All The Kings Men, Knowledge Vs. Ignorance

In All of the King’s Men by Robert Penn Warren I explored the theme of Knowledge vs. Ignorance through out the first couple of chapters. During many parts of the reading this theme of Knowledge vs. Ignorance is expressed through what Jack Burden says, thinks, and does. Consistently we see him either avoiding knowledge or chasing after knowledge. His actions and thoughts also present the pros and cons of knowledge which creates a debate in the text whether knowledge is good or bad. From the beginning of the novel Jack’s confusion about whether knowledge is good or bad is made quite obvious. This is made evident when Warren writes “the end of man is knowledge, but there is one thing he can’t know. He can’t know whether knowledge will save him or kill him. He will be killed all right, but he can’t know whether he is killed because of the knowledge which he has got or because of the knowledge he hasn’t got and which if he had it, would save him” (Warren 14). By presenting this question that is impossible to answer about whether it is better to know or not know information, Warren initiates the major theme of Knowledge vs. Ignorance. He proposes that in some cases knowledge “would save him”, but in others “he is killed because of the knowledge”. Now that the question is presented there becomes evidence supporting each side that makes it impossible to determine whether knowledge is better than ignorance or vice versa. Support that ignorance is better is shown when Jack is in the yard and he states “I heard somebody open and shut the gate to the barn lot, but I didn’t look around. If I didn’t look around it would not be true that somebody had opened the gate with the creaky hinges, and that is a wonderful principle for a man to get hold of” (Warren 45). From this we can see that Jack’s ignorance is beneficial to him, by being ignorant of his surroundings he is able to enjoy the moment a lot more. He becomes uninfluenced by things around him and thinks more clearly and makes his own decisions rationally. He even goes on to say “I owed my success in life to that principle” (Warren 45), which shows that ignorance is seemingly better for Jack. After supporting the ignorance side in chapter one Warren exemplifies the need for knowledge in chapter two. In chapter two Stark is made a fool of because he is ignorant of the truth and listens to what people tell him because he wants to be elected to office so bad that he believes what anyone told him. Stark then learns from his mistake and realizes that it is better to have knowledge and states “when they come to you sweet talking you better not listen to anything they say” (Warren 146). Stark has learned from his mistake and realizes that what people tell him is false and he should be more knowledgeable about situations before he jumps into them. This shows that in the second chapter ignorance did more harm to him than knowledge could have.