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No Country For Old Men By Cormac Mccarthy

602 Words3 Pages

The novel No Country For Old Men, is written by the author Cormac McCarthy. The novel is about a man named Moss who finds money in a desert. Moss is chased by multiple different drug cartel groups as well as a very skilled assassin named Chigurh. McCarthy takes the reader on a long journey into his story on the run. Towards the end Moss is assassinated by Chigurh. Throughout the novel “No Country For Old Men” Cormac Mccarthy reveals the theme the greatest gift bestowed upon humankind is life by using a nostalgic tone, the coin as symbolism, and a anxious mood. McCarthy uses the literary element tone to portray the theme the greatest gift bestowed upon humankind is life. In the novel it says, “I never had to kill nobody and I am very glad of that fact. Some of the old time sheriffs wouldn't even carry a firearm” (McCarthy 64) When Sheriff Bell begins talking about how he has never killed anyone he begins to portray a very Nostalgic Tone. The choice of words that the author uses here such as never, glad,and wouldn’t show that Sheriff Bell enjoys the way things used to be. Sheriff Bell is very fortunate he has not had to kill anyone and is happy of that. This shows that sheriff bell values life, and believes that life is not worth taking. He never would take another life unless his is threatened. …show more content…

In the novel it says, "What's there to lose..... Everything. Everything" (McCarthy 56) In this part of the novel Chigurh is telling the cashier of a gas station to decide his fate based on a coin. The coin that Chigurh is using is symbolic of the cashiers life because if Chigurh’s coin landed on tails, the cashier may have been killed. Chigurh believes that instead of him just taking the cashiers life he will give him a chance. This shows that even a sociopath values life and will let the man decide his

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