Lester Ballard In Cormac Mccarthy's Child Of God

Cormac McCarthy’s novel ,Child of God, is the tale of a violent, dispossessed man living on the outskirts of society. Set in 1960s rural Tennessee, the novel focuses on the life of Lester Ballard, a murdering necrophiliac who seemingly only follows his own rules. Ballard is represented as a despicable, unhuman character, who apparently is, “A child of God much like yourself perhaps” (4). While Ballard repeatedly commits evil acts, one cannot help but find a soft spot for this man who was unloved as child and seems to be a product of his cruel environment. On the surface, Ballard’s actions make him seem alien to “us” (society) but to delve deeper, one discovers a true understanding of Lester Ballard. McCarthy uses Lester Ballard and his attributes to reflect on the condition of human nature. Lester Ballard is given many titles in Child of God, most that compare him to

Ballard is not shown love. His father does not love him enough to not kill himself, “They say he[Ballard] never was right after his daddy killed hisself” (21). The townspeople immediately notice that after his father’s suicide, that Ballard becomes different. He does not receive the love he needs from his father which prevents him from receiving love from other women. Because he cannot receive love, Ballard decides to instead make love with the corpses of dead women. “Kneeling there between the girl’s legs he undid his buckle and lowered his trousers” (88). Ballard possess full power over the woman’s corpse, and because she cannot tell him no, he believes that he has the ability to objectify the corpse as a sex object. Necrophilia is a taboo is society; it is seen as something that barbaric and uncivilized people do. Because of his rampant practice of necrophilia through the novel, Ballard cannot be called one of “us”. He lacks the physical restraint to not have sex with corpses and even kills to fulfill his bodily