The Lesser Sin: Theme of Incest in Cormac McCarthy’s Outer Dark

Abstract

McCarthys second novel Outer Dark, published in 1968, is grotesque in plot and characterisation. McCarthy has also made use of a variety of literary techniques like symbolism and imagery, making it challenging and incomprehensible at its first read. The story line is complex with a number of Biblical images being used. The setting of the story is quite ambiguous and symbolic, but this ambiguity does not place the plot outside the social context. Significantly, the novel depicts a female character as one of the protagonists and it is unlikely of his other works where women are almost invisible. Incest is one of the most dominating themes of the novel used primarily to underscore the social unacceptance of this unholy sin while at the same time commenting upon humankind committing crimes of a much higher magnitude that go unpunished. Thus, in this way this novel puts forth the proposition that in society there are much greater sins and mankind as a whole is more cruel than unholiness of an individual incest act.