All the King's Men Race Quotes

How we cite our quotes: Citations follow this format: (Chapter.Paragraph)

Quote #4

"Leave your bags in the car," she [Mrs. Murrell] said. "The boy will get them." (3.3)

Though this is 1933, almost 60 years after the Civil War, Jack's mother still has black servants. As we saw with the school contract situation, it wasn't easy for African-Americans to get jobs other than in the work they were doing when they were slaves.

Quote #5

"I had never noticed that her hand was the color of pure gold." (4.263)

This is Annabelle talking about Phebe. By comparing Phebe to gold, she admits that Phebe is precious, but stands by her belief that Phebe, like gold, is property. We put this under race because it speaks directly about skin color. Phebe's skin color shows that she is probably is of "mixed race."

Quote #6

"But the young gemmun got a hankeren fer yeller." (4. 88)

Phebe's skin color is somewhat unusual. Annabelle was able to get more money for Phebe because of her skin than she would have otherwise. Sadly, it seems her new owners will make their money back by turning Phebe into a sex slave.