Cass Mastern (all the King's Men)

In All The Kings Men, Jack, finds for his dissertation to get his PhD, he writes on his great uncle, Cass Mastern. Cass Mastern was a poor when he was born, but his brother, becoming rich from cotton plantations, came back and supported Cass financially. By the suggestion from Jefferson Davis, he went to Transylvania College in Lexington where through Jefferson, he becomes good friends with Duncan and Annabelle Trice. He fell "head over heels" for Annabelle and had an affair with her. Phebe, the Trice's slave, finds Duncan's wedding ring on his pillow right after he commits suicide which is a sign that he knew that his wife was having an affair. Annabelle, not being able to cope with Phebe knowing she was having an affair, sells Phebe to a merchant who takes her far away. As soon as Cass finds out he is extremely angry because he cannot believe that through his actions Phebe was sold most likely into prostitution and is separated from her husband forever who was living as well on the plantation. This is one of the main themes of the Cass Mastern which is called the "Spider Web Affect". When a fly just barely touches one string of a spider web, it causes a ripple affect that goes through the whole web causing the spider to pounce on it and paralyze it quickly-the same goes for life. When a person, accidental or not, brushes the web of the world, it causes changes in the lives of others which cannot be controlled. So Cass, leaving Annabelle behind forever, motivated by the guilt of knowing he caused Duncan's death goes out in search for Phebe so that he can buy her back and set things back to right from which he caused. He comes to a bar where they are selling slaves into prostitution where a drunk man yelled that Cass wanted to buy a "yellowish woman" which pisses Cass off which in the end gets stabbed with a bowie knife. After all of this trouble and no luck in finding Phebe, Cass decides to stop the search and go back to his brother Gilberts plantation where he manages. To his brothers extreme horror, thinking that this would kill the guilt inside of him, Cass sets all of the slaves free and has the plantation run by waged workers which ends up failing. Cass eventually joins in the Civil War and the Mississippi Rifles. Even though he is carrying a gun, he promises himself he is not going to use it to take another mans life because he feel responsible for the death of Duncan Trice. Through-out the battles he wears Duncan's wedding ring on a chain around his neck to remind himself of his guilt and remorse. Through the first of the war, to his dismay, Cass goes unhurt even though he is not firing on any enemy men. His luck finely wears

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