Upon Finishing No Country For Old Men

A lot has taken place since my last post. Llewellyn Moss met a young, 15 year old girl who was hitchhiking along the highway. Unfortunately, as I realized, Moss's tragic flaw, kind of, is his pride. I wouldn't call Moss a tragic hero at all, so I guess it's more of a character flaw. Regardless, it's revealed in his conversations with his new acquaintance, the young girl, that he is overly confident and thinks more of his luck and experience as an outlaw than is really true. They check into a motel on the way to El Paso, and then the story jumps ahead to some time later. McCarthy reveals, in a manner that is not dramatic at all, that Llewellyn Moss and his new companion were shot in that motel by a random, nameless Mexican. I was surprised at this. I didn't know where the story would go from there, because I had been thinking that the protagonist was Moss.

The theme of the book really comes out after Moss dies. Part of the theme is presented by Anton Chigurh, the scary antagonist, and part of it is revealed through Sheriff Bell. Basically, what I got from it had to do with fate, and about regrets. Chigurh represents, sadly, someone who controls fate and has no regrets about what he has done. He literally kills almost everyone he comes into contact with. He kills them because they got in his way, or because they inconvenienced him, or because he promised someone that he would kill them. In that sense, Chigurh, an emotionless killer labeled by most as a psychopath is the only truly honest character in the book. I think that's part of the tragedy of the book. Chigurh really is untouchable, and unable to be caught by the law. He represents pure evil that will always exist in the world. He even kills Moss's wife because he told Moss that he would before he died. He killed her just for the sake of keeping his word to a dead man, who, if alive, would have wanted him to let her live.

After Moss and his wife died, I realized that the real protagonist is Ed Tom Bell, the sheriff, and that the theme of the novel, and the title of the book are derived from his conversations and thoughts. He is an old-fashioned sheriff who can do absolutely nothing to stop Chigurh and men of his kind. He talks with his uncle toward the end of the book about how all his life he has regretted a decision he made in the war. And that he feels dishonest with himself and his life because he knows that he didn't do something he should have. Chigurh, even though he is obviously a worse man, knows who he is because he regrets nothing and controls his own fate. At the end of the book, McCarthy presents a theme of defeat and hopelessness, as Sheriff Bell retires, having not caught Chigurh, and having nothing good to look forward to in his life. He and every other man he knows are completely ignorant and saddened by the state of the country, the state of life. No one cares about them, and everyone seems to die young now. Overall, the book turned into a somewhat depressing piece that got me thinking. I'm not quite sure what I'll read next. But, I definitely want to see the movie now.