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Faith Klijian

UID 50425736

Professor Keeler

Writing 39 B

24 February 2022

No Country For Old Men Rhetorical Analysis

     The novel, No Country For Old Men, by Cormac McCarthy, tells the tale of the great internal conflict within humans in how they define their morals, ethics, and values. The story reflects on the audience in a way that demonstrates what society interprets as good and what they interpret as evil. The book encompasses two primary characters, Llewlleyn Moss, a man who gets caught in the middle of a drug deal gone awry, and Anton Chigurh, a murderous killer relentlessly chasing him through the most unseen parts of the vicinity of the United States and Mexican Border. Additionally, the story switches from multiple perspectives throughout, distributing the variety of characters and the roles they uphold. No Country for Old Men subverts from typical and traditional Western characteristics of the genre and takes on a more Neo-Western approach, all the while incorporating more modern and late-contemporary aspects, such as diverse morals, a mystery plot in a somewhat industrial setting, and prominent female characters.

     The book analyzes that of the human fight toward a purposeful standard and a format of principles. Many of the story's characters attempt to discover some sort of a virtuous mean, signifying how some of the individuals may reference issues and matters in the case of their measures of choices, judgments, emotions, and opinions. This would occur as they encounter drastic representatives of brutality and crime throughout the novel. 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. 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). 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.

     As for Sheriff Bell, he stumbles to uncover a virtuous compromise in which he may have the opportunity to illustrate the horrid cruelty he sees. Throughout the narrative, the author consistently states how ever since he had been a youthful sheriff in training, he has viewed the world of ordinance, belief, and reality as the connection attributes for rectitude. His ethical priorities have not exclusively supplied a straightforward understanding of right and wrong, but they have granted him an exact purpose of responsibility for his most prize-possessed jobs, as a sheriff, spouse, and neighborhood civilian. 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.” In society, it is sometimes shown that there is no good or bad. Some characters may be morally gray, such as Llewellyn, or misunderstood, in a sense, like Chigurh. As an instance, for Llewellyn, the author claims, “He sat there looking at [the money] and then he closed the flap and sat with his head down. His whole life was sitting there in front of him. Day after day from dawn till dark until he was dead. All of it cooked down into forty pounds of paper in a satchel.” (McCarthy, 18). This quote demonstrates how Llewellyn chose to take the two million dollars, already having the knowledge that he would need to go on the run, as well as put his own life and wife in danger, and start up a challenge with the people looking for him and the money. It contradicts the fact that he is portrayed as a type of protagonist or “hero” in the novel. Via the quest that each of these characters experience, their conclusions and consequences introduce difficult examinations regarding the human notion of righteousness and values. The book, however, does not appear to deliver a solution exceeding the fact that society prevails as insensible to the struggles of its individuals. No Country for Old Men is not affected in furnishing a rendition of the "proper” ethical ideology. Rather, the book strives to study the boundaries and weaknesses of various intellectual supports negotiating with conscientious standards, vacating the audience to encounter their personal concepts of these particular views.

     No Country for Old Men is additionally often categorized as a Neo-Western due to its incorporation of conventional Western characteristics, as well as including newer values that are further repositioned into different settings. When embodying mystery into a story such as this, the composition begins to transition into possessing more modern features, portraying it to appeal to younger audiences since it becomes more engaging this way. The book takes place on the border of the United States and Mexico, and even though it may seem that this would be a representative Western genre, it does include more of an industrial setting. As an instance, another short story, Fire in the Hole, by Elmore Leonard, portrays a similar circumstance, where the narrative is located based in Kentucky, and surrounds the tale of how there are intentions of bombing a IRS building, which is a situation one would not see in a classical Western genre.

     Although there is a great deal of powerful and influential male characters in this story, the book does display the unfamiliarity of having two incredibly prominent female characters that play a key role in the method the events play out as well. By embracing these two characters, Carla Jean Moss, the young wife of Llewellyn Moss, and Loretta Bell, who is shown as Sheriff Bell’s wife, the narrative takes the path of a Neo-Western genre. As it has been demonstrated in the past, many traditional Western genres do not include many female characters, nonetheless, female characters that actually have a storyline to represent. Typically, female characters one would expect to learn about are almost always portrayed as the “damsel in distress,” or someone who is weak and emotional, opposing the role of male characters, that are usually shown as strong and dominant. For Carla Jean Moss, the author displays her as both sensitive and strong, particularly in the scene where she tries standing up for herself to Chigurh and has the courage and bravery to speak to him in the first place. The gender choice of these characters contribute to how the story moves along, as well as how these roles, the strong-willed female characters especially, can appear as role models or characters for readers to look up to. The empowerment of these two characters in this story exhibits the fact that they have just as much of an immense impact in the novel as the male characters do.

     Because Neo-Westerns technically maintain their classification of “Westerns,” the book does contain various distinctly identifiable elements of a typical Western story. The novel does include criminals and outlaws, and even has quite a few, like Chigurh, who some may consider, as well as the Mexican drug runners. Moreover, the story does indicate depictions of the wilderness and openness of land, and even vast landscapes, such as in the beginning of the novel, when the audience is first introduced to Llewellyn’s character. Westerns are also very well-renowned for including cowboys, which readers may classify as Llewellyn as, or even the sheriffs in the story. But, in another source of a journal, A Contribution to the Psychological Understanding of the Origin of the Cowboy and His Myth, the author, Kenneth J. Munden, claims what real cowboys actually are, as well as what their duties and responsibilities are, and how different they are represented in books and in films. He states that cowboys normally dress rugged, can lift heavy equipment, wear apparel like button-down shirts (regularly with a plaid pattern), brand cattle, and speak with a Southern accent. Although much of this is true for the characters in No Country for Old Men, nowhere in the journal does it assert that each character of the West holds different ethics and values, mystery and crime are incorporated in a somewhat modern setting, and female characters have more significant roles than some of the other male characters. Because of these aspects of the novel, and film for that matter, No Country for Old Men is systematized as Neo-Western.

     No Country for Old Men subverts from the classic and customary Western elements of the genre and carries a more Neo-Western practice. The story comprises everyday and more pristine factors, like various morals, a puzzle plot in a relatively industrial environment, and notable and distinguished female essences. McCarthy recreates utilizing the miscellaneous archetypes among the traditional Western genre, all the while withstanding customs, such as stalemates in broad daylight and bodily characteristics that contribute to the importance of ethical reputation. The Neo-Western approach allows for the convoluted strategies that are used to portray the narrative to its most apparent and pronounced extent, and draws towards an audience that can find an event or character to relate to and appreciate.

Works Cited

Leonard, Elmore. Fire in the Hole. Contentville Press, 2001. 

Munden, Kenneth J. A Contribution to the Psychological Understanding of the Origin of the Cowboy and His Myth. Vol. 15, Leavenworth Times, 1885. 

McCarthy, Cormac. No Country for Old Men. Vintage, 2006.

Writer’s Memo

     The process of writing my essay was an incredibly eventful experience. I thoroughly enjoyed researching information regarding the Western genre, and educating myself on how I viewed Westerns in the past, compared to how I view them today. It was interesting to see some genres defy the typical Western stereotype and what I had grown up learning about those particular features of the genre. A difficulty I did encounter was finding and pinpointing evidence from my three citations to support the claim I was making - that the book, No Country for Old Men, takes on a more Neo-Western approach, and incorporates more modern and late-contemporary aspects, simply because each of the examples I wanted to utilize had been so specific, so it was a challenge to find quotes that matched the argument I had been trying to make.

     I chose my topic because I wanted to show my audience how Westerns and the things one often hears about them are not always what they think. I additionally wanted to make the argument that the book, No Country for Old Men, was not identified as a classic Western novel, but rather, as a Neo-Western, as confirmed by my thesis and evidence. My strengths while writing this essay were that I was very informed of the types of Western genres and the analysis of the main characters in the book, seeing as I did do a large amount of research, however, I believe my weakness was getting my point across quicker, as well as sticking to one common thesis, instead of having multiple statements to demonstrate. I believe my predicted grade will range from a B+ to an A, because I strongly think I put a lot of time and effort into my research and essay for this assignment, as well as met and followed most of the criteria for each section of the rubric.

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