thread: 2008-04-01 : What I read on the plane
On 2008-04-02, Vincent wrote:
Sheriff Bell's unequippedness to deal with Chigurh matches some Dogs' unequippedness to deal with what they're called upon to deal with.
It's kind of interesting that No Country for Old Men, at least in the title, attributes it to his age, where Dogs, at least sometimes, attributes it to their youth. Kind of interesting but not a counterpoint, I think. I'd argue from the book that Sheriff Bell was unequipped to deal with Chigurh as a young man, too.
Despite ranging wide geographically, not sticking to a town, Moss's story is a story of pride->sin->demonic attack->false doctrine->sorcery->hate & murder. It doesn't break the what's wrong into individual characters the way Dogs does, it lets the characters share the roles around with one another instead. Like, Moss's wife's standing by her man serves for "3 followers makes a false priest," but Moss isn't the false priest, Chigurh is, that kind of thing. Kind of like how in Brigham City the sheriff takes turns being the steward and the Dogs - not a big deal. It works as long as all the roles are represented, whether they're isolated each in an individual character or not.
(Carson Wells is the steward! And as ineffectual as they always are.)
Sheriff Bell, called upon to save his town from demonic hate and murder, can't. You know how sometimes a Dog will leave her coat on the ground and walk away from her calling, done in by the ugliness of it? Same story.
