All the President's Men Literary Elements

Non-fiction

The events of the story start in June 17, 1972 and highlight Watergate scandal. A reader gets a chance to learn about the whole investigative process from the point of view of Carl Bernstein and Bob Woodward, the reporters of the Washington Post.

The story is told from the third point of view by an omniscient narrator.

Tone is mostly formal. Mood changes from calm to stressed one. It could also be described as mysterious, for the reporters try to find out the truth, which is highly protected by the leaders of the country.

Carl Bernstein and Bob Woodward are the protagonists of the story. President Richard Nixon is the antagonist.

The main conflict is characters vs. characters. In other words the main conflict could be described as democracy vs. authorities. It is shown that no one, not even a president himself/herself, can violate the main principle of democracy by the means of hiding the truth.

The climax of the story happens when Bernstein and Woodward find out about slush fund used to spy on and sabotage two Democratic presidential candidates.

Taking into account that this is a non-fiction book written by the reporters, who worked on the Watergate investigation, their names foreshadow the plot. For those readers, who know nothing about Watergate scandal, the fact that the reporter is called to come to the office on Saturday, when he has a day off, could serve as a foreshadowing. People don’t cancel their plans and give up on long-awaited rest for something trivial.

Certain elements may try to stretch this beyond what it is.
This is a classic example of an understatement. These words belong to Ronald L. Ziegler, presidential press secretary. He describes the break-in at the Watergate as something that “is not worthy” attention, just “a third-rate burglary attempt”. He deliberately tries to distract the press’s and the society’s attention, emphasizing that this scandal has no political subtext at all.

President Richard Nixon and almost all the most notable figures of the Democratic and the Republican Parties. The New York Times and The Washington Post are also mentioned a lot.

Imagery is not widely used. It is mostly used to describe the circumstances of the case.

I wait here all day, I finally get to see Gerstein, and he wants to ask me question. The paradox of this situation is that a reporter comes to get answers from a person that is supposed to know the truth, but that person expects him to tell what really goes on.

They spent hours and hours getting nowhere, and not just on that question.
Hours and hours were supposed to indicate the fact that the reporters had to work on the case almost all the time.

The White House is absolutely paranoid about Kennedy.
The White House is an example of metonymy. It denotes not the building itself, but representatives of authority and people who work there.
Slight, intent and owlish with his horn-rimmed glasses, he was known as “Earl the Pearl”.
Glasses are an example of synecdoche, which refer to spectacles.

The Watergate story has stalled, maybe even died.
The story can’t die, for it is not a living thing, but people can stop paying it attention.