Stacy Papillion
Dr. E. Childs
English 1301
November 30, 2012
Your Wrong Morality vs.
My Right Morality
Many of us are
confident in our own definition of morality (whatever that definition may be)
and act accordingly in regards to discharging those beliefs in living our daily
lives. That is not to say we as individuals don’t on some sub conscious level,
judge others by our own standards of morality and the values we individually
hold dear. “In No Country For Old Men”,
I found the actions of Anton Chigurh, Sheriff Bell and Llewellyn Moss to
demonstrate this aspect of life in their roles in this movie. Each character obviously
has their own self-serving analysis on what constitutes morality and how one
should go about life in accordance with those moral codes.
Sheriff Bell seems to live by a moral code that is
accordance to what the majority of people throughout his lifetime have lived
by. Sheriff Bell has a hard time understanding things that occur in life that
are beyond his moral code and the way he lives life. Sheriff Bell tends to
judge others that act outside of what he believes is beyond his interpretation of
righteous morality. In “No Country For Old Men as Moral Philosophy” (McFarland164) Sheriff Bell makes a comment in reference to not knowing what crime is
anymore. I am sure Sheriff Bell is quite familiar with the definition of crime
as it relates to the letter of the law, but in this regard he is judging the
actions of others, using his own personal views of morality.
Sheriff Bell also believes his own sense of mental
wellness and self-worth has made it to a crossroad and he is currently in the throes
of an internal battle that is gnawing away at his very soul. Sheriff Bell has basically
given up on making any type of difference in anyone else’s life, seeing as he
has failed to make a satisfying difference in his own life. Sheriff Bell is
content with the carnage around him and has found a way to further desensitize
himself from feeling any real emotion in regards to it. In the film “No Country
For Old Men” Sheriff Bell rides a horse through the scene of a drug massacre,
without showing any real emotion. Sheriff Bell comments about the victims “Died
of normal causes, causes that are normal to their line of work” It has been
established that Sheriff Bell has been on the job for quite some time, and has
applied judgment to the victim’s and suspects involved in the massacre.
Llewellyn Moss has also demonstrated applying his own sense
and definition of morals to his life and decisions he makes concerning his life
and the life of his wife Carla Jean. Moss seems to live an average life, well
as average of a life a Vietnam veteran can live. Moss applies the rules of his
sense of living by a moral code to satisfy his own ego and financial gains. It
seems clear that Moss believes stealing is wrong and he demonstrates that knowledge
by lying to Carla Jean about where he came up on the money and the new gun he
shows off and by returning to give the dying, thirsty man a drink of water. Moss
is a man of simple thinking “Finders keepers, loser’s weepers.” Moss seems to believe
the drug dealers had a stroke of bad luck that in some weird twist became good
luck for him.
Moss feels his good luck and good intentions will aide
him in escaping Chigurh and the death squad that is feverishly hunting him and
the millions he has stolen. Moss has gotten so involved in his own self-serving
desires, that he has failed to think within the realms of what I or maybe even
you may feel is a common sense decision in regards to saving his self and the
life of his wife. As you can see, in the last sentence, I have even fell victim
to judging Moss using my own definition of moral code and how to apply it to decisions
that affect life. Moss is also very set in his beliefs and he is willing to die
in defense of his moral code. Moss is a man, a man that loves his wife, but he
loves the taste of greed a bit more. I feel Moss is selfish and has his mind on
one thing, being rich, by any means he deems necessary in pursuit of this goal.
Anton Chigurh is the equivalent of a nightmare to Bell
and Moss. Chigurh has taken morality as viewed by all and boiled it down,
poured off all of what I view is good, and redefined it to fit into his life as
a paid murderer. I wonder if Chigurgh at some point of his life was a decent,
upstanding citizen, as defined by the majority of society. Like Sheriff Bell
and Moss, Chigurh uses his moral code to judge others and to move about in his
everyday life. I find it very intriguing how Chigurh places his moral code
above all others, but at times he can display a tendency to be able to briefly
switch his cold hearted, callous, black and white moral rules, to having a
small amount of pity for his potential victims.
In the article, No Country for Old Men as Moral Philosophy,
it references Chigurh as being human in regards to anatomy, but un human in
regards to his actions and perception of morals and human life and the code it’s
lived by (McFarland 171). I believe Chigurh is viewed in such a manner due to his
animalistic, lack of emotion personality. I believe Chigurh displays emotions
of annoyance and frustration, but not anger. I don’t feel Chigurh got angry,
during the movie because it simply is not in his nature. It seems he doesn’t have
the need for anger, because wanting to be held as a grim reaper like figure
that instills instant fear in all he comes into to contact with. Chigurh is
successful in triggering the desired reaction from all of the poor souls that
have the misfortune of dealing with him, so he feeds his ego with every
contact.
I feel as being human, I at times can relate to Anton
Chigurh and his philosophies. Although I am not, nor have I ever considered being
a murderer for hire, I have experienced the emotion of anger and the fantasy of
an “Anton Chigurh” paying a visit to the source of my annoyance. I agree that in
the movie, I hoped Chigurh would fall victim to his own demented thinking and
way of living, just as most of the good for nothing characters do. I wonder if
that would have truly satisfied our own deep rooted “Anton Chigurhs” that
reside deep inside of us on the dark side of our human nature.
