Chapter 1 No Country for Old Men

In the first chapter of No Country for Old Men by Cormac McCarthy the audience is briefly introduced to a  sheriff.  We are not told much about the sheriff, not even his name.  However a little information can be pulled from the sheriff's narration.  He tells us that he has been a sheriff for many years, but one criminal scares him more than any other.  The sheriff tells a story of a 19 year old boyfriend who murdered his own 14 year old girlfriend.  The sheriff seems to be frightened by this man because of his lack of remorse.  The boyfriend admits that he killed her and that if he had the chance he would do it again.

From this experience the sheriff realizes that the job may require more than he is willing to give.  He always knew that the job required him to risk his life, but now he thinks that he might need to risk his soul, something he is not okay with.

After the sheriff is introduced comes Chigurh.  The first interaction the audience has with Chigurh is him killing a guard in a police station.  The murder is quite brutal, but Chigurh seems to be unaffected by the act he has just committed.  This lack of feeling continues when he kills another person on the highway in order to steal their car.  I think these acts show the audience that Chigurh is a strong character.  Chigurh seems to lack the normal emotions of most people.  Chigurh also seems smart because he knows exactly how to get what he wants and to carry out his plans with great accuracy.

The next character that is introduced to the audience is Llewelyn Moss.  Moss is first shown hunting out in the floodplains.  After an unsuccessful trip Moss comes across a crime scene.  He has two choices, leave or stay.  Even though he knows nothing good will come from staying he can't make himself leave.  Moss investigates the vehicles and people involved in an apparent drug deal gone wrong.  After looking around for a while, Moss finds a brief case with a large sum of money in it.  Once again he has two options, take it or leave it.  He decides to take the money and leave.

When he wakes up the next afternoon Moss feels as if he needs to take water to a man at the crime scene.  Despite his mind telling him it's a bad idea, he goes anyway.  Upon returning to the scene he finds that there are other people there who seem to be looking for something or someone.  He immediately knows that they are looking for the money he stole.  Moss has no choice but to try and run and hide from them.  That's as far as the first chapter takes us in the story.

Moss is an interesting character because he has elements of good and evil in him.  At first he seems like a typical southern guy, just out doing a little hunting, but when he makes the decision to investigate the crime scene he starts down a bad road.  Investigating the scene isn't necessarily bad, most people would probably be curious, but when he starts to poke around the vehicles and finds the stash of drugs and money he makes questionable decisions.  The fact that he takes the automatic weapon and the cash shows me that maybe he isn't as good as first thought.  He might have a dark side to him.  Why would he want to get himself involved in a crime?

I think it will be interesting to see if Moss escapes from the guys trying to get their money back and if Chigurh continues his killing spree.