Cormac McCarthy is the author whose works make a reader look at the society he or she lives in and think about those people he or she has to deal with daily. Unlike renowned horror writers, who often fill their stories with ghosts, vampires, and other demonic essences, Cormac McCarthy depicts a real life and his villains are quite real. That is what makes his stories so questionable, thought-provoking, and frightening.
Every small society, which usually exists in tiny towns and villages, is a rather closed system with rigid rules everyone should follow. One might think that it is a quite comfortable place to live in and it is really so if one is not an outcast. Unfortunately for him and his victims, Lester Ballard doesn’t fit in and it has been always like that. Due to his rather deviant behavior, other kids either feared him or despised him or even both. The interesting thing was that parents of his classmates and his teachers didn’t really do anything in order to solve that problem. They saw that the boy assumed to physical violence and behaved rather strangely but pretended that it was nothing to worry about. As Lester Ballard grows older, his illness grows stronger. He leads a lonely life, his rifle is often his only one companion, no family, no friends at all. Lester’s inability to find a partner – for there is no girl in the town, who would willingly go out with him – catalyzes progression of his psychological problems.
When Lester finds a corpse, a rather dreadful idea strikes him. Why can’t he have an affair with a dead body? He pretends that this is a living human being and that she wants to be with him. His necrophilia becomes a point of no return, which is the moment when he loses leftovers of his sanity completely. Could he be helped? There is no any straightforward answer to that question, but there is no doubt that Lester’s place is in a mental hospital, where he would be surrounded by people, who knew how to handle disorders like his. This story is about the importance of seasonable aid. Yes, it is Lester, who commits those horrible crimes and there is no need to pretend that he is blameless just because he is ill – from time to time he understands what he does and has clear consciousness, so he could go to a police station or a hospital – but why others – sensing that there is something wrong with him – don’t even try to help him and diminish risks.
Cormac McCarthy’s novel impresses, but it is definitely not a book for relaxation. This story is about serious mental issues, crimes and punishments and responsibility. It is not an easy topic not only to discuss but even think about but it should be done nonetheless, for one can’t solve the problem by the means of ignoring it. According to new studies, there are more and more people, who suffer from mental disorders and all of them need help in order to prevent awful tragedies from happening. Ballard is not a fictional character, there are a lot of people like him and each of them needs help before it is too late.
