Kenneth wrote: The change of garb thing is very interesting. Moss and Chigurh do this while coping with terrible injuries. They are both extremely vulnerable at the time. But it must be said it enables both to survive.

I was thinking about this while dozing off last night. This is what I came up with:

Moss is terribly wounded when he offers to pay for the shirt. He makes his offer for the shirt (in the film $100.00). The young americans are all physically able young men and Moss is weak. They know Moss has cash on him, they could have controlled the situation. The young men try getting snarky with Moss and trying to up the ante for the shirt and the beer he also requests. But Moss holds firm, and one of the young men caves in in the face of the courage Moss is showing and tells his friends to just give him what he wants for the original $100. Moss uses the shirt to HID his wounds to deflect attention from himself.

Chigurh is also hurt bad, but nowhere near as bad as Moss. He seems very helpless when interacting to the two very young boys (which in the film it looks like he was going to maybe kill - as he sized them up in his rear-view mirror). He feebly ASKS the boys what he can give for the shirt. He did not make a solid offer, but asked them. He should have been in control in this situation, considering who he is, but he was not. Where Moss used the shirt to HIDE his injuries, Chigurh used the shirt to nurse his injuries, to prop up his weakness.

What do you all think about that assessment? What does it mean?

Mr. P.

Mr P wrote:

I was thinking about this while dozing off last night

I can just imagine the "sweet dreams" we in the BT fiction forum are going to have after pondering all this...


The shirt scene with Moss and the three boys is in chapter IV, page 115.

You must be right, Mr P, in looking for the parallel between the scenes.
The book gives me a different impression though.
So, since it is said the Coen Brothers followed the book closely, they must have had a good reason for making things different.

The boys are not bad, just drunk.
Moss says "Excuse me" three times, including
"Excuse me I wondered if you would sell me a coat."
He offers $ 500, and the only difficulty is the boys think he is kidding them and he will just take the coat and vanish.

Chigurh is also hurt bad, but nowhere near as bad as Moss. He seems very helpless when interacting to the two very young boys (which in the film it looks like he was going to maybe kill - as he sized them up in his rear-view mirror). He feebly ASKS the boys what he can give for the shirt. He did not make a solid offer, but asked them.

I also wondered about this when I read it, but came to different conclusions.

Chigurh asked, the boys were surprised, and one said he would just give him his shirt for free (as he was injured).
Chigurh applied his usual logic: when he asks a question, he means to have an answer. When the question is "how much", the answer had better be in dollars, he doesn't talk to pass the time.
Probably, the way Chigurh's mind works, " What'll you give for...?" is Chigurhese for "Would you mind letting me use...?" , and he will not change it because some human beings of no consequence speak a different language.

Actually, I got the impression that if he had not been so wounded, the boys' impudent lack of logic and inability to focus on the question might have been their death warrants.

I agree with Ophelia that Chigurh can't be worse than the parade of notorious monsters the 20th century coughed up. A new race of bad men? I don't think so. Sheriff Bell thinks so because, frankly, he's burned out. He also attributes supernatural powers to the man. This is helpful to the Sheriff because it let's him off the hook and helps justify his retirement. He retires in the middle of a multiple homicide investigation involving a dozen or so murders, at least 9 of which take place in his county.

In Chapter 9 he says: "He's a ghost. But he's out there. You wouldn't think it would be possible to just come and go thataway." Well, it wouldn't be possible to come and go thataway if any of the law enforcement people involved used their noggins. At the motel where Moss, the Mexican and the girl were all shot to death the room was not even searched for evidence. The Mexican's Barracuda and Moss's truck were on the lot. There was no evidence of any other players. The money HAD to be on the premises. A cursory search would've turned up the money bag and a careful stakeout would've netted Chigurh. But Bell returns after the fact, too late, and says, "We been out-generaled." Ed Tom Bell, you are no general.

So Chigurh is neither a new breed of bad men nor a ghost nor a cohort of Mammon. He is a man, intoxicated with blood lust who, like the crack addict, feels invincible. He "comes and goes thataway" because he must and because there is no one competent enough to stop him.

Which begs the question: Why do the bad guys like Wells and Chigurh speak perfect English while the good characters all use hick-speak?

Which begs the question: Why do the bad guys like Wells and Chigurh speak perfect English while the good characters all use hick-speak?

I nominate this best remark so far!


How come I didn't notice, when I was so often battling with the style?

I don't think Anton Chigurgh makes the book a success - I think it's Moss who carries it off - his personality is delightful - and I like Bell too - don't care what they say about him.

I am, however, glad to see he's gonna' quit being the sheriff - he ain't tough enough to be a sheriff in that kinda' place.