Point of View

No Country For Old Men by Cormac McCarthy is written in the first person taken from the perspective of the Sheriff of Sanderson County, Sheriff Ed Tom Bell. Sheriff Bell is an honest man with a reputation for being a stand up guy. He is a Vietnam veteran, decorated for his service but doesn't believe he deserved the reward for having lost his crew and surviving. Each chapter begins with a section that is written by Bell who keeps a running commentary throughout the novel. Bell goes into law enforcement. These insights are important in that they give the reader a good barometer by which to judge Bell and his efforts to keep his county safe. They also document his growing unease with the turn the country has taken, and his inability to understand the way young people think.

The title is an apt one...