Beginning of Essay
Throughout All the King's Men, history plays an important role in the motivations and lives of all the characters. History's importance is most noticeable, not surprisingly, in the story main characters - Willie Stark and Jack Burden - whose lives focus on and, i ....

Middle of Essay
.... too. It's dirt makes the grass grow. A diamond ain't a thing in the world but a piece of dirt that got awful hot. God-a-Mighty picked up a handful of dirt and blew on it and made you and me and George Washington and mankind blessed in faculty and apprehension. It all depends on what you do with the dirt."1 In this case, Stark is referring to the past as dirt - something to be used in many ways. The way he chooses to use it of course is as blackmail; "Then he would lean suddenly forward, at the man, and say, not slow and easy now, `God damn you, do you know what I can do to you?' And he could too. For he had the goods."2 Thus history is important t ....