No Country for Old Men - McCarthy

Cormac McCarthy’s novel, No Country for Old Men, begins with the unlikeable protagonist, Llewellyn Moss, who stumbles upon a drug deal gone awry—many corpses and over two million dollars in cash. Instead of removing himself from the situation entirely, Moss takes the cash, as well as a tracking device (unknowingly), for his own. His theft predetermines his fate on the run; a psychopathic killer, Anton Chigurh, hunts Moss throughout the entire novel. In the meantime, McCarthy includes monologues and nostalgic thoughts of the Sheriff, Ed Tom Bell, an aging law enforcer about to retire. Bell is unable to keep up with the uncontrollable situation which seems to be the deciding factor regarding his retirement. In his novel, McCarthy demonstrates the evil qualities of human beings; in addition, the choices that people make ultimately lead to their own demise.

The opening scene of the novel first conveys the fate of beings overcome by evil qualities—Mexicans involved with massive drug deals who are all killed. Moss finds the massacre and is faced with the choice of either leaving or succumbing to his selfish demeanor. When he takes the money for his own, the money indicates the path that he has chosen and he will not be able to deviate from that path. The money symbolizes the sin that all human possess in that tragedy continuously surrounds the money. All of the individuals involved in the scandals have chosen the wrong path and are constantly drawn back to the origin of their wrongdoing. This parallels with the thought process of Sheriff Ed Tom Bell. All of the monologues located at the beginning of the chapters maintain a sense of nostalgia and his longing for the past. The Sheriff wishes to revisit the past because he is aging, about to retire, and cannot keep up with the level of crime within the county. Meanwhile, the crime-doers have no knowledge of how to live normally; instead, they only know the life of crime.

Chirgurh could be a representation of death, which is proven since he kills every person that crosses his path, regardless of who they are or what they have done. Since Chigurh becomes aware of Moss’ wrongdoing, he chases him throughout the entire novel until he is killed; then he moves on to murder his young wife. Chigurh, Death, is also proiven to be emotionally detached from society; Chigurh has no acquaintances or allies and must work alone. The scene when Chigurh confronts Carla Jean justifies his detachment; he does not give her a chance to live because of attraction or emotion, but through a coin toss, which she loses. Therefore, he does not care about the past, present, or future; whenever someone meets him, chances of an extended lifespan are limited. Since many different people are killed, even some that took no part in the drug and wealth scandal, McCarthy discusses that death can come at any moment and, therefore, tells the reader that wasting life, especially on crime, is not beneficial.

As Moss comes to realize that Chigurh will continue chasing him until death, he reverts back to his wrongdoings to try to stay alive, including lying and putting loved ones in harm’s way. Eventually, Moss fully understands the danger that he is in resulting from the stolen money and tries to make arrangements to hand it over. In other words, Moss regrets his wrongdoings and makes an attempt to deviate from his predetermined path. Unfortunately, he is also killed by another party seeking the stolen money. McCarthy could imply that money does not necessarily equate with happiness.

Overall, McCarthy’s novel focuses mostly on the negative aspects that, often times, overpower the positive. Although the novel focuses on the consequences of crime, McCarthy also shouts out to the onlooker because, more often than not, more onlookers get injured than those involved. He proves that death can come at any time to any individual, regardless of their past or present.