Cormac Mccarthy's Child Of God
Critical Analysis of Child Of God
Written by Cormac McCarthy in 1973, the novel, Child of God takes place in Sevier County, Tennessee, in the 1960’s. This novel tells a story of Lester Ballard, a rather odd man described as "a child of God much like yourself perhaps.” The unfortunate events of Ballard 's life in the novel unveiled a failed attempt to survive outside of the normal social order. After the abandonment of his mother, his father 's suicide and the auctioning off of his land, Ballard is forced into a life of isolation as a cave dweller, hiding from the shame and crime that society has framed upon him. This isolation then sparks a light to ignite the fire within Lester Ballard. Crossing paths with an abandoned vehicle on the …show more content…
One of the most unique features in Cormac McCarthy 's writing style is that McCarthy does not use quotation marks to separate thought from speech. The reader, however, is able to tell the distinction between the two by McCarthys change to a poetic format. The authors formated writing also switches between matter-of-fact description, poetic prose and first person narration. As stated in the introduction, Child of God takes place in Tennessee in the 1960’s. McCarthy chose to demonstrate the thick, southern, mountaineer dialect with word choices such as “yonder”, “ain’t” and “ye.” The author also emphasizes the lack of sophistication in his characters through grammar mistakes and incorrectly spelled words within the novel. An example of this style of writing is demonstrated on page three, paragraph four, line thirteen “I don’t give a good goddamn where the high sheriff is at. I want you sons of bitches off my goddamned property. You hear?” This quote also demonstrates the current use of cursing and vulgar language used in McCarthy’s writing. In the Child of God there are multiple narratives told within the story. The author chose these interrupters as miniature novels so that the reader could view the biased opinions of Lester Ballard from other minor characters in the novel. This effect allows the reader a secondary source of details and characteristics of
Written by Cormac McCarthy in 1973, the novel, Child of God takes place in Sevier County, Tennessee, in the 1960’s. This novel tells a story of Lester Ballard, a rather odd man described as "a child of God much like yourself perhaps.” The unfortunate events of Ballard 's life in the novel unveiled a failed attempt to survive outside of the normal social order. After the abandonment of his mother, his father 's suicide and the auctioning off of his land, Ballard is forced into a life of isolation as a cave dweller, hiding from the shame and crime that society has framed upon him. This isolation then sparks a light to ignite the fire within Lester Ballard. Crossing paths with an abandoned vehicle on the …show more content…
One of the most unique features in Cormac McCarthy 's writing style is that McCarthy does not use quotation marks to separate thought from speech. The reader, however, is able to tell the distinction between the two by McCarthys change to a poetic format. The authors formated writing also switches between matter-of-fact description, poetic prose and first person narration. As stated in the introduction, Child of God takes place in Tennessee in the 1960’s. McCarthy chose to demonstrate the thick, southern, mountaineer dialect with word choices such as “yonder”, “ain’t” and “ye.” The author also emphasizes the lack of sophistication in his characters through grammar mistakes and incorrectly spelled words within the novel. An example of this style of writing is demonstrated on page three, paragraph four, line thirteen “I don’t give a good goddamn where the high sheriff is at. I want you sons of bitches off my goddamned property. You hear?” This quote also demonstrates the current use of cursing and vulgar language used in McCarthy’s writing. In the Child of God there are multiple narratives told within the story. The author chose these interrupters as miniature novels so that the reader could view the biased opinions of Lester Ballard from other minor characters in the novel. This effect allows the reader a secondary source of details and characteristics of