Tools of Characterization

Characterization in No Country for Old Men

Appearances

Look, we know Anton Chigurh is dangerous from the moment we first see him. There's something about his weird pageboy haircut, slack face, and plain-colored clothing that tells us he just ain't right. That's why it's so frustrating to constantly watch kindly Texans when they stop to help him out and get killed for their kindness. Can't they see what we see?

Carson Wells, on the other hand, is a cocky dude who cares about money, as you can tell from the constant smirk on his face and the expensive-looking suits and cowboy hats he likes to wear.

And then there's poor sap Llewellyn Moss, just some regular Texan who wears regular clothes like a regular Texan. When a store manager can only offer him white socks and Llewellyn answers, "That's the only kind I wear."

Speech and Dialogue

Honestly, there isn't a whole lot of dialogue in this movie. But that's why the things people do say are loaded with so much importance. Anton Chigurh, for example, never speaks unless it's totally necessary. He doesn't even like it when a gas station clerk tries to make small talk with him. Sheriff Ed Tom Bell on the other hand can't seem to stop talking, like a talk therapy patient who's struggling to make sense of his life.

Meaning? We think it's because Chigurh is dead certain about his way of looking at things and Ed Tom is deeply insecure.

And then (again) there's Llewellyn Moss, who to speak as little as possible. You can tell, though, that it's a bit of a front. Moss wants to be tough like Chigurh, but deep down he's probably more like Ed Tom. (And that's a good thing.)

Props

Since Anton Chigurh is a silent man of mystery in this movie, the Coen brothers tend to develop his character by focusing on the objects he always carries with him. No matter where he goes, he always seems to have a silenced shotgun, an air-powered steer killing device, and a coin.

The silenced shotgun makes a creepy ringing sound when he fires it, suggesting the quiet but brutal power that Chigurh has inside him. The steer killer shows just how little respect Chigurh has for human life, and the coin shows how Chigurh is always perched on a razor's edge between total chaos and total control.

Put it all together and you don't even need the guy to open his mouth—he's already telegraphing it all.

Actions

Since this is a Western, you can expect actions to speak louder than words. Well, they might not speak louder, but they definitely speak clearly.

Take Llewellyn Moss, who has several opportunities to turn himself into the police and seek their protection and doesn't do it—for two main reasons: (1) he wants to keep the stolen drug money, and (2) he refuses to believe that he can't take on Anton Chigurh and the Mexican cartel all by himself. His actions show him to be an overconfident man of action, and—unsurprisingly—they eventually lead to his death and his wife's too.

Meanwhile, Anton Chigurh's actions mostly consist of killing people like animals, leaving a trail of death wherever he travels. His actions suggest that he's a psychotic killer with no regard for human life, which is exactly what he is.

Thoughts and Beliefs

You could almost call No Country a movie about the conflict between different belief systems, and the Coen brothers make sure that every character in this movie has a distinct set of core beliefs.

Anton Chigurh believes that the world turns on some weird combination of order and chaos and has little interest in entertaining anyone else's views on the matter. Sheriff Ed Tom Bell is just the opposite, constantly wondering what the larger meaning of his life can be in the midst of so much death and violence. Llewellyn Moss is convinced that he can take on the whole world—and then there's Carson Wells, who thinks that the only thing that matters in life is money.