In the course of this McCarthy novel, Chigurh kills men and women left and right. Love? Chigurh loves death he is a true necrophiliac, and he shares his love whenever the occasion presents itself. We would have to go a long way to find a character in literature, perhaps Richard III, who is equally the embodiment of pure evil. If anybody shows the least hesitation to face their own choices in life or the reality of their own death, then, well, by Chigurh's standards, they might as well be dead. Chigurh will occasionally flip a coin and ask the person to call it.

As we follow Chigurh in the story, it quickly becomes clear he sees himself as a grim-reaper - anybody who stands before him, if he so chooses, has come face-to-face with their own death. Having had an experience of life-and-death intensity in Vietnam, Moss knows the feeling well - and he loves intensity, made all the more intense when danger looms.Īnton Chigurh, also a Vietnam vet or a veteran of other types of wars (or so it appears), is the man from the drug world who comes after Moss. Why would he do such a thing? I see one big reason Moss would take the money: by so doing he will be skyrocketed into a world where the intensity of being alive is a thousand times greater than being a welder. He takes the money and knows this is the moment his life will be changed forever. Moss then comes across a briefcase filled with $100 bills. He walks down to have a closer look and finds the aftermath of a drug deal gone bad - men and even dogs filled with bullets and covered with blood. Moss is out in the desert with his sniper rifle hunting game when he sees something unusual off in the distance - a bunch of cars and trucks appearing to have been abandoned. Llewelyn Moss is a 37-year-old welder who served as a army sniper in Vietnam.

An entire essay could be written for each main character, but, in the interest of concision, I'll limit my remarks to a few sentences on each man's way of living and loving: So, keeping Simon May's idea of love in mind, let's take a look at McCarthy's novel. Such a love is worth dying for, since we want so much to be rooted in the world with a feeling of being fully alive. According to May, love isn't what philosophers like Plato say it is, that is, love being a longing for the Good and Beautiful rather, May argues love has a wider range: we fall in love inspired by an anchoring for our life, an anchoring giving us a home in the world. My observations are in light of what contemporary British philosopher Simon May has to say about the nature of love. Since there are many reviews posted, in the spirit of freshness, I'd like to share a few reflections of a philosophical nature. Stechschute's reading is spot-on, particularly his portrayal of one of the main characters, a good old boy by the name of Sheriff Bell. This fascinating discussion motivated me not only to read the book but listen to the audiobook read by Tom Stechschulte. My first contact with this work of fiction was listening to a 'Partially Examined Life' podcast with three young philosophers and Eric Petrie, a university professor who has made a study of Cormac McCarthy's dark novel set in Texas in 1980. ― Cormac McCarthy, No Country For Old Men “How does a man decide in what order to abandon his life?” “How does a man decide in what order to abandon his life?” ― Cormac McCarthy, No Country For Old Men My first contact with this work of fiction was listening to a 'Partially Examined Life' podcast with three young philosophers and Eric Petrie, a university professor who has made a study of Cormac McCarthy's dark novel set in Texas in 1980. She got up quietly so as not to wake him and checked the door was locked.

They lay there for a while until she heard he was asleep. I dont think this conversation is goin noplace, he said. Maybe he aint no more than what he looks like. I bin lying here thinkin and I caint rightly say. A symbol of somethin.Īnd his duel with Llewelyn. Carla Jean and Loretta and Carson and the hitchhiker. Sheriff Bell and Llewelyn and Chigurh and even the minor ones. He's got a mighty fine ear, that's for sure. He's got the best ear for dialect this side of Mark Twain. Then we gotta do it like McCarthy, he said. He's got the best ear for dialect this side of Mark Twai So are we gonna talk about No Country For Old Men, he said. So are we gonna talk about No Country For Old Men, he said.

Abscissa no country for old men