Child of God

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Child of God (1973) is the third novel by American author Cormac McCarthy.

Though the novel received critical praise, it was not a financial success. Like its predecessor, Outer Dark, Child of God established McCarthy's interest in using extreme isolation, perversity, and violence to represent normal human experience.

[edit] Notes

The author said in an interview that the character Ballard is based on an unnamed historical figure.^[1]

Despite its fantastic manner, Child of God contains much unobtrusive historical detail about Sevier County, including references to local Ku Klux Klan-like groups of the 1890s known as White Caps and Bluebills. Ballard's grandfather is said to have been a White Cap. The victims of the historical White Caps notably included women accused of immoral behavior, a circumstance that may be thematically connected to Ballard's actions.

[edit] Plot summary

Set in mountainous Sevier County, East Tennessee, Child of God tells the story of Lester Ballard, a dispossessed, violent man whom the narrator describes as "a child of God much like yourself perhaps." Ballard's life is a disastrous attempt to exist outside the social order. Successively deprived of parents and homes and with few other ties, Ballard descends literally and figuratively to the level of a cave dweller as he falls deeper into crime and degradation.