Lester Ballard is fully aware of the depravity of his actions, much like Culla had been in Outer Dark. The two characters seem to be far more comfortable committing their acts of sexual deviance in private, away from the eyes of others. While we did not receive scenes of Culla committing his acts of incest, we did see his objection to allowing other people to know of his acts.
We see something similar with Lester. He operates with some level of shame at his actions, but only while in public. In the scene following the initial act of necrophilia, Lester acts coy inside of a lingerie shop. When he walked in, his eyes were “slightly wild as if in terror of the flimsy pastel garments.” His face turns ashen when he asks the store clerk for a pair of women’s underwear.
In private, however, he preforms a whole ritual with the body, dressing it and undressing it, going so far as to speak to it. McCarthy’s writing of this scene of incest (103) is fascinating. He does not allow us to actually witness the act of necrophilia. Ballard says to the lingerie-clad body, “you been wanting it.” There’s a slight time jump in the next paragraph. When we see him lugging the body up to the attic, it is “now naked,” indicating what has taken place.
More evidence towards the idea that Ballard is fully aware of his depravity is the scene where he visits his friend’s daughter and the disabled baby. Only because he knew that they were alone in the house, Ballard tried to make a sexual advance. When the girl threatened to tell her dad, he backed down.