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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. Where does Ballard figure John goes after leaving jail?

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

3. Which of the following is not a charge that has been lodged against Ballard?

4. What is the Dumpkeeper's name?

5. What is the first prize that Ballard wins at the fair?

Short Essay Questions

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

2. Explain how the boy that came through town could always shoot birds in the air.

3. Why is Lester Ballard ejected from his first game at the carnival?

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

5. How did Ballard get his rifle?

6. How do the Deputy's plans for the day change in Chapter 17 (pp. 48-49)?

7. Describe the man in the cell across from Ballard's.

8. How is Lester Ballard's neck injured?

9. Why does Ballard tear the head off of Squire Helton's cow?

10. Why does Ballard abruptly leave the Dumpkeeper's house in Chapter 16?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

In the opening passages of the book, McCarthy gives a description of Ballard as a soul. In the closing passages, he creates a portrait of Ballard as a body, vivisected into its component organ systems by doctors and students. Compare these two passages under the thesis of how McCarthy portrays Ballard throughout the novel. Is he creating a portrait that we are supposed to understand or a subject we are supposed to observe?

Essay Topic 2

Many critics have charged McCarthy's writing with being nihilistic, beautiful, but ultimately meaningless. They argue that his work evocatively explored man's inclination to destroy, but it takes no sides. Write an essay either in agreement or refutation of this. Use specific examples from Child of God to argue either that McCarthy takes a position on Ballard's actions or that he simply relates the horrific.

Essay Topic 3

By the end of the novel, Lester Ballard has accumulated a strange menagerie of items in his cave. Each has a particular meaning and function for him, and each reflects a sort of perversion of traditional values and relationships. Write a paragraph about each of these items, how they came into Ballard's possession, and what they mean thematically:

Part 1) The rifle

Part 2) The stuffed animals

Part 3) The women's clothes

(see the answer keys)

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