Chapters 7 and 8 of No Country for Old Men

In my opinion these chapters where the most shocking so far.  In these chapters Carla Jean calls Ed Tom Bell to let him know where Llewelyn will be.  This tips off the people who are looking for Moss because they have Bell's phone wire tapped.  Moss is mainly busy keeping a hitchhiker company throughout these chapters.  He just saw her on the side of the road and decided to pick her up.  The most shocking event that takes place is the death of Moss.

Carla Jean calling Bell to reveal her husband's location was shocking because in the previous chapters she had been strongly supportive of Moss and acted like she would never give him up.  I think she eventually gave in because she couldn't handle not knowing what was happening with Moss.  She might have thought that if she told Bell where Moss was then he could take him into custody.  Even thought Moss might have to go to prison for a little while at least he would be safe and alive and she would get to see him again.  This plan completely back fires and ends up being the cause of Moss' death.

The fact that Moss picked up a hitchhiker shows to me that he was trying to be helpful.  It reinforces the idea that Moss is more or less a normal person.  Moss might have also picked her up because he wanted someone to talk to.  He had been unable to communicate his feelings to anyone for quite a long time.  I think picking up the hitchhiker made Moss let his guard down a little bit.  He was drinking about talking with her on the outdoor steps at the motel.  He would definitely have not done that in previous chapters.

Moss' death came as a big surprise, at least this early in the novel.  It occurs with over forty pages left.  It was also surprising because it came from nowhere.  The hitchhiker and Moss were talking, then a pause there a paragraph about a Barracuda, another pause and then Police show up and it is revealed that Moss is dead.  There is no real explanation of what happened.  The author might have eliminated Moss this way so that the audience would have unanswered questions and keep reading.  At the same time however it might turn people away from the book in disgust because the "would be hero" is dead.