Time

All the King’s Men never stays in the same time plane. The novel begins in the past tense, but then it goes even further into the past to explain the first scenes. Then it comes back to the first scene and finishes out the scenario. Afterward, it jumps to the present as Jack is describing how his life turned out. There is also a Civil War-era story told through journal entries. Jack uses these different time planes as a way to judge himself and his actions. He perceives he identified with different morals and values in the past, so he wonders if his entire persona has changed.

Because he doesn’t understand how time works, he doesn’t know whether or not he should even try to comprehend it. At the end of the novel, Jack realizes he can merge the past, present, and future together and...