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Blog, Book Reviews

No Country for Old Men Analysis: The Decline of Bygone Morality

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Many readers became aware of Cormac McCarthy’s No Country for Old Men through the 2007 Coen Brothers film. It is a challenging movie in many regards. It has an unconventional ending, strange characters, and an odd plot. Yet, it successfully utilizes conventions of the western genre and creates endlessly analytical moments. The book does this in the exact same way. But, perhaps the most important part of the novel is its meaning, which is difficult to parse. In this post, I am going to offer an analysis of No Country for Old Men and try to explain its significance. In this way, you may be able to view the film with fresh eyes.

Outdated Characters in the Modern World

A Thematic View

I suppose a good starting point is the book thematically as a whole. The book reveals that the city of life informs its residents that death comes swiftly and abruptly. In many respects, so does the slow deterioration of one’s moral self. While I think nailing down a theme for No Country for Old Men can be difficult, there are some clues.

Reviewer Walter Kern writes that the novel relies on sparse elements that create a cohesive whole. This new whole has too much “temptation,” and a lack of “wisdom.” It has, “weak, bad men,” and a lack of, “strong, good ones.”

Yet, it’s conveying something else. Kern writes that it’s freedom and space to make poor choices to temporarily flee. The reader sees this with Moss running for his life with the drug money—the blood money.

“He sat there looking at it and then he closed the flap and sat with his head down,” McCarthy writes of Moss’s fateful decision. “His whole life was sitting there in front of him. Day after day from dawn till dark until he was dead.”

Fate and Chance

Thus, for me, the theme is tied to fate and chance. One’s actions will see literal outcomes. However, I also think an important theme to consider plays into the title. Time moves on whether one wants it to or not. Thus, people become outdated in their morality, philosophy, and ethics as the years pass. In other words, relevancy is not permanent. It can be inferred that one’s age dictates the currency of one’s life. With that being said, the looming irrelevancy of all of our lives encourages the meaning we derive from ourselves and our history.

Let’s analyze a few of the characters.

Sheriff Ed Tom Bell

Responsibility in an Irresponsible World

Sheriff Ed Tom Bell believes people should be responsible for their actions and for their justifications. Yet, this concept evolves throughout the novel as it attaches to each character in similar ways. For the sheriff, the endless procession of horrors jostles him to the point that he retires. At this point, he is disenfranchised due to his inability to exact any kind of justice in a bygone world.

“A few years ago and it wasn’t that many neither I was goin out one of these little two lane blacktop roads of a night and I come up on a pickup truck … so I hit the lights and whenever I done that I seen the slider window in the back of the cab open and here come somebody passin a shotgun out the window.”

During this scene, drug runners attack Bell. They shoot at him from their truck, and he crashes his car and realizes that times have changed. No longer is the world full of innocent barfights that lead to a few minor scrapes. Now it has morphed into a landscape rife with murderous rampages, violence, and killing. While he reminisces about future events, the real change isn’t apparent until the reader is let into two different scenes. One in which he visits Moss’s dad and one in which he discusses his dreams with his wife.

Modern Morality

In meeting with his Uncle Ellis, Bell learns a few things. One is about modern morality and ethics, as “better times” might have never existed. According to Uncle Ellis, men have always killed each other for the same reasons—or lack thereof. As Uncle Ellis states of Uncle Mac’s death, the violent times have never left the area.

“They was seven or eight of them come to the house,” Uncle Ellis tells Sheriff Bell. “Wantin this and wantin that. He (Uncle Mac) went back in the house and come out with a shotgun but they was way ahead of him and they shot him down in his doorway. She (his wife) run out and tried to stop the bleedin. Tried to get him back in the house. Said he kept tryin to get hold of the shotgun again. They just set there on their horses. Finally left.”

Bell is an honest, stalwart sheriff who oversees his county as best he can. Nevertheless, he can’t simply do enough anymore because the world has moved on. At the end of the book, he sees seeking justice as a trivial matter. Evil has forced its hand, the villain got away, and good people died. This is an interesting character progression. Bell reminisces about “better times” where kids used to play different games. Now, it’s too much violence. We see the theme of an evolving world taking place within the story of the book.

Llewelyn Moss

Values Gone Dry

The outdated sense of character and values can be seen in Llewelyn Moss. While hunting on the flats of New Mexico, he stumbles upon drug money, which he then decides to take in order to better his own life and those around him (maybe). This action dooms him, as he is then pursued from the start of the novel and to the finish by ruthless criminals, and he is finally left dead in the doorway of a motel after a shootout with cartel members.

“He (Bell) pulled back the sheet. Bell walked around the end of the table. There was no chock under Moss’s neck and his head was turned to the side. One eye partly opened. He looked like a badman on a slab. They’d sponged the blood off of him but there were holes in his face and his teeth were shot out.”

Morals Aren’t Permanent

In this, we can see Kern’s point—Moss had the freedom of choice and the freedom to flee, but we must also analyze the “outdated values” argument. Moss is impulsive and is willing follow his morality and ethics to the end to justify his theft. Moreover, he is willing to throw his life away, and he believes that, through simple ingenuity, he could survive and defeat the odds. But, as we see, this is not the case. Moss is killed, the money is gone, and his wife, Carla Jean, is murdered likewise.

Llewelyn’s outdated morals—honed in Vietnam—ultimately cause his death. He is too reliant on the skills he hopes to use to defeat the cartel and Chigurh. As such, his morals are outdated and thus lack rational logic (logic that fits into a modern world), which in McCarthy’s world, means you will leave either defeated or you will die. There is no winning.

Anton Chigurh

A Life By Chance

Anton Chigurh is vastly different from both Llewelyn and Bell in his moral code. He doesn’t believe that life has inherent meaning, and instead favors fate as the guiding principal. One follows a path that leads them to where they are going and they do not choose this path either.

“He’s a strict, conscientious, self-taught psychopath who vigilantly maintains his mental ill-health,” Kern writes. “He’s purged himself of all qualms and second thoughts so as to function smoothly in the world that Bell has grown unfit for.”

The march of time and “outdated morals” do not apply to Chigurh because his morality and ethical purity are made for a violent world. In other words, he lives strictly by his convictions, and he will not be deterred unless he is in an absolute dire strait, which isn’t often.

The Differences Show

As such, he is completely different from Bell in that way.

“… what makes Chigurh such a chilling antagonist is that by McCarthy’s reckoning, he seems like the right man for the times—an uncaring beast with no concern for anyone else,” Keith Phipps from the A.V. Club writes.

Llewelyn Moss is flawed, impulsive, and impractical, while Sheriff Bell is in over his head as times have moved on without him, but the world seems to reward people like Chigurh due to his convictions. Somebody who has no want of sensibility, community, and capital—those things that tie Bell and Moss together—will benefit them in the end…or, at least, that seems to be McCarthy’s suggestion.

Conclusion

Living with Outdated Morals

One of the final scenes in No Country for Old Men makes me think that the point of the novel is to touch on the theme of outdated morality. Anton Chigurh is driving his truck down the road after killing Carla Jean and is t-boned by another car that runs a stop sign. He is left in bad shape but is able to pay a bystander for their shirt and silence. Then he takes off into the backroads and byways of America, as though he is some mysterious, unkillable phantom of vengeance and retribution.

Taking a step back, one can see how Chigurh simply leaves the scene of the accident. In this way, he gets away, which literally means that there really is No Country for Old Men because the villain escapes without comeuppance. However, in applying the “outdated morals” concept, we must reflect on Chigurh’s confrontation with hitman Carson Wells. In this, we see his unwillingness to take money in exchange for Wells’ life. In fact, he kills Wells instead of taking his money. However, this should be odd to the reader because we then see Chigurh bribe two small children in order to ensure his own escape. Could it be that he is just a pragmatist who is cleaning up loose ends? I think not.

A Passing of Morality

As the two boys ride their bikes to Chigurh, he asks them for their help and gives them money.

“Chigurh thumbed a bill out of the clip and put the clip back in his pocket and took the bill from between his teeth and got to his feet and held it out…Take it. Take it and you don’t know what I looked like. You hear?”

But, why? If he is so sure of fate, wouldn’t it work itself out? In the novel, Wells asks Chigurh if he would take money in exchange for sparing his life, and Chigurh says it’s a good payday, but “It’s just in the wrong currency.” Nonetheless, according to Jack’s Movie Reviews about Chigurh’s own appreciation of bribery: “As he passes the one-hundred-dollar bill to them (the kids), it is a passing of generations. It is him being weak. It’s him becoming an old man. And, as we know, this is no country for old men.”

The Message Overall

In conducting this analysis of No Country for Old Men, there is no right or wrong. There are just those who have outdated morals or ethical impurity and suffer from their own actions and those who adhere strictly to a moral compass that ensures ethical behavior. Bell realizes he is outdated and is no longer fit for the modern world. Once, he used to break up barfights. Now, drug dealers shoot at him, and he follows a destructive swath cut by Anton Chigurh. The world has shifted to something violently unrecognizable.

Overall, I think I would propose that this book is about changing times and how that has a lessening effect on one’s own immediate surroundings. Toward the end of the novel, Bell states that by trying to live by his own morals he would be living life correctly.

“I thought if I lived my life in the strictest way I knew how then I would not ever again have a thing that would eat on me thataway.”

We of course find out that this mental outlook can’t be true and that Bell is wasting away in a sense–literally and morally.

Perhaps it is a little about mental change as one gets older, too, and the realization that these moments you once lived are now just shaky memories. I believe McCarthy wants us to believe that regardless of one’s morals—or their ability to survive, or their patience, or their violence toward others—everyone becomes outdated one day. Yet, by understanding and accepting this notion, one can adjust their life so that the reliance on the past has less of an impact on the future. At least this rationale could let us rest easy with our own irrelevancy as we get older—perhaps a little easier than Sheriff Bell at least.

Works Cited

Cheuse, Alan. “McCarthy’s ‘No Country for Old Men.” NPR. July 28, 2005. Web.

Kern, Walter. “‘No Country for Old Men’: Texas Noir.” The New York Times. July 24, 2005. Web.

Phipps, Keith. “Cormac McCarthy: No Country for Old Men.” A.V. Club. Aug. 16, 2005. Web.

Blog, Writing Craft

The Importance of Genre in Writing

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Knowing the patterns of a text is crucial for understanding the passage itself. This knowledge allows you to utilize both prior knowledge and context to draw inferences as to how a text is structured and what you should expect while reading. The phenomenon I am referencing is called “genre awareness.” It’s a reader’s ability to acknowledge that they are reading a certain kind of book by noticing its reoccurring conventions. By identifying the importance of genre as it relates to stories and texts, we become better readers and writers.

Defining the Importance of Genre in Context

The easiest way to define genre is to think of it as a category of text (as it relates to our motives as writers). Merriam-Webster defines genre as: “a category of artistic, musical, or literary composition characterized by a particular style, form, or content.” Consider the horror genre, for instance. If you know there must be a slow build to a revelation then you are one step ahead as a reader and writer.

No matter what the text is, it has a category: drama, horror, science fiction, biography, autobiography, etc. All of those categories are types of genre. Similarly, while I am talking about texts here, the idea of genre can be applied to most, if not all, works of art.

Fiction and Nonfiction Umbrella Genres

Continuing, genre itself has two main functions as it links to categorization: fiction and nonfiction. Imagine genre as the very top of a giant tree, and then branching beneath it into two main sections are both fiction or nonfiction. The branches then extend from these two main genres themselves into what are called “subgenres.”

On the one side, fiction subgenres include science fiction, horror, drama, westerns, fairy tales (folklore in general), and so on. Nonfiction, meanwhile, deals mostly in biography and autobiography, and informational texts.

Conclusion

While we are only scratching the surface of genre as a whole, we as writers need to understand that texts are split into different types of groups. “Why?” you ask. Because these two types of genres identify the whole of literature and informational texts.

Later, after we know what makes each genre tick, we can identify tropes and archetypes in writing that allow us to interact with the text in a more honest and productive way; as such, if you understand the genre and its conventions, then you can implement or change those conventions and you can add more flavor and interest to your writing!

Works Cited

Merriam-Webster. “Genre.” Oct. 5th, 2022. Web. https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/genre

Blog, Folklore

Rip Van Winkle: Long Sleep, Short Story

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Imagine waking up one day and realizing your whole life has moved on without you and now you are left to wander. That is exactly what happened to Rip Van Winkle, the protagonist of the similarly titled work by Washington Irving. Rip Van Winkle’s story is an interesting one, and it explores ideas of nature and changing tides. In this post, we are going to summarize the story and expand on its meaning and impact.

Summary of “Rip Van Winkle”

The titular Rip Van Winkle, who is a nice enough farmer, lived a kind, though unworkmanlike life under the peremptory thumb of his overbearing wife. Though never stated, one can infer that Rip Van Winkle is a bit of a layabout.

Irving writes that the narrator had “observed” him as “a simple good-natured man,” who was “a kind neighbor” and “an obedient hen-pecked husband.”

“Indeed, to the latter circumstance might be owing that meekness of spirit which gained him such universal popularity; for those men are most apt to be obsequious and conciliating abroad, who are under the discipline of shrews at home,” writes Irving.

Winkle leaves to venture into the Catskill Mountains on a hunting trip to escape his nagging wife and dying farm. He heads into a dense, forested area to find himself yet again in nature’s embrace. From a safe spot over the Hudson River, Winkle relaxes with his dog Wolf, when, suddenly, he sees a stranger approaching.

The stranger “was a short square-built old fellow, with thick bushy hair, and a grizzled beard.” He also wore clothes of “the antique Dutch fashion–a cloth jerkin strapped round the waist–several pair of breeches, the outer one of ample volume, decorated with rows of buttons down the sides, and bunches at the knee.”

As it turns out, the stranger turned is explorer Henry Hudson—and his crew. Winkle joined in celebration with the explorer and crew. He drinks much of their special liquor, which puts him to sleep. Upon waking, he finds himself alone and and he soon discovers that he has been asleep for 20 years.

“’Surely,’ thought Rip, ‘I have not slept here all night.’ He recalled the occurrences before he fell asleep. The strange man with a keg of liquor—the mountain ravine—the wild retreat among the rocks—the woe-begeon party at ninepins—the flagon—‘Oh! that  flagon! that wicked flagon!’ thought Rip—‘what excuse shall I make to Dame Van Winkle!’”

Winkle has a nice long beard now and staggers into town. There, he realizes that his old life is no more. His wife has died and his children are adults. Meanwhile, the colonists have won the American Revolution. Realizing there is no way back to the past, Winkle resume his life. He prattles away hours at the local inn, regaling the locals with tales of olden times.

“He used to tell his story to every stranger that arrived at Mr. Doolittle’s hotel. He was observed, at first, to vary on some points every time he told it, which was, doubtless, owing to his having so recently awaked…and it is a common wish of all hen-pecked husbands in the neighborhood, when life hangs heavy on their hands, that they might have a quieting draught out of Rip Van Winkle’s flagon.”

Background

Washington Irving’s “Rip Van Winkle” appeared in The Sketch Book of Geoffrey Crayon, Gent in 1820. The story itself is narrated by Geoffrey Knickerbocker, who is an unreliable narrator and serves as one of Irving’s alter-egos. Kickerbocker also appears in some of Irving’s other works. Rip Van Winkle is heavily influenced by German folklore and features a very real setting with fantastical elements.

Meanwhile, the idea of national identity and the American Revolution plays a role in the story. In the beginning, the setting is still confined to a British Colony, but after Rip Van Winkle awakes, the Americans are their own independent nation. In this way, we can see the changing of times as a theme in the story.

Continuing, nature and nostalgia impact the story as well. Rip Van Winkle goes on a hunting trip, which shows the romantic elements of Irving’s writing. Likewise, it shows the reverence and unpredictable qualities of nature. Much like “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow,” also by Irving, we find a focus on the surrounding areas and a specific location. In Sleepy Hollow’s case, the Hudson Valley in New York. Yet, there is also the freedom of nature aspect in the story as well. To be hunting in the woods is to be free. Therefore, Rip Van Winkle having a party with Dutch explorers represents the freedom Winkle seeks, as they were adventurers and man of charisma and bravery.

Conclusion

Washington Irving’s “Rip Van Winkle” is an important story for a variety of reasons. One is that it embodies the American mythos of the revolution and the change from British colony to American state. Likewise, the story focuses on tradition and freedom. Rip Van Winkle is an easy-going, practical man and seeks the traditions of the average colonist and the freedom of nature through the hunt. In this way, it gets the titular “Rip Van Winkle” back to the basics of the spirit and nature.

Folklore

Exploring Folklore Around the Curse of the Mummy’s Tomb

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While now considered erroneous, it was once plausible to believe that the mummies of Ancient Egypt sought revenge from beyond the grave through a curse. A mummy’s curse to be correct. In some circles, these curses are still very real, while to others they are no more than coincidental correlation. Nonetheless, Egyptian curses still inspire wonder and spectacle today.

The Mummy’s Curse

The term “Mummy’s Curse” is idiomatic, serving as a common expression to explain a complex idea. Death, the honor of burial, and the desecration of a tomb being the complex idea. That is to say, those buried–typically private citizens–sought extra protection for their tombs. Writing cryptic messages on a wall for superstitious folk worked well to deter graverobbers, and, therefore, the tomb was safe.

Yet, some curses persist in small ways here and there across Egypt. For instance, the tomb of Ankhtifi states that any ruler who so disturbs the tomb will be punished (albeit punitively) by the deity Hemen. Meanwhile, Khentika Ikhekhi’s tomb warns that trespassers will feel be strangled by Ikhekhi’s own hands “like a bird.”

The earliest recorded encounter with a mummy comes from a 1699 account of a traveler who brought two mummies to Alexandria. Two spirits than haunted him, causing dangerous waters for him while sailing. The cataclysmic reaction of his misdeed (mummy theft), forced him to throw the corpses overboard.

King Tut’s Curse

Perhaps the most famous, and the one I was familiar with included King Tut’s curse. In his day, he was known as Tutankhamen and he died at the age of 19 years old. Buried in the Valley of Kings in Egypt, incoming rulers discarded his tomb and it became lost to history.

Archeologist Howard Carter and financier George Herbert, 5th earl of Carnarvon, had no qualms about investigating King Tut’s tomb. His tomb was considered dangerous due to existing warnings: “Do not disturb this resting place lest ye be harmed.” Unfortunately, according to lore, they should have listened to the literal writings on the wall, because death assailed all those who entered.

As Britannica writes: “Inside his small tomb, the king’s mummy lay within a nest of three coffins, the innermost of solid gold, the two outer ones of gold hammered over wooden frames. On the king’s head was a magnificent golden portrait mask …”

Lord Carnarvon died of blood poisoning shortly afterward from a mosquito bite. Then, his brother reportedly succumbed to sepsis, supposedly due to the curse on his sibling. Additionally, another member of the expedition experienced both a house fire and a flooding. And, George Jay Gould, an American railroad executive, visited the tomb and then died of pneumonia.

The Reality of the Mummy’s Curse

According to researchers and scientists, the mummy’s curse is no more than either a fungal growth or happenstance. Some researchers attribute the supposed curse to Aspergillus flavus, a mold found in tombs that can infect human lungs.

Tim Newcomb wrote in Popular Mechanics in 2023 that “The latest fungal scare came this year in Mexico City, when The Mummies of Guanajuato again went on a traveling display, with experts concerned the mummies weren’t properly sealed off from the viewing public. An improper viewing event could lead to additional fungal exposure.”

At the same time, the British Medical Journal conducted a study in 2002 that said, statistically, there is little relationship between King Tut’s mummy curse and the death of those who entered it on expedition. Lord Carnarvon, in this instance, was probably just “chronically ill” and so died of natural causes related to his ailments. There is similar research connected to The Bermuda Triangle as not being statistically significant as far as the rate of accidents.

Finally, researchers note that the mummy’s curse also originates in literature. These examples include Louisa May Alcott’s short story “Lost in a Pyramid: The Mummy’s Curse.” Other stories may have originated from tales by Joseph Smith, a U.S. painter. Fiction stories do have a lasting power and imprint on our understanding of reality, so it should go without saying that these stories may have changed public perceptions.

Regardless, the story of the mummy’s curse still persists. We see it in Hollywood movies to this day, and people still imagine the dangers of exploring the darkest depths of a Pharaoh’s pyramid.

Blog

Exploring Life and Nature in Smith’s “A Live-Oak Leaf”: Analysis

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By the end of winter, fatigue from the cold grips most people in a violent throttle. Even the once-lazy snowflakes appear tired of their own antagonism. Clark Ashton Smith, known for memorable short stories such as “The Planet of the Dead” and “The Last Incantation,” also explored the theme of spring in his poetry. In this analysis of “A Live-Oak Leaf,” we see how smith ties together life and nature.

“A Live-Oak Leaf” Analysis

In “A Live-Oak Leaf” Smith views the transient beauty of a green leaf destined to be discarded. He states, “How marvelous this bit of green / I hold, and soon shall throw away! / Its subtle veins, its vivid sheen / Seem a fragment of a god’s array.” The phrase “God’s array” suggests a perceived heavenly quality. Meanwhile, in the second stanza, the writer ponders the labor involved in the hidden toil of the earth—growing the oak’s enormous girth—and the visible artistry in shaping its leaves. This focus on life, design, and the curious beauty of nature marks a serious contemplation of the world.

In using poetic techniques to make his point, Smith creates these visuals astutely. He utilizes imagery, such as “vivid sheen” to assist the reader in seeing the leaves as they were in his experience. Likewise, he uses metaphor to compare the leaves to “god’s array,” and he also employs enjambment throughout the poem, such as the lines “How marvellous this bit of green / I hold, and soon shall throw away!”

Conclusion

In thinking about this poem’s meaning, I feel like its reflection extends to the broader grandiosity of nature. Other authors have made similar remarks. However, Smith focuses on the majesty of nature in its quaintness. our tendency to dismiss its complexity as thoughtlessly as a child discards a toy. As winters cyclically pass through our lives, a call to grow fonder of trees and appreciate the intricate existence of nature emerges. Perhaps, fostering this appreciation would imbue each year’s reawakening with greater meaning.

Works Cited

Smith, Clark Ashton. “A Live-Oak Leaf.”