“The strangeness of the story of Lester Ballard, the child of God, begins not with its subject but with the way the story is told . » Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned"?Get the original essayVereen Bell, The Achievement of Cormac McCarthyIn his 1991 essay, Andrew Bartlett suggests that Cormac McCarthy's Child of God "does not derives not so much from the strength of Lester Ballard as subject or object but rather from the set of positions taken by the narrator through which we see Ballard” (Bartlett 3). That being said, much of the novel relies on the descriptions of a third-party narrator mixed with first-person accounts of Ballard's Sevier County residents. Characterized by the community as violent, unpredictable, and sociopathic, Lester Ballard is alienated from his peers from a young age. Surrounded by a tight-knit community located in the isolated reaches of Appalachia, Ballard is unable to escape the negative characteristics projected onto him by the community he is a part of. That being said, the novel presents a constant struggle between Lester's personal choices and his socially determined well-being. By presenting Ballard as a community scapegoat, McCarthy emphasizes the role of community in determining moral standards. Additionally, McCarthy presents Lester Ballard through two opposing narratives: one lens that views Ballard sympathetically, a "child of God," and another view from the perspective of the surrounding community (4). Often harsh, subjective, and judgmental, McCarthy uses Ballard's local insight to explore the moral hypocrisies inherent in the Appalachian region. In doing so, he reveals the community's responsibility for Lester Ballard and his atrocities. To better understand the social climate that shaped Ballard, it is necessary to first consider the historical implications of the area. In the late 19th century, a group called the "White Caps" was rampant in the Appalachian region, particularly in Sevier County, Tennessee, where McCarthy's novel takes place. The vigilante group “threatened those who deviated from the community's traditional mores” and reacted violently when their authority was compromised (Banker 143). In turn, the group perpetuated national stereotypes of Appalachians as “gun-wielding, revenge-seeking mountain men” (Banker 144). Internally, this period of history exacerbated a tendency for Appalachia to construct identities based on local and national prejudices. Similarly, McCarthy uses this mindset to shape the identity of Lester Ballard. In the final chapter of Part One, unidentified community narrators reveal speculation about Leland Ballard, Lester's grandfather: "I'll tell you one thing he was if he wasn't a soldier. It was by God a white cap” (McCarthy 80). By referencing the White Caps in the final chapter written in the first person, McCarthy reminds his reader to consider the importance of this regionally influential group in relation to the fictional community's creation of Lester Ballard. As Bartlett points out, only the first section of the novel employs the voices of characters located in the middle of Sevier County alongside Ballard (6). Interestingly, when the townspeople's voices disappear in Parts II and III, Lester's isolation and violence increase exponentially. Although Bartlett believes that the communal narration serves as "gentle preparation" for Lester's atrocious acts in the following sections, I argue that the first-person narration of the first part reveals ainsight into the community that made Lester the man he became (6). begins with Lester being forced to leave his Sevier County home after foreclosure. When the house was put up for auction, potential buyers "came like a caravan of carnival people" with the intention of buying the house cheaply and knowingly sent Lester out into the street.(McCarthy 3). Lester, unable to understand the insensitivity of his peers, insists that they “get the fuck out of [his] property” (7). However, his protests are in vain and he is eventually evicted from the only home he has. Naturally, Lester “could never hold his head right after” (9). This early experience exposes Lester to the general disdain and contempt his community holds for him and serves as a catalyst for his mental deterioration. More directly, the community narrative reveals the illogical fear and hatred toward Lester inherent in the county. Describing Ballard's punch to a young boy, one commenter admits: "I don't know what it was... We felt really, really bad." I never liked Lester Ballard from that day on. I never liked him much before that. He never did anything to me” (18). This is a relatively usual occurrence in the fictional community, we don't think much about other characters engaging in petty violence and fighting at the same time. Yet this local voice expresses the general animosity that the community projects toward Lester. Due to his alienation, Lester is forced to find comfort in inanimate objects (and later, inanimate people). At the county fair, Lester enters a competition demonstrating his marksmanship in the hopes that his prize will be "those big stuffed animals over there" (63). After winning two teddy bears and a large tiger, Lester becomes attached to them like a young child would attach to a toy and carries them around for the rest of the novel. Once again, his strange behavior can be attributed to his ostracism by society. Ironically, the community that isolates Lester is the same community he blindly turns to for proper thought and action. For example, when he is at the fair, he sees another man cheating during a game by “trying to get two fish into his net at the same time” (62). After observing the man for a while and concluding that his behavior was acceptable, Lester copies him and begins to make mistakes. Interestingly, it is Lester who is arrested and reprimanded for violating the rules of the game. Nevertheless, it was another member of the community who unknowingly taught and instigated Lester to cheat - this desire did not come from Lester himself. A similar incident is described during Ballard's wrongful stay in prison for alleged rape. Another inmate told Lester, “The white pussy is nothing but trouble,” and having never thought about it, “Ballard agreed that it was.” He guessed that he meant it, but he had never heard him say that” (53). Once again conforming to the ideas of those around him, Ballard blindly believes and agrees with what he hears from other members of the community. Even when he boasts to other inmates that "all the trouble he had...was caused by whiskey or women or both," he admits that it was only because "he had I have often heard men say the same thing” (53). Throughout the first part of the novel, it is clear that Lester is simply a byproduct of his environment and that the offending community repeatedly refuses to take responsibility for the savage they have created. egregious crimes - his murders, necrophilia, and extreme acts of brutality are all described to the reader by the narrator in the third person. Although the.. 1973.