No Country for Old Men

CHAPTERS 1-2

Reading Check

1. Drug money (Chapter 1)

2. Respect/Morality (Chapter 2)

3. The man’s life (Chapter 2)

Short Answer

1. McCarthy relies most heavily on voice to characterize Bell through his own monologue, revealing his age and proclivities for deep thought and reflection through his winding storytelling, use of old-fashioned idioms, and Texas drawl. (Chapter 1)

2. McCarthy relies primarily on action to characterize Chigurh; his meticulous, unhurried, and unconcerned manner of escape and subsequent murder of the deputy by lengthy strangulation reveal a character that is operating completely outside of human concerns, laws, and morality. (Chapter 1)

3. Because the monologues relate to themes of moral and social decay, one can infer that the story between Moss and Chigurh will also explore those themes. (Chapters 1-2)

4. Chigurh’s systematic dismantling of conversational conventions and social rules in the interaction violate boundaries, which adds to the tension created by the dramatic irony of the situation ( readers know Chigurh is a killer but the station owner does not; the reader knows how much is at stake in the coin toss when the station owner does not. (Chapter 2)

CHAPTERS 3-5

Reading Check

1. A funeral/church (Chapter 3)

2. Rules/Man’s law (Chapter 3)

3. Bell (Chapter 4)

4. Money (Chapter 5)

5. Statistics/A bell curve (Chapter 5)

Short Answer

1. Bell says that it takes very little to govern good people, but bad people cannot be governed at all, revealing the irony of his position as sheriff and the ineffectiveness of human laws to combat failures of moral law. (Chapter 3)

2. Chigurh views other people the way humans view livestock: as creatures destined for death from birth. By taking on the role of slaughterer, it becomes clear that Chigurh sees himself as above fate and predetermination, godlike in his role as an agent of destiny. (Chapter 4)

3. Bells sees the truth as inviolable, an objective fact or reality that remains uncorrupted by subjectivity, which makes space in his worldview for the existence of a higher moral law by which he can measure his actions and the actions of others. (Chapter 5)

4. Like Chigurh, Moss believes he can rise above fate through his own acts of will. His belief that his actions are intelligent and methodical makes him unaware of the role luck has played in his escapes because he refuses to see these instances as luck, preferring instead to believe he has gotten away on his own merits and can continue to get away, provided he makes smart choices. (Chapter 5)

CHAPTERS 6-8

Reading Check

1. It is careless/negligent. (Chapter 6)

2. A “crooked” peace officer (Chapter 8)

3. The cause for moral decay and corruption (Chapter 8)

Short Answer

1. Bell expresses the belief that goodness and morality are conscious choices brought about through acts of will, and that because of this fact, one must make this choice every day to remain good and moral. The lack of making this choice, by corollary, must lead to evil and eventually, amorality, and might help Bell explain the roots of the moral decay he sees in the world around him. (Chapter 6)

2. The security officer believes he has important powers as gatekeeper because through admitting or refusing entry, he is directing fate and protecting the innocent. However, as the cartel violence Moss discovered proves, border security does not prevent entry of those who do not respect laws and boundaries, nor does it deter crime, making the officer’s attitude and role (and by extension, the idea of border security) hubristic. (Chapter 6)

3. Bell does not believe that, given the choice, people will make the moral, or right, choice, revealing a paternalistic attitude; he considers himself a guardian or savior of the people who are no more accountable or capable of making moral choices than children. (Chapter 7)

4. In claiming that he has a bigger reckoning coming than migration or the police, meaning with the cartel agents or Chigurh (from whom he stole), Moss seems to finally acknowledge that he will have to pay, and that despite his belief that his choices can make a difference in the outcomes of his actions, he is fated to pay for his theft. (Chapter 7)

5. Both Moss and Chigurh believe they can rise above fate through their own acts of will, and both like to see themselves as agents of fate or chance in others’ lives. As a result, both condemn others to death with their actions. Though Moss may have believed he had good intentions, his choice to share stolen money spreads the corruption of his immoral action to others, sealing their deaths by association. (Chapter 8)

6. When held against a higher moral truth, such as the one Bell describes in earlier chapters, Chigurh’s claim becomes hollow and meaningless. While he does come through with the money and stick to his word, his actions in doing so are completely abhorrent. One must think like Chigurh to accept his premise, revealing that widespread moral subjectivism corrupts by making virtues such as honesty and reliability meaningless and by excusing heinous acts just because they can be explained logically. (Chapter 9)

CHAPTERS 9-10

Reading Check

1. Carla Jean’s death (Chapter 9)

2. No enemies (Chapter 9)

3. A ghost (Chapter 9)

Short Answer

1. Regret over a wrong decision to abandon his post during the war leads Bell to a life of service and duty as sheriff in hopes he can atone. Because he is unable to serve and protect against the intensifying crimes and with regard to the no-win situation with Chigurh, however, he chooses to abandon his post again, excusing his actions with the claim that that is just the kind of person he is. His loss of faith in his ability to make the right, moral choice both pushes him into and out of his martyrdom. (Chapter 9)

2. Not only does Bell hold Harold up as a role model for morality, but comparing his experience of war with Harold’s illustrates that their moral or immoral actions are not what led to their different outcomes; luck might be what killed Harold and spared Bell. (Chapter 10)

CHAPTERS 11-13

Reading Check

1. Law and Morality (Chapter 11)

2. Drug users (Chapter 12)

3. Like defeat (Chapter 12)

4. Guidance/Morality (Chapter 13)

5. Justice (Chapter 13)

Short Answer

1. Bell makes the comparison of Chigurh to a ghost because he never sees or catches Chigurh; additionally, the idea of Chigurh and the failures he represents (such as Bell’s inability to save Moss and Carla Jean) haunt Bell’s conscience. (Chapter 11)

2. Like Moss and Chigurh, Bell has also put himself outside of fate, believing himself to be able to atone for a past lapse of morality through his present moral actions. His desire to lead and put things right is undermined when he comes up against a conflict he cannot correct (Chigurh). He acquiesces to the belief that he is destined to retreat and that he fundamentally lacks the moral rectitude to fill his role. This is why his final day feels like defeat; the objective reader can see, however, that Chigurh is also at the mercy of chance and is not invincible as the car crash illustrates, despite his willingness to violate human and moral law in pursuit of his goals. (Chapter 11)

3. Coming from the Sermon on the Mount in which Jesus tells listeners they cannot serve both God and money, represented by Mammon, Bell indicates that the choice to pursue money is fundamentally at odds with moral uprightness, making greed the root of the moral and social upheaval he is witnessing. Since it is the common motivator behind Moss’s, Chigurh’s, Well’s, the cartel, and the American businessmen’s actions and because contact with it besmirches even innocent players like Carla Jean, the hotel clerk, and the runaway, it appears to be the one truth not twisted by subjective reasoning and rationales. (Chapter 11)

4. Bell believes that his downfall stems from his unwillingness to match the level of violence that Chigurh represents with an even greater intimidation as an enforcer of the law. (Chapter 12)