoiler:The resentment boils over to where he's a perfect weapon for Sadie to use to kill Stark.]]

* TraumaCongaLine: [[spoiler:It starts with the suicide of Judge Irwin, continues with Tom getting paralyzed, and ends with Adam Stanton and Willie Stark killing each other. It's a TraumaCongaLine for everyone in the story, but is worst for Jack, Anne, and Sadie. Jack found out that Irwin was his father right after his death, Anne was the instrument that was used to set Adam off on Willie, and Sadie being dumped after Tom's paralysis was what led her to give Tiny Duffy the ammo to kill Willie.]].

* TheUnfairSex: [[spoiler:In all the examples of YourCheatingHeart, the female half of the affair get sympathetic treatment and all get off scot-free while the male half of the affair ends up dying.]]
* TheUnintelligible: Possibly unintentional. Sean Penn's accent is really thick and half the things he says are metaphors only people from 1930s Louisiana would understand.

* WhosYourDaddy: [[spoiler:Jack's father is really Judge Irwin.]]

** In the 2006 film version, Stark is shown to have a harem consisting of loose women from all over the world, including a Spanish ice-skater ("The world is full of sluts on skates") and a Japanese {{geisha}}. For this reason, Jack Burden is referred to sarcastically as "State Director of Pimps."

** [[spoiler:Mrs. Burden cheated on her husband with Judge Irwin, and ends up getting pregnant.]]

Made into a film two times, in 1949 and 2006. The 1949 version, directed by Robert Rossen, was a critical and commercial success, winning three UsefulNotes/{{Academy Award}}s including Best Picture, Best Actor (Broderick Crawford), and Best Supporting Actress (Mercedes [=McCambridge=]). The 2006 adaptation however was a BoxOfficeBomb and critical failure, despite a huge cast including SeanPenn and Creator/KateWinslet.

Made into a film two times, in 1949 and 2006. The 1949 version was a critical and commercial success, winning three UsefulNotes/{{Academy Award}}s including Best Picture. The 2006 adaptation however was a BoxOfficeBomb and critical failure, despite a huge cast including SeanPenn and Creator/KateWinslet.

* KnightTemplarBrother: [[spoiler:Adam goes after Willie when he learns that Willie's been sleeping with Anne as part of a deal involving him.]]

* KarmaHoudini: [[spoiler: Duffy.]]

Made into a film two times, in 1949 and 2006. The 1949 version was a critical and commercial success, winning three AcademyAwards including Best Picture. The 2006 adaptation however was a BoxOfficeBomb and critical failure, despite a huge cast including SeanPenn and Creator/KateWinslet.

Made into a film two times, in 1949 and 2006. The 1949 version was a critical and commercial success, winning three AcademyAwards including Best Picture. The 2006 adaptation however was a BoxOfficeBomb and critical failure, despite a huge cast including SeanPenn and KateWinslet.

* HeWhoFightsMonsters: Willie starts honest, but quickly is corrupted when he realizes what he needs to do to become Governor. Adam's fear of being corrupted is part of what leads him to [[spoiler:assassinate Willie.]]

* ParentalSubstitute: Irwin for Jack. [[spoiler:Subverted in that Irwin is Jack's actual father]]

* VillainousGlutton: Tiny Duffy again. Also Willie Stark, [[GreyAndGreyMorality for a given value of "villainous"]].

** In the 2006 film version, Stark is shown to have a harem consisting of loose women from all over the world, including a Spanish ice-skater ("The world is full of sluts on skates") and a Japanese [[{{Geisha}} geisha]]. For this reason, Jack Burden is referred to sarcastically as "State Director of Pimps."

''All The King's Men'' is a 1946 novel by Robert Penn Warren, which won the 1947 Pulitzer Prize. It chronicles the life of radically-liberal (in point of fact, populist-socialist) Louisiana governor Willie "the Boss" Stark (in the book and films)/Talos (in the never-properly-completed play), through the eyes of LemonyNarrator and eventual main character Jack Burden. In particular, it covers Stark's two campaigns for governor, his [[YourCheatingHeart chronic infidelity]], and his [[WellIntentionedExtremist increasingly frenzied]] attempts to create a new state hospital. Almost universally assumed to be [[VeryLooselyBasedOnATrueStory loosely based on the true story]] of [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Huey_Long Louisiana governor Huey Long]]. Highly recommended reading.

Made into a film two times, in 1949 and 2006.

** In the 2006 film version, Stark is shown to have a harem consisting of loose women from all over the world, including a Spanish ice-skater and a Japanese [[{{Geisha}} geisha]]. For this reason, Jack Burden is referred to sarcastically as "State Director of Pimps."

* TheGreatDepression: The time period in which the novel is set, and the reason Willie Stark gets elected.

* HairOfTheDog: Willie didn't drink until his first campaign for Governor. Then, one night, he drinks for the first time in his life. Suffering from the hangover of his life, Sadie Burke recommends the hair of the dog. He then delivers the speech of his life.