One reviewer wrote that No Country for Old Men is a reverie for the loss of the dream of security, for the death of a benevolent, active Christian God.
1- Good versus evil.
2- Fate: Do things simply happen to Llewellyn (fate), or does he play a part in what happens to him?
Does McCarthy have a message or a view of life which concerns fate?
3- Is there a moral message in the novel?
If so, what is it and how is it conveyed?
4- Is this a nihilistic novel?
Wikipedia.Nihilism (from the Latin nihil, nothing) is a philosophical position which argues that Being, especially past and current human existence, is without objective meaning, purpose, comprehensible truth, or essential value. Nihilists generally assert some or all of the following:
* there is no reasonable proof of the existence of a higher ruler or creator,
* a "true morality" does not exist, and
* objective secular ethics are impossible; therefore, life has, in a sense, no truth, and no action is objectively preferable to any other.
The term nihilism is sometimes used synonymously with anomie to denote a general mood of despair at the pointlessness of existence.
5- Chapter V, p 134, in Eagle Pass:
" There's days I'm in favour of givin the whole damn place back to em, the sheriff said.
I hear you, said Bell.
Dead bodies in the street. Citizens' business all shot up. People's cars."
Any comments?