The Roles and Functions of the Main Female Characters of All the King's Men: Anne, Lucy, and Sadie Anonymous 11th Grade

The three main female characters of All the King’s Men, while standing as their own personal individuals, also serve to show the best and worst aspects of all the main male characters that present throughout the novel. While Anne Stanton and Lucy Stark do possess roles as love interests, close analysis of the text reveals that these characters are more than complements to the men around them. Like a third core female character, Sadie Burke, these figures help readers to understand the moral dilemmas at the novel's core.

Near the beginning of the novel, Anne Stanton is first presented as the first love of Jack Burden and seems to fulfill the role of a possible love interest for Jack as well. As the novel progresses, however, Anne Stanton is presented as someone with much more independence, and her role in the novel transforms into much more than a simple female lead whose purpose is to only serve as a love interest. Besides her brother, Anne Stanton was raised by her father, Governor Stanton, whose occupation shaped Anne’s values and beliefs as she grew older. Her faith in her father as a person of good morale shaped her to strongly believe in the power of a moral code, and even uses her own moral code quite often when...