Child of God (Cyclopedia of Literary Characters)
At a glance:
- Author: Cormac McCarthy
- First Published: 1973
- Type of Work: Novel
- Type of Plot: Social realism
- Time of Work: Early 1960’s
- Setting: Sevier County, Tennessee, in the Appalachian Mountains
- Genres: Long fiction, Social realism
- Subjects: 1960’s, Murder or homicide, South or Southerners, Rural or country life, Mental illness, Rape, Farms, farmers, or farming, Mountain life, Handicapped
- Locales: Sevier County, TN
Characters Discussed
Lester Ballard, a twenty-seven-year-old farmer in Sevier County, Tennessee. After his mother runs away and his father kills himself, Lester is left alone, too brutal and mean to make friends. In later years, his only companion is his rifle, and his only interests are hunting, drinking, and sex. After he loses the family farm for nonpayment of taxes and is badly beaten when he objects, he resolves to avenge himself on the new owner, John Greer. In the meantime, he tries to make a home in a remote, deserted house. All the women he approaches reject him. For...
[The entire page is 763 words long]
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