Old Men Symbolism

We constantly watch movies derived from novels and sometimes they are either a hit or complete miss. The basis of a story does not change much from the novel to the big screen, however smaller components of a story are altered before production. This is demonstrated in “No Country for Old Men” by Cormac McCarthy in which symbol, character and theme are changed in the film for a more cinematic appeal at the cost of greater character and plot development.

Within “No country for Old Men”, McCarthy places various symbols such as the bolt gun, coin, and dead red- tailed hawk are used to further the development of characters in the novel. The bolt gun and coin serve as two prominent symbols for Chigurh and aid in the development of his character

The scene in the movie where Chigurh and the store clerk exchange words, ultimately resulting in Chigurh asking the man to flip a coin. The man does not know the stakes of the coin toss, but judging from the cadence in Chigurh’s voice the man is hesitant to choose the outcome. The tension within this seen in the movie is a practical take on the novel, while later when it is done with Carla the scene loses it dramatic pull due to the causality of the encounter. In the novel the reader is given the freedom to infer the amount of tension of an even, while in a movie the director gets to make the call as to how a scene should be dramatized. The coin symbolizes the satisfaction of Chigurh’s killing to the extent he makes it a game. The symbol is also used to further develop Chigurh’s unsympathetic nature.

Moreover, another symbol not fully explained in the movie but imperative to understanding the characters of the novel is the part of the in which Officer Bell stops to move the dead bird out of the road. In the film when Bell decides to do this it is quickly overlooked as a moment. While in the novel, we get to decipher the compassion and consideration Bell has for others who unknowingly place themselves in danger. The Hawk is only set out to catch its prey, so the audience is able to conclude Bell is a man who respects the