52 pages 1 hour read

Cormac McCarthy

Child of God

Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 1973

A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides that feature detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, quotes, and essay topics.

Part 1, Pages 47-88

Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Part 1, Pages 47-63 Summary

Fall arrives. Lester is now more solitary and more bitter than before; some in the county say he’s gone “insane.” He spends his days patrolling Frog Mountain, cursing the hunters with their dogs and whiskey who churn up dust as they pass him in their trucks.

On a cold morning, Lester finds an unconscious woman in a sheer nightgown at the Frog Mountain lookout. He tosses rocks at her to see if she’s alive then touches her. She awakes furious and smelling of whiskey. Lester asks if she’s cold; she backs away and throws a rock at him. Lester hits her, and she says, “I knowed you’d do me thisaway” (49). He tears off her nightgown and, clutching it under his arm, leaves the cursing woman naked on the ground.

In the next chapter, another first-person narrator identified as John recalls riding with Sheriff Turner to the Frog Mountain lookout. The Sheriff surprised a couple having sex and asked the man to step out of the car. The man looked crazy with his pants on inside-out. The Sheriff let the couple go. To John, this showed that the sheriff is a reasonable man.

A toothless man named Darfuzzle goes to Lester’s cabin to warn him that the Sheriff wants him in connection with the woman at the lookout.

Related Titles

By Cormac McCarthy

Study Guide

logo

All The Pretty Horses

Cormac McCarthy

All The Pretty Horses

Cormac McCarthy

Study Guide

logo

Blood Meridian

Cormac McCarthy

Blood Meridian

Cormac McCarthy

Study Guide

logo

Cities of the Plain

Cormac McCarthy

Cities of the Plain

Cormac McCarthy

Study Guide

logo

Outer Dark

Cormac McCarthy

Outer Dark

Cormac McCarthy

Study Guide

logo

Stella Maris

Cormac McCarthy

Stella Maris

Cormac McCarthy

Study Guide

logo

Suttree

Cormac McCarthy

Suttree

Cormac McCarthy

Study Guide

logo

The Crossing

Cormac McCarthy

The Crossing

Cormac McCarthy

Study Guide

logo

The Orchard Keeper

Cormac McCarthy

The Orchard Keeper

Cormac McCarthy

Study Guide

logo

The Passenger

Cormac McCarthy

The Passenger

Cormac McCarthy