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This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. The blacksmith warns that if the axe metal turns a certain color, the axe is ruined. What color does he say?

2. What does Lester burn in the hearth to start a fire?

3. What is the sleeping woman wearing when Ballard finds her?

4. What does Ballard call the present he brings his friend's child?

5. To what are the musicians and auctioneer compared at the end of Act 1?

Short Essay Questions

1. What does Lester Ballard discover in a car outside his shack one night, and what happens?

2. What does the disfigured child do to Ballard's gift?

3. What process does the blacksmith use to sharpen Ballard's axe head?

4. What happened to Lester Ballard's parents?

5. What changes does Ballard undergo in Chapter 14 (pp. 40-43)?

6. Describe the scene created by McCarthy at the beginning of the novel.

7. Describe the baby of Ballard's friend, Ralph.

8. How do people react to Ballard in the Six-Mile Church?

9. How does Ballard win three prizes?

10. What statement does the Sheriff make to Ballard after he is released?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Lester Ballard's interaction with animals is in many ways a reflection of his interaction with human beings. Write an essay about his individual meetings with animals and how they coincide with later meetings with people (his trailing his gun on a cat as he does Greer, his accidentally killing the cow as he thoughtlessly assaults the Sleeping Woman). From these individual meetings, develop a thesis about his development - or lack thereof - of relationships.

Essay Topic 2

As Ballard recedes deeper into madness, he also recedes farther from society. Write an essay on the topic of his descent into an animalistic state:

Part 1) How does Ballard transition from the land he sees auctioned to the dwelling he inhabits in the first book of the novel. What changes does he undergo during this time?

Part 2) After the shack burns down, where does Ballard go? Detail the nature of his existence in his new home. What does he have and how does he have things arranged? How does he pass his days?

Part 3) Describe Ballard's final descent into a subhuman state, digging his way in pitch blackness in a cave tunnel. In what state are his body and his mind at this point?

Essay Topic 3

Child of God is essentially a chronicle of Lester Ballard's descent into unbridled madness, stemming from his need for human contact. Write about the stages of his degeneration and what they say about him as person:

Part 1) Ballard's run-in with the Sleeping Woman on Frog Mountain is his first instance of violence against a woman. What transpires between Ballard and the woman? How does this reflect an essential desire within him?

Part 2) How do Ballard's numerous returns to the idling car with the dead couple illustrate a decision on his part? What does he decide? What has he realized about himself?

Part 3) Examine Ballard's interchange with Ralph's daughter, culminating in his murdering her. How does this episode illustrate his discomfort with human interaction and the breaking down of inhibitions to his violent sexual appetites?

(see the answer keys)

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