LITERATURE ANALYSIS #3

Child of God by Cormac McCarthy

1.  The inciting incident in Child of God is the sale of Lester's house by the bank.  He is cast out into the mountains, where he finds an abandoned house he makes his home.  This novel is very exposition heavy.  It is not about the plot, but the character. 
2.  The themes of Child of God include loneliness, humanity, and nature.  Perhaps the most effective scene in the novel is when Lester stumbles upon two naked dead bodies and proceeds to have sex with the woman and drag her back to his abandoned house.  This scene, while at first cringe worthy, is a representation of the animal- the child of nature- that each person is before a human being.  Lester becomes dehumanized in a way- cast off and shunned from society.  He lives on base instincts and primal urges. 
3.  McCarthy's tone is very deadpan and cynical.  He presents the abnormal or that which is considered morally wrong by the public in the straightforward of ways.  It becomes apparent soon that Lester is a disgusting person, but McCarthy addresses him with a casual and laid back tone.
4.
     1. "I'll tell ye another thing he done one time." (Page 35).  Here is an example of the change in McCarthy's diction as he places you into another character's outlook.
     2. McCarthy's diction is much different when narrating, "Ballard descended by giant stone stairs to the dry floor of the quarry.  The great rock walls with their cannelured faces and featherdrill holes composed about him an enormous amphitheatre." (Page 38).
     3. "Ballard has come in from the dark dragging sheaves of snowclogged bracken and he has fallen to crushing up handfuls of this dried or frozen stuff and cramming it into the fireplace." (Page 66).  McCarthy takes a turn in style here by writing in the present tense, which feels slightly abnormal since the rest is written in the past tense.
     4. "You better stay away from here, called Ballard from the porch.  He was shivering there in the cold.  That's what you all better do." (Page 94).  This expresses Ballard's isolationism- his complete removal from other human beings.  This is due to his character- not only do people not want to be around him, but he doesn't want to be around people.
     5.  "He got a fire going in the hearth and with wooden fingers undid the frozen lacings of his shoes and levered them from the shank of his foot, banging the heels on the floor until they came off." (Page 101).  Ballard's fingers are clearly not wooden, but cold to the point of stiffness.
     6.  "You think people was meaner then than they are now? the deputy said.  The old man was looking out at the flooded town.  No, he said.  I don't.  I think people are the same from the day God first made one." (Page 168).
     7.  "A winter dreadful cold it was.  He thought before it was over that he would look like one of the bitter spruces that grew slant downwind out of the shale and lichens on the hogback." (Page 136).  This is an amazing instance of imagery, and really allows the reader to visualize the cold of the winter.
     8. "As he whirled about there in the kitchen door the last thing he saw through the smoke was the idiot child.  It sat watching him, berryeyed filthy and frightless among the pyramid flames." (Page 120).  Context: Ballard has just shot the child's mother, and burns the house down with the child in it to hide the evidence.  The reason Ballard took this woman's life was because she would not have sex with him.  This scene is important, in that it that it develops Balard's character and gives the reader further insight into a sociopathic mind.  Ballard doesn't care about who is hurt or killed, and insists he gets his way.  He is like an adult toddler with a rifle in place of a rattle, except he understands what death is.
     9. "He sounded like a man with a mouthful of marbles, articulating his goatbone underjaw laboriously, the original one having been shot away." (Page 46).  A very Cormac McCarthy style image.
     10. "Ballard crouched on his heels with the rifle between his knees.  He told the snow to fall faster and it did." (Page 139).


(IN PROGRESS)

CHARACTERIZATION:
1.  Lester Ballard does not like people.  As the novel progresses, we see that this man is a sociopath, but he is also a simple product of nature, or "God."  He is also a very proud person in that he hates to be looked down on.  After he tries to negotiate the price of his groceries with the storekeeper, Ballard becomes extremely angry when he is told to put something back.  "Ballard's face was twitching." (Page 126).  Ultimately Ballard would rather pay and take everything, in order to prove a point.  "I ain't puttin a goddamn thing back, said Ballard, laying out five dollars and slapping down the dime." (Page 126).
2.  The change in McCarthy's diction when dialogue is introduced is frenetic.
3.  Lester is a very round but static character.  He does not change dramatically throughout the novel, but his character is well developed. 
4.  Lester Ballard feels like a real person.  He is a portrait of a human person, albeit not a very nice one.