Child of God by Cormac McCarthy
Child of God, Published in 1973, is a horror story that is supposedly largely based on a string of real-life murders that occurred outside Chattanooga, Tennessee, in 1963. The film is set in the wilderness of East Tennessee. Lester Ballard, who is described as being 27 years old, is said to have “never been right after his father killed himself” when Lester was “around nine or ten.” Lester is a recluse as an adult. Others dislike, distrust, and all but shun him. Lester’s degradation as a person starts when his boyhood home, such as it is, is auctioned off against his will, leaving him without a place to live and completely alone.
Child of God by Cormac McCarthy
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McCarthy’s writing skills are evident in the story in a variety of ways. Because the author’s prose is consistently at a very high level and so thoroughly thought out, readers soon adapt to and accept the author’s minimal, concise, and quirky writing style. The author skillfully recreates the rustic, isolated mountain people of Sevier County’s culture, speech, and way of life. Regardless of the happenings, McCarthy records them in a stern, impartial manner. It is obvious that there is no desire to titillate or exaggerate the events that make up the story’s premise and convert it into a horror tale. No effort is made to make them less alarming than they already are or to shield the reader from truly horrifying events. McCarthy consistently demonstrates his mastery of metaphor and imagery.
Without access to human-made shelter or company, Lester Ballard turns into a scavenger who struggles to survive. Lester has an amazing amount of willpower and talent in the wild, despite at times being nearly childlike and appearing to have poor mental faculties. McCarthy has Lester perform one heinous deed after another, each one worse than the previous, just when readers start to feel too much sympathy for the man. One would have a greater understanding of him if he was driven by a sense of need or want, retaliation against those who wronged him, or maybe just life in general.
The ending of CHILD OF GOD is equally traumatic and coolly handled as the novel’s earlier events. Readers are left with mind-boggling, gory, terrible, and unforgettable visual impressions.
