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UNLV Retrospective Theses & Dissertations 1-1-1996 A path to nowhere: Violence, sex, and humor in Cormac McCarthy's "Child of God" and "Suttree" Justin Cord Hayes University of Nevada, Las Vegas Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalscholarship.unlv.edu/rtds Repository Citation Hayes, Justin Cord, "A path to nowhere: Violence, sex, and humor in Cormac McCarthy's "Child of God" and "Suttree"" (1996). UNLV Retrospective Theses & Dissertations. 820. http://dx.doi.org/10.25669/n657-suvf This Thesis is protected by copyright and/or related rights. It has been brought to you by Digital Scholarship@UNLV with permission from the rights-holder(s). You are free to use this Thesis in any way that is permitted by the copyright and related rights legislation that applies to your use. For other uses you need to obtain permission from the rights-holder(s) directly, unless additional rights are indicated by a Creative Commons license in the record and/ or on the work itself. This Thesis has been accepted for inclusion in UNLV Retrospective Theses & Dissertations by an authorized administrator of Digital Scholarship@UNLV. For more information, please contact [email protected]. INFORMATION TO USERS This manuscript has been reproduced from the microfilm master. UME films the text directly from the original or copy submitted. Thus, some thesis and dissertation copies are in typewriter face, while others may be from any type of computer printer. The quality of this reproduction is dependent upon the quality of the copy submitted. Broken or indistinct print, colored or poor quality illustrations and photographs, print bleedthrough, substandard margins, and improper alignment can adversely affect reproduction. In the unlikely event that the author did not send UMI a complete manuscript and there are missing pages, these will be noted. Also, if unauthorized copyright material had to be removed, a note will indicate the deletion. Oversize materials (e.g., maps, drawings, charts) are reproduced by sectioning the original, beginning at the upper left-hand comer and continuing from left to right in equal sections with small overlaps. Each original is also photographed in one exposure and is included in reduced form at the back o f the book. Photographs included in the original manuscript have been reproduced xerographically in this copy. Higher quality 6” x 9” black and white photographic prints are available for any photographs or illustrations appearing in this copy for an additional charge. Contact UMI directly to order. UMI A Bell & Howell Information Company 300 North Zeeb Road, Ann Arbor MI 48106-1346 USA 313/761-4700 800/521-0600 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. A PATH TO NOWHERE: VIOLENCE, SEX, AND HUMOR IN CORMAC MCCARTHY'S CHILD OF GOD AND SUTTREE oy Justin Cord Hayes A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in English Department of English University of Nevada, Las Vegas August 1996 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. UMI Number: 13 89794 UMI Microform 1389794 Copyright 1998, by UMI Company. All rights reserved. This microform edition is protected against unauthorized copying under Title 17, United States Code. UMI 300 North Zeeb Road Ann Arbor, MI 48103 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. The Thesis of Justin Cord Hayes for the degree of Master of the Arts in English is approved. /. Chairperson, Darlene Unrue, Ph.D. Examining Committee Member, Susan Taylor, Ph.D. Examining Committee Member,Douglas Unger, M.F.A Graduate Faculty Representative, Rebecca Mills, Ed.D. - Dean of the Graduate College, Ronald Smith, Ph.D. University of Nevada, Las Vegas July 1996 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. ABSTRACT A Path to Nowhere: Violence, Sex, and Humor in Cormac McCarthy's Child of God and Subtree discusses some of the uses of three prevalent elements in two of McCarthy's works. Chapter One introduces violence and its importance to his fiction, demonstrating that it is often linked with sex and humor, and it discusses the two novels' lack of closure. Chapter Two describes McCarthy's use of the three elements in Child of God. Chapter Three illustrates his use of the elements in Suttree. Chapter Four concludes the essay by offering some reasons why Child of God and Suttree lack closure. HI Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. TABLE OF CONTENTS ABSTRACT......................................................... iii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS................................................... v CHAPTER 1 VIOLENCE, SEX, AND HUMOR.............................. I The Climate of Violence.................................... 4 A Path to Nowhere: Cormac McCarthy's Lack of Conclusions....................7 CHAPTER 2 CHILD OF GOD.......................................... 13 Violence in Child of God.................................. 15 Sex in Child of God........................................ 21 Humor in Child of God. 4 3 CHAPTER 3 SUTTREE................................................ 53 Violence in Suttree........................................55 Sex in Suttree..............................................69 Humor in Suttree........................................... 76 CHAPTER 4 TERMINUS...............................................82 REFERENCES........................................................ 34 IV Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I would like to thank the members of my committee, my family, my colleagues, and especially, my fiancee Nicole Murn, for their continuing support. Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. CHAPTER 1 VIOLENCE, SEX, AND HUMOR Roughly a third of the way through Cormac McCarthy's third novel. Child of God, its protagonist, Lester Ballard is on his honeymoon. He has gone into town to buy his wife lingerie, and he returns breathless with anticipation of the night ahead. He comes back to the crumbling cabin he has appropriated for a home, retrieves his wife from the attic, and builds a romantic fire for them to enjoy. Unfortunately, the bitter cold of a wintry East Tennessee day has caused problems which are not typical for most honeymooning couples. McCarthy writes: She was standing on tiptoe, nor would she fold. Ballard came down the ladder and undid the rope from around her waist. Then he dragged her into the other room and laid her on the hearth. He took hold of her arm and tried to raise it but the whole body shifted woodenly. Goddam frozen bitch, said Ballard. He piled more firewood on. (102) The problem is not first-night jitters. The problem is that Ballard's bride is, quite literally, frigid. She is a Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. corpse, benumbed and hardened by the sub-freezing temperatures during the time Ballard has been shopping. This girl is the first of many "wives" with whom Ballard will commit acts of deviance and perversion. Despite the horror of this scene, it is designed to evoke an amused r esponse. In Suttree, the novel following Child of God, Cornelius Suttree has brought home a young girl from a bar for a one- night stand. Just as he gets her home to his crumbling houseboat, which sits on the banks of the Tennessee River near downtown Knoxville, there is a knock on the door. Until he discovers who the visitor is, Suttree had forgotten about the bizarre conversation he has had with his friend Weird Leonard the night before. Poor Suttree always seems to be volunteered into assisting his buddies with rather unusual odd jobs. Leonard tells Suttree that he needs help getting rid of his father. The problem is that his father has been dead for six months and left to rot in his bedroom so that his family can continue to collect his social security checks, but by the time Leonard comes to Suttree for help, the family cannot stand the odor anymore. Suttree tells Leonard to count him out, but the next night, as he prepares to escape into the arms of his underage companion, Leonard appears. McCarthy writes: Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. I got him, he said. You what? I got him. He's in the trunk. Suttree tried to shut the door. You're breaking my goddamned foot. Sut. Get it out of the fucking door then. Listen Sut . I said no, goddamnit. (247) As is his custom, however, Suttree cannot turn down his friend's plea for assistance, and he helps drag the rotting corpse into his skiff so that they can give the old man a burial at sea. The girl leaves in haste before she can discover just how bizarre Leonard's schemes are. In Suttree, as in Child of God, McCarthy has juxtaposed elements of sexuality and humor with an aura of violence and death to create a scene to which it is difficult to react. What is the appropriate response? Laughter? Disgust? Horror? This is up to the individual reader. McCarthy simply sets the scene, using complex, multi-layered symbols with no clear meaning. Violence, sex, and humor mean something specific to McCarthy,
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