The Most Courageous in No Country For Old Men

Janie Torres
Dr. E. Childs
English 1301.221.WE
30 November 2012

                                  The Most Courageous in No Country For Old Men

The movie , “No Country for Old Men”, was an odd one.   The villain in the movie, Chigurh was on a hunt for a case of money that was taken by Luwellen, but along the way he nearly killed every one he came in contact with.  Chigurh’s main focus was to catch up to Luwellen to get the money back, but he was determined to kill Luwellen too once he found him.  There was also a Sheriff Bell who was looking for Luwellen.  There were a few other men trying to catch Luwellen.  All these men had something in common, they were all tough guys.  Just about everyone was looking for Luellen, including his wife, Carla Jean.  Out of all the characters in the movie, “No County for Old Men”, Carla Jean may have been the most courageous one of them all.

Chigurh was the bad guy, who was going around killing everyone. He might even be the toughest of them all. What made him so tough?  That he could kill innocent people?  Some might say that’s what makes a person look weak.  It takes a stronger person to look someone in the eye and tell them how you feel.  It takes an even stronger person to show them how you feel.  So no, the fact that you can go around killing people doesn’t make you courageous.

Luwellen stole someone else’s money.  He was on the run and he put a good fight to keep a case of money that didn’t belong to him.  When he got the chance to speak to Chigurh on the phone, he stood up to him.  He threatened Chigurh even though Chighurh was someone the average person would’ve been afraid of.  Still, that didn’t mean he had courage. 

Sheriff Bell was looking for Luwellen.  He was trying to find him because he afraid that Luwellen had gotten in deep over his head.  He knew that Luwellen was in trouble and he wanted to save him before Chigurh got ahold of him.  Sheriff Bell was too late.  By the time he found Luwellen he was already dead, shot by the Mexican drug dealers who also looking for that case of money.  Sheriff Bell was a good man, but there was still one other person who showed more courage than him.

There was one person who showed more courage than all of those men.  That person was Carla Jean.   It takes a very strong woman to worry to love a man so much that you worry about his well-being.  It takes a strong woman to stand by her man even though she knows something is wrong.  It takes a strong woman to trust.  Luwellen didn’t tell Carla Jean what was going on, but she knew something wasn’t right.  No matter what was going, she trusted him. 

Not knowing what was going wasn’t the hard part for Carla Jean.  The hard was not knowing if Luwellen was ok.  To pick up and leave town, took strength.  Carla Jean stood for something right.  Even though she knew something bad was going, she still had a genuine good heart.  She asked the sheriff to find Luwellen and keep him safe.  She wouldn’t have wanted anyone to get hurt, but she had a feeling something bad was coming. 

Carla Jean had courage.  It takes a lot of courage to handle all this and still stay strong.  Even though  she had hoped she would get to Luwellen before something happened to him, she didn’t.  She came face to face with Chigurh.  He thought he could intimidate her with his coin fate the way he did with everyone else, but she was not afraid of him.  She stood up to him and told him she was not going to choose head or tails.  She didn’t seem to care about making him mad. 

Courage comes from within.  Courage is the strength to stand up for what is right no matter how hard is may be.  Carla Jean did that.  She knew she was probably going to be killed.  She never gave up her dignity.  One might say, she faced him like a man.  She was the most courageous person in the movie.

 

Works Cited

 

Nichols, M. P. (2008). Revisiting Heroism and Community in Contemporary Westerns: No Country for Old Men and 3:10 to Yuma. Perspectives On Political Science, 37(4), 207-216.

 

Beck, B. (2008). Cold, Cold Heart: Who's Afraid of No Country for Old Men?. Multicultural Perspectives, 10(4), 214-217. doi:10.1080/15210960802526219

 

Cooper, L. R. (2009). He's a Psychopathic Killer, but So What?": Folklore and Morality in Cormac McCarthy's "No Country for Old Men. Papers On Language & Literature, 45(1), 37-59.

 

McClure, C. (2010). No Country for Old Gods. Perspectives On Political Science, 39(1), 46-51.