No Country for Old Men Annotated Bibliography

Busby, Mark. “Cormac McCarthy II: Gazing into the Eyes of Death.” Texas Books in 
Review. 25.3-4 (2005): 27+.

Busby argues that although McCarthy simplified his structure and style with No Country for Old Men, he continues to address the same philosophical issues as he did in previous novels. Simple statements are used to explore the psychology of the world, which makes the novel more accessible to general readers of McCarthy. In his analysis, Busby divides the novel into the journeys of the characters and the worlds they represent. Moss is the man of action, Bell is the moral man, and Chigurh is the amoral evil force. Like the characters, the readers are also forced to face the inevitable influence of death. Busby asserts that, like the characters in No Country for Old Men, our lives are determined by our choices, not simply by our experiences.

Cant, John. “Oedipus Rests: Mimesis and Allegory in No Country for Old Men.” Chapman, Wallach, and Welsh 46-59.

Cant compares No Country for Old Men to previous novels by examining Oedipal themes. Unlike earlier novels, the similarities to Oedipus are absent because Bell is not a son but an aging father. The Oedipal conflict dies because of the human connections and relationships Bell maintains. Even though death affects all of the characters’ experiences, his dream at the novel’s conclusion emphasizes the longevity and continuity of civilization.  Bell is forced to accept that the simplicity of old times has failed to survive the country’s violent history and ultimately he realizes that the idealization of heroism was false. The permanence of the water trough, however, signifies that civilization and humanity will continue to outlast the violence and conflict of the physical world.

Cooper, Lydia R. “He’s a Psychopathic Killer, but So What?: Folklore and Morality in Cormac McCarthy’s No Country for Old Men.”Papers on Language and Literature. 45.1 (2009): 37-59.

Cooper analyzes the novel’s structure and its relationship to folklore and morality, and the style which draws attention to the act of narration. Bell’s monologues present one interpretation of the plot, but the reader is not forced to accept his perspective. The simplified prose and the presence of the supernatural, mainly through Chigurh, emphasize the various moral codes of the characters. Cooper compares Moss to the common man, Chigurh to Vice, and Bell to Virtue, and she views Bell’s journey as the moral of the story.  The actual events and plot of the novel, Chigurh’s violence in particular, are less important than the moral qualities of the characters.

Covell, Scott. “Devil with a Bad Haircut: Postmodern Villainy Rides the Range in No Country for Old Men.” Chapman, Wallach, and Welsh 95-109.

Covell explores the connections between No Country for Old Men and Blood Meridian, especially the similarities between Chigurh and the judge. Both are superhuman figures who relish destruction and control, and both are inextricably linked to coins and fate. However, Covell argues that Chigurh is more like the kid than the judge. Chigurh is the kid of a different world, one who chose the judge’s path. Covell also explores the choice and chance of Chigurh’s coin tosses. The innocent have a chance to save themselves by calling the coin, but the guilty have already made their choice. Chigurh sees himself as an executioner, not as a psychopathic murderer. 

Cremean, David. “For Whom Bell Tolls: Cormac McCarthy’s Sheriff Bell as Spiritual Hero.” Chapman, Wallach, and Welsh 21-31.

Cremean views Bell as an unreliable narrator because of his superficial generalizations about the past. He argues that Bell and Moss represent two sides of the heroic figure in Joseph Campbell’s The Hero with a Thousand Faces. Moss functions as the physical hero of the novel, while Bell serves as the spiritual champion. Bell is forced to brave his own psyche, where he must confront his internal torment about his WWII guilt. He rejects Moss’s role and refuses to directly confront Chigurh, but instead of an act of surrender, his refusal to confront Chigurh ensures his heroism and humanity over Chigurh’s inhuman ideology. 

Frye, Steven. Understanding Cormac McCarthy. Columbia, South Carolina: University of South Carolina Press, 2009. Print.

Frye’s comprehensive overview of all of McCarthy’s novels is accessible to both scholars of McCarthy and general readers. He analyzes the straightforward writing style, historical context and common themes in all of McCarthy’s fiction. In the section on No Country for Old Men, Frye focuses on Chigurh’s deterministic philosophy and ubiquitous evil, themes that are present in almost all of McCarthy’s novels. He analyzes the contrasting worldviews of Chigurh and Bell, and asserts that Chigurh’s violence can only be tempered by Bell’s hope and humanity, which makes No Country for Old Men more optimistic than previous works. He also analyzes religion’s presence in the novel, specifically addressing Chigurh’s view on God and the religious connotations of Bell’s dream at the novel’s conclusion.

King, Lynnea Chapman, Rick Wallach, and Jim Welsh, eds. From Novel to Film: No Country for Old Men. Plymouth, United Kingdom: Scarecrow Press, Inc., 2009. Print.

——. “Yeats’s ‘Sailing to Byzantium’ and McCarthy’s No Country for Old Men: Art and Artifice in the Novel.” Chapman, Wallach, and Welsh 13-20.

Frye makes connections between No Country for Old Men and William Butler Yeat’s “Sailing to Byzantium,” the poem from which McCarthy got the novel’s title. Frye claims that the novel’s simple and straightforward writing style reflects the environment, which, unlike previous novels, contains love and hope. Frye presents an in-depth analysis of the poem and emphasizes the importance of art, which is the only permanent thing in this world. It transcends time, but the physical and transient world ignores its significance. Frye argues that McCarthy’s straightforward style does not detract from the novel’s status as a work of art. Through No Country for Old Men, McCarthy is not only changing the world in which the novel occurs, but also changing the very definition of art. 

Jarrett, Robert. “Genre, Voice and Ethos: McCarthy’s Perverse ‘Thriller.’” Chapman, Wallach, and Welsh, 60-72.

According to Jarrett, Chigurh rather than Bell is the voice of the narrative, especially since Bell’s role as passive observer transforms him from hero to witness. Jarrett also asserts that the violence is essential to the world of the novel. Rampant drug-related violence plagued the Texas-Mexico border during the 1980s, and as an embodiment of that violence, Chigurh becomes the voice of the narrative. Jarrett also compares the novel to Flannery O’Connor’s A Good Man is Hard to Find. Chigurh denies his victims’ existence through violence just as the Misfit denies its origins in O’Connor’s novel. Bell essentially buys his life from Chigurh when he retires as sheriff because he refuses to confront his nihilistic violence.

Short, Carroll Dale. “No Country for Old Men.” Magill’s Literary Annual 2006. Literary Reference Center. Salem Press, Inc. 2006

Short argues that the shift in style and structure of No Country for Old Men does not detract from McCarthy’s previous novels and themes. Like many critics, Short explores the comparison between Chigurh and Judge Holden, but she sees Bell’s monologues and lamentations for the past as too mundane to counter Chigurh’s nihilism. Short also explores the change in setting, as this novel does not contain the lyrical natural descriptions in previous novels. Finally, she also briefly mentions the parallels other critics have made between McCarthy’s work and Gnosticism, but argues that they are not as applicable to No Country for Old Men.

Vanderheide, John. “No Allegory for Casual Readers.” Chapman, Wallach, and Welsh 32-45.

Vanderheide interprets the novel as a conventional religious allegory, which can be seen through Bell’s spiritual journey of temptation and salvation. Unlike Moss, Bell resists the temptation to participate in Chigurh’s nihilism, allowing him to attain salvation at the end of the novel. In contrast to Bell, Moss believes that the stolen money will provide him sovereign power, but it actually furthers his subjection to Chigurh’s control. Vanderheide also explores the unavoidable relationship between the living and the dead. Moss is dead, but Chigurh carries out the promise he made to him for Carla Jean’s life.  Chigurh succeeds in becoming the absolute sovereign because he won’t even let the dead escape his influence.

Welsh, Jim. “Borderline Evil: The Dark Side of Byzantium in No Country for Old Men, Novel and Film.” Chapman, Wallach, and Welsh 73-85.

Welsh argues that Chigurh is an allegorical abstraction of death or justice. Like Jarrett, he references Flannery O’Connor’s A Good Man is Hard to Find in his defense of Chigurh as an allegorical figure of fate and luck. The Misfit in O’Connor’s work shares many similarities with Chigurh, most notably in that both are psychopaths and agents of change who disrupt the ordinary world. Bell elects to avoid the violent ideology of Chigurh, making him more of a witness than an actor. Welsh argues that Bell’s peripheral role makes him an unreliable narrator, because the readers’ perspective is only filtered through Bell’s experiences.

Woodson, Linda. “’You are the battleground’: Materiality, Moral Responsibility, and Determinism in No Country for Old Men.” Chapman, Wallach, and Welsh 1-12.

Woodson contrasts Chigurh’s deterministic philosophy with Bell’s free will and moral responsibility. Like Judge Holden in Blood Meridian, Chigurh uses coinage to determine the outcomes of others’ lives. Instead of deciding their fates, though, the coin is simply an instrument that reveals their pre-determined destiny. Chigurh’s lack of personal responsibility contrasts Bell’s unending torment about his WWII past, and Bell’s sense of responsibility, which is what allows him to maintain his humanity when faced with Chigurh’s nihilism. The sense of humanity and community the novel’s conclusion sets No Country for Old Men