No Country For Old Men Moral Analysis

In Cormac McCarthy’s spine-chilling novel No Country For Old men, the main characters, Anton Chigurh, Llewelyn Moss, and Sheriff Bell possess noticeably different characteristics; However, by far the most different is their morals, which play an immense role in this book. The theme of morality is established throughout the novel and is manifested as the morals of the characters, what choices they make, and how do these choices impact them. I intend to analyze the instances of Moss’s morals, Chigurh’s morals when it comes to killing, and Bell’s morals as a sheriff.

Llewelyn Moss is willing to steal a satchel filled with millions of dollars although he is aware of the consequences. During this novel Moss is the character that most people can relate can relate the most to. This is partly due to the fact that he is an ex military sniper and lives in south texas in a mobile home. Austin Cooper agrees with this statement saying,”Moss is shown to be the underdog. He is just a common guy trying to make off with the satchel of money and fighting for his life throughout. Moss’s determination and resourcefulness in front of such

evil makes him into a modern cowboy—a tough, calm, cool character—that viewers are able to identify with.” This proves that Moss’s morals would be close to that of a regular person.

During the novel, as Moss is being pursued his morals begin to develop into more reckless and dangerous, sometimes not even understanding if what he's doing is right or wrong. For example, in the beginning he would take every precaution in order to not get caught but by the end he begins to get careless. William Cobb agrees with this statement when he states,”Toward the novel's end he seems to fancy himself an outlaw of the Jesse James tradition, yet his biggest mistake is his refusal to recognize that he has crossed men without conscience or mercy.”

Anton Chigurh on the other hand is on the whole other side of the spectrum; he will kill anyone and anything that gets in his way. Its as if he has no morals at all. His preferred weapon of choice is a captive bolt pistol, which is a pneumatic gun that fires bolts into the brains of cattle to stun them before slaughter. He uses this multiple times in the book to kill his victims.”He placed his hand on the man's head like a faith healer. The pneumatic hiss and click of the plunger sounded like a door closing. The man slid soundlessly to the ground”(1,7) This proves that Chigurh showed no remorse or emotion when it came to death.

Oddly enough some describe him as having his own set of twisted morals in which fate come into play. For those people whom he did not see reason to kill he relied on the fate of a coin. He would simply flip a coin and if the person was right about the outcome the he chose to let them live and walk away.This is a key point in that maybe it helps Chigurh cope with the massacre he is creating by lifting some of the blame off of himself. William Ferraiolo agrees with this statement by stating,”Both understand what is on the line, but only one seems to have any inkling as to why it should be so. Luckily for the old man, he calls the coins fall correctly, and Chigurh allows him to keep the quarter as a souvenir of their encounter.”

Another aspect of chigurh's morals is the decision he made to kill the guys that hired him to find the money and went out to search for the money alone. This proves that maybe he want to keep the money for himself, but when he actually acquires the cash he delivers it to the correct owner and asks for a job.”Well. I’d like to say that the purpose of my visit is simply to establish my bonafides. As someone who is an expert in a difficult field. As someone who is completely reliable and completely honest. something like that. Someone i might do business with.”(8,252) This gives us a look into the mind of Chigurh; he wasn't really going after the money after all. Perhaps he was going for the challenge.

Sheriff Ed Tom Bell on the other hand, is the law in all of this madness.

He's a Sheriff in El Paso and is the one that is always one step behind Chigurh and Moss. As any reasonable lawman should have, Bells morals are that of legal actions. He believes in always doing the right thing. This is one of the reasons that Bell is on the run after them. Since he is an older man he also has to deal with all of this carnage unfolding before him and not making much sense of it, Or as Austin phrases it” Bell is the weather-beaten sheriff unlucky enough to observe as this carnage unfold. In a story of atypical archetypes, Sheriff Bell would be the aging sage. If Moss is representative of a new cowboy, Bell is an old era cowboy caught outside his time. Largely a bystander, Bell is witnessing a change in the world around him and tries to makes sense of it

all.”

The ending of No Country For Old Men is by far the greatest because we get to see an insight to Sheriff Bell’s life and personality. In this last chapter Bell speaks to his uncle about the events that unfolded while he was in vietnam. He said that he didn't deserve the awards he got for his actions. He stated that left his friends behind to die because there were enemies closing in, but he regrets that decision and would go back and redo it if he could.This is important because maybe he acts the way he does now because he feels guilty about the event of the past. he is essentially trying to make up for his actions.”Bell shows the most feeling and concern for what is going on, he appears the most human in an emotional sense. Unlike the other characters in the film whose stoic personae convey the seriousness of their situation, Bell frequently uses comedy as a coping mechanism.” Cooper states.

Bell also explains the interesting dreams he has had that involved his deceased father. The first one is about his father “meetin him in town somwheres and he gave me some money and i think i lost it”(10,309). The second one however is much more important; he states that he was horseback riding on a winter night, then he sees his father pass him on his own horse with a blanket wrapped around him and a torch of some kind and “that he was goin on ahead and was fixin to make a fire” (10, 309). This is important because it shows that Bell's father had something to do with Bells actions now. His father influenced him with the few words he spoke.

There are many reasons behind ones morals, such as how ones raised, what ones beliefs are, and how one copes with decisions.