For our Rhetorical Analysis assignment, we were told to pick an essay topic that argued our thesis regarding the novel, No Country For Old Men, and build upon what we learned when practicing our Critical Reading (CR) Reflective Exercises. I chose to write about how the book subverts traditional Western characteristics, all the while informing my audience of an important lesson - avoiding stereotyping - by implying the thesis and it's purpose of my essay, as well as providing evidence to support my statements. More specifically, I share how the book would be classified as a Neo-Western rather than a Western because it takes on a more modern and late-contemporary approach, incorporates aspects such as diverse morals, a mystery plot, and prominent and significant female characters throughout the story.
Throughout the process of editing and revising for my assignment, as I reflect on my Rough Draft and compare it to my Final Draft, I notice drastic improvements and alterations. As an instance, it is clear to see how the overall structure changes, as I move around information from one place to another. I additionally recognized that I advance my language into sounding more professional, and fixing many of my grammar mistakes I had at the start of composing my essay.
Shown in my initial drafts for this assignment, I begin to explain how the novel, No Country For Old Men, would be considered to belong in the Neo-Western category more than the typical Western category. It was difficult for me to express this idea and belief without getting too repetitive. At first, I feel as though my work was hard to follow since I did not entirely give background information on the book's plot and the characters. My paragraphs were extremely disorganized, and I did not include as much evidence as I should've to make the assignment more convincing and engaging. For example, in my Rough Draft, I state, "The three primary roles, Llewellyn Moss, Anton Chigurh, and Sheriff Ed Tom Bell, individually work in society along with dissimilar perspectives of morals and values. Each of them carries different honorable principles, and the events in which they act upon begin to question their standard frameworks of decency. However, simply because this story is set up to have both good and evil characters, it does not mean that the morals of those who are good and the morals of those who are evil are not humanely ethical or “right," compared to my Final Draft, where I fill in some gaps and claim, "Llewellyn Moss’s ordinary foundations of principles and moralities come from within himself. It shines through his passion for genuineness, realism, independence, and privilege. He functions in a way that is not specified externally, such as by what he is surrounded by, like society, but by his individual and inner structure. Anton Chigurh supplies a counterpoint to Moss' honorable standing. He uses a single interpretation of values and standards, and constantly introduces or submits intellectual inquiries towards his targets. His activities and the effort he puts into his duty do not merely descend into one philosophical foundation. His sense of moral code often has to do with the coin he uses throughout the story. For example, in the book, No Country for Old Men, when speaking of the coin he holds dear, McCarthy asserts, “Anything can be an instrument, Chigurh said. Small things. Things you wouldn’t even notice. They pass from hand to hand. People don't pay attention. And then one day there is an accounting. And after that nothing is the same … you see the problem. To separate the act from the thing. As if parts of some moment in history might be interchangeable with the parts of some other moment. How could that be? Well, it’s just a coin. Yes. That’s true. Is it?” (McCarthy, 57)."
It is clear that in my Rough Draft, I plainly state my intentions of why I believe the novel contains more modern aspects compared to a classic Western story, without much context of the book or organization. Demonstrated in my Final Draft, I express how and why some of the main characters of the book behave the way they do, and add a background of what was occurring within them and how evidence from the novel supports my claim.
Additionally, throughout both my Rough and Working Draft to my Final Draft, I begin to use more descriptive language in order to provide my readers with the ability to visualize the events that are occurring. As an instance, in my Final Draft, I assert, "To him, the coin represents how every little thing can count towards the result of something. It is a code he follows and will continue to follow, showing the reader another side to his character. The moment he murders Wells demonstrates how his mindset hinges on practicality, whereas, when he murders Carla Jean, he acts out of a virtuous assignment. He behaves in manners that problematize mortal endeavors to assemble a bare principled basis, as well as approaches for dynamism and civilization."
When composing this essay, I found it hard to come up with words that would sound formal enough to use in a college-level assignment. I wanted to make my work flow as nicely as possible, but, wanted to include words that made the reader more curious of the moments that were about to follow next. In my Final Draft, I utilize the terms, "rectitude," and "pristine," to illustrate just how dramatic and drastic of the story, No Country For Old Men, had shared with its own audience and readers. I used those words because it showed a vast difference of how I originally had felt about the general story and characters of the novel, but as I analyzed it more, the views I had on them changed.
Overall, I grew more and more proud of my work in this essay since the topic of it is something I became very involved and invested in. It was so interesting to see how my writing abilities transformed in just a little less than ten weeks, as well as how I educated myself and expanded my knowledge of diverse writing genres and the details that come with them. I learned more as I went on and wanted to prove that the best of my literary compositions could be even better. I hope you enjoy my work as much as I do. :)