Child Of God's Lester Ballard: An Analysis

of mind leads him to turn into alcoholic and makes his unkind and brutal towards others.

Between the mid-late 1970s and the early 1980s, Dennis Nilsen began mass murdering young men in Great Britain that had at least 15 men through strangulation (Crime Investigation, 2014). In analyzing his life, many of contributions throughout his life could have influenced his criminal behaviour when committing his crimes. Many theories such as broken home hypothesis and schema therapy theory use psychological explanations that determine how the individual resulted into committing their crimes. With schema therapy theory, not only does it discuss the justification for criminal behaviour, but suggests how to reduce the relapse of criminal acts by identifying the cause or the trigger of the individual’s criminal behaviour (Vos et al., 2016). In Dennis Nilsen’s life, there are several indications such as the abandonment of his family members, the termination of a past relationship, and the reclusiveness from society that could have resulted

In the novel Fallen Angels by Walter Dean Myers, the main character is Richard Perry. In the beginning of this book, Richard was a generous and eager to start as a soldier in the Vietnam War. He soon becomes responsible and understanding of what it is like to be a black soldier in the war and how hard it can be to the other soldiers. Near the end, Richard becomes powerful and alerted near the end of the book. This character clearly relates to the theme of the book, which is age and race can impact somebody’s life a lot.

People sometimes have a great effect on other people, even if they do not realize it. That is what happens to Guy Montag, a main character in Ray Bradbury’s science fiction novel, Fahrenheit 451. In the novel he comes across many characters that change him. In the novel Ray Bradbury uses conflict to show the knowledge and ignorance in the characters.

The concept of resilience is often described as being able to recover from difficult experiences or pasts, where one’s resilience could be impacted by drastic changes that occur in their lives. It is something that guides one’s decisions and often defines their morals and what individuals perceive to be right or wrong; depending on the situation they are encountering. Resilience is highly dependent on the thought of empathy, where the resilience of people who have experienced empathy will be different from others who haven’t. How individuals deal with these differences determines one’s level of empathy and also impacts their resilience. Timothy Findley explores an individual’s struggle to keep a sense of resilience while

As an astute philosopher once declared “The whole is greater than the sum of its parts” (Aristotle). This idea is called synergy and it means that teamwork leads to great benefits. This teamwork is demonstrated in the movie Dead Poet’s Society when Mr. Keating repeats “Or if you are slightly more daring O Captain, my Captain” (Dead Poets Society). He forces his class to work together and the results are astonishing. Characters in American literature do the same as they endure bad situations, which causes them to seek help from others and ultimately realize that they’re part of the oversoul. Those bad situations greatly impacted the characters and their actions. Seeking help was the only option after those situations occurred. After receiving

The gothic fiction novel Frankenstein by Mary Shelley centralizes on humanity and the qualifications that make someone human. The content of the novel Frankenstein depicts a monster displaying human traits that his creator Victor does not possess: empathy, a need for companionship, and a will to learn and fit in.

This is shown to be especially true when a child is misunderstood of why they have done something wrong. Many children are unaware of the harm they are doing to an individual because they are incapable of understanding why their action is a bad thing. Susan Perabo is able to show this to be true in her short story, “The Payoff” when she informs the reader of Anne and Louise’s situation with the principal. These characters’ analyses show how unwise and immature a young child is in their youth from even the simplest actions. The story’s evaluation led to a direct result in understanding the writing and the theme of the story. This theme was revealed through an epiphany and shows just how feeble a young mind is. This realization shows to be an important part in the story and why an adult mind takes time to sculpt

In the novel Fallen Angels by Walter Dean Myers, the main character is Richie Perry. At seventeen he graduated high school in Harlem, and he wanted to go to college, but his mother couldn’t afford to send him to college since she was an alcoholic. So he joined the army to escape his unfortunate future, but joining the army meant he had to leave his little brother Kenny, who saw him as a father figure since their father left when they were younger. Perry was sent to Vietnam and through his journey, he made lifelong bonds with many different people such as PeeWee, Monaco, and etc. Also in his journey, he suffers from mental and physical wounds. In the end of the book he was completely changed, he has lost his innocence, his sense of normalcy and morality, their hope, and his faith, and the

The first major aspect that leads to the Creature’s fall from grace is appearance. Victor works tirelessly in academia because he believes to have found the solution to generate life. Once Victor succeeds, the Creature’s demonic appearance mortifies him. Victor describes his work with disdaining imagery, stating, “I had gazed on him while unfinished; he was ugly then; but when those muscles and joints were rendered capable of motivation, it became a thing such as even Dante could have conceived" (Shelley 36). Although Victor successfully creates what would be his greatest academic achievement, he abandons his creation, showing that the Creature's ugliness is a prevailing factor for his isolation from civilization. According to Bridget Marshall’s

We live in cruel world full of bad people who do bad things and good people who are capable of doing bad things in the stories “The man in the well” and “If You Touched My Heart” readers witness several different types of people all of which except for one know right from wrong. The two stories both show how sick one’s mind can be as well as how cruel a person can be. Some at a very young age but also as adults.

Much has been said about poverty over the years. The consistency of poverty in history and its repercussions is disconcerting. The lack of appropriate education can be considered to be the foundation of poverty which often times corresponds with the rise of criminal activity. It is recognized as an insatiable quandary. However, the way that Mary Shelley incorporates poverty into Frankenstein is unheard of and infrequently thought of. Shelley demonstrates poverty in two ways: social poverty and monetary poverty. Social poverty is the lack of companionship or people to relate with. Monetary poverty is shown when one lacks money or the necessities for life. In the novel, these aspects are integrated as a way to show the responsibilities and privileges

Everyone acts like they are invincible. Impervious. Untouchable. However, just a few circumstances lining up can not only alter your life, but destroy it, changing everything familiar, twisting any feeling into a delusion, and even altering your memory. The human mind is more susceptible to injury and disease than anyone may be led to think. Since a person’s brain is so fragile, considering how important it is becomes even more daunting. After all, the brain, is the body’s ultimate controller, taking charge of even a person’s own desires and actions once it is compromised by injury, illness, or other ailment (Cahalan, 2012, pg.87). As much as the human race wants to believe they are in control, the truth is one event could drastically change

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.

In chapter two of “Christianity with Power,” Charles H. Kraft discusses the two types of realities: reality and REALITY. He describes “reality” as a human’s view of reality and “REALITY” as what is actually there (as God sees it). Kraft explains that our view of reality is fuzzy and partial compared to God’s view of REALITY. He uses the well-known story of the blind men and the elephant to prove that one’s perspective of the world differs from another. Kraft presents four alternative views of reality. The first view, which is described as dogmatic, is the denial that there is any difference between reality and REALITY. The second view is described as the opposite of the first view. As described by Kraft, those who take this approach recognize that the way one person or one group understands things is not necessarily totally right, while the