In the grandest showdowns of good versus evil, good always triumphs in the end. Harry Potter versus Voldemort. Batman versus the Joker. Mowgli versus Shere Khan. The Roadrunner versus Wile E. Coyote.
Okay, maybe not that last one, because that Roadrunner is e-v-i-l.
Come to think of it, though, Roadrunner and Coyote racing through the desert sort of reminds us of No Country for Old Men—except that in the book, it's sort of coyote versus coyote when it comes to Llewelyn Moss and Anton Chigurh, with poor old Sheriff Bell watching them, as helpless as Yosemite Sam in a retirement home. The only roadrunner in this race is the Mexican drug trade, moving too fast for anyone to keep up with it.
Questions About Good vs. Evil
- Which characters represent "good"? Which represent "evil"? Who falls in the middle?
- Can anyone in the Mexican drug trade be considered "good"?
- How do Sheriff Bell's thought sections, which open each chapter, foreshadow the showdown between good and evil?
- What good does "good" do by fighting? Will "good" ever triumph in a fight like the kind we see in this book? Or is the battle hopeless?