Child of God

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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. McCarthy ignores literary conventions - for example, he does not use quotation marks - and chops and changes among several styles of writing such as matter-of-fact descriptions, almost poetic prose, and colloquial first-person narration (with the speaker remaining unidentified).

Contents 1 Plot summary 2 Themes 3 Notes 4 Footnotes

[edit] Plot summary

Set in mountainous Sevier County, 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.

[edit] Themes

One of the novel's main themes is sexual deviancy, specifically necrophilia and pedophilia. Ballard, who the novel makes clear is unable to have conventional relationships with women, eventually descends into necrophilia after finding a dead couple in a car. After this "first love" perishes in a fire he becomes proactive, creating dead female partners by shooting them with his rifle. Ballard also makes no distinction between women and girls, at one point killing a girl who he had previously asked "How come you wear them britches? You cain't see nothin". Another theme examined by the novel is survival. As the real world pushes Ballard further and further into a corner, there are many examples of actions aimed at survival, from the stealing of food to a particularly devious escape after he is captured by a group of vengeful men. The novel also indirectly examines racism with the word nigger freely used to describe African Americans although none of the novel's main characters are black.

[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, Tennessee, 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.

In October 2007 the book found itself as the center of school controversy at Jim Ned High School in Tuscola, TX. Kaleb Tierce, AP English teacher and coach at Jim Ned, assigned a book report for which a 14-year-old student selected this title. Tierce was placed on paid administrative leave when the mother of the student complained. He may also face criminal charges. After an investigation, the sheriff's department brought no charges, and the case is currently being reviewed by the DA to determine if any crime was committed. ^[2]

[edit] Footnotes

v • d • e Works of Cormac McCarthy Novels The Orchard Keeper (1965) • Outer Dark (1968) • Child of God (1974) • Suttree (1979) • Blood Meridian, Or the Evening Redness in the West (1985) • All the Pretty Horses (1992) • The Crossing (1994) • Cities of the Plain (1998) • No Country for Old Men (2005) • The Road (2006) Screenplays The Gardener's Son (1976) Plays The Stonemason (1995) • The Sunset Limited (2006) Adaptations The Gardener's Son (1977) • All the Pretty Horses (2000) • No Country for Old Men (2007)