Metaphor of the United States in No Country for Old Men

丁 妤/中南財經政法大學 外國語學院

Metaphor of the United States in No Country for Old Men

丁 妤/中南財經政法大學 外國語學院

Cormac McCarthy; No Country for Old Men; metaphor of the United States

Introduction

Cormac McCarthy and No Country for Old Men

Recent years, Cormac McCarthy, acknowledged as one of the most celebrated novelists in American contemporary literature, has attracted much attention from the critics domestically and internationally. In terms of No Country for Old Men, it receives many approving reviews in the light of various schools of critical theories. However, there is still adequate space for analysis. As for the metaphor in No Country for Old Men, the previous articles concentrate on the western surroundings and society in the movie, instead of relating the real condition of American society with the characters and plots, especially putting the movie in the post-911 terrorist attack period. Thus, this paper, based on the previous McCarthy studies, is going to reveal the metaphor of the United States in No Country for Old Men by analyzing the characters and plot narration,aiming to unearthing McCarthy’s intention of reflecting the United States in all aspects.

Chigurh: The Bully and the Absurd Principle

Abuse of violent power

In March 1999, in the name of humanitarian intervention, the US bypassed the United Nations, launched a 78 sky attack on the Southern League of sovereign states, and bombed the Chinese Embassy in Yugoslavia. All these force of violence the US used in diplomatic politics can be discovered from Chigurh’s behaviors.

At the beginning of the movie, after Chigurh escaped from the police office, he killed a stranger using his horrible weapon, an oxygen tank,just for getting the stranger’s car. With a mysterious smile on his face,Chigurh said politely “would you hold still, please” and then shot the innocent person. The similar scene appeared when Chigurh wants to get some medicines for self-cure. He bombed a car to create disturbance and finished a series of plundering without hesitation. Like the US, Chigurh never considers about some peaceful methods to get to his destination.Rather, he chose the violence to solve the problems in despite of the considerable unrelated people.

The Doctrine and Chaotic World

In international affairs, the United States ignores the authority of the United Nations to maximize the benefits as his please. He ignores the basic principles of international relations and implements unilateralism.In No Country for Old Men, Chigurh did not take the law into account,either. Chigurh followed his own principle of life, and decided others’lives by asking them to guess the coin. This absurd principle is obvious in the conversation between Chigurh and a gas station proprietor which ended with proprietor’s right call of the coin and he won everything,that is, his life. Chigurh use this gamely way to decide others’ lives, and unilaterally declared people’s death, just like the diplomatic style of the United States.

To some degree, this terrorist behavior of 911 attack comes as a blow to the US. Just like the terrorist act, the hegemonic actions of the United States should also be condemned. The similar scene was displayed at the end of the movie, when Chigurh drove on the road with the money;he was suddenly crashed by a car which violated the traffic regulations.Therefore, in such a chaotic society, there is no extreme evil but much eviler.

Conclusion

This thesis investigates the metaphor of the United States in No Country for Old Men. Chingurh, the cold-blooded killer in the movie,follows his own principles, abuse the violent power to achieve his goal.All his characteristics remind people of the bullying conducts of the US in some international affairs. Expressing acute distress at the failure of a vision and a sense of future, No Country for Old Men offers a mirror through which we can perceive McCarthy’s initially ambivalent attitude towards contemporary American society.

Works Cited：

[1]Li,Yingxue. “Conflicts between Traditional and Modern Societies in No Country for Old Men.” Thesis. Central China Normal U,2016.

[2]陳愛華：“暴力外衣下的人性探索——論科馬克·麥卡錫小說中的宗教情懷”，《解放軍外國語學院學報》，2013年第1期，第117-21+128頁。

[3]江寧康：“當代小說的敘事美學與經典建構——論C ?麥卡錫小說的審美特征及銀幕再現”，《當代外國文學》, 2010年第2期，第115-24頁。

《老無所依》是科馬克·麥卡錫繼邊疆三部曲之后創作的又一部西部小說。據其改編的同名電影也受到了廣泛的認可。大部分國內外對《老無所依》的小說以及電影的研究忽略了麥卡錫對美國形象的隱喻以及對911恐怖襲擊之后人類命運的擔憂。本論文將《老無所依》放到后911時代美國的社會和政治語境下，以影片中三個主要人物來反映作家對美國的隱喻。最終得出結論：《老無所依》反映了后911背景下麥卡錫對當代美國社會的矛盾態度。

科馬克·麥卡錫; 老無所依;美國隱喻