An Allegorical Reading of Cormac McCarthy's Outer Dark

Stephen F Austin State University, Baker Pattillo Student Center, Twilight and Grand Ballrooms

Though Cormac McCarthy deals with aspects of religion in each of his works, Outer Dark stands apart as a complete theodicy presented through complex allegory. Through his casting of the novel's characters as analogues for Christ, humanity, and Satan, McCarthy comments on the nature and consequences of the cosmic struggle between the forces of good and evil. McCarthy constructs his theodicy with the incorporation of Nietzschean philosophy and a deistic perspective.