No Country for Old Men

Sheriff Bell notes that time has brought some changes in technology that he approves of, and some that he does not. For example, he likes his old car with its powerful 454 engine and older guns, but he also likes the newer wide-band radio. He bemoans the fact that whatever new technology the lawmen get, the criminals also get; they cannot stay ahead of them.

He reports that the people who should get the death penalty never do, and that he doesn’t ever want to witness another execution. He also reports that he has never had to kill anyone, and he’s happy about that.

Bell thinks it’s interesting that in Texas that there are no requirements for being a county sheriff, except for being elected. Still, he remarks that he has witnessed very little abuse of the power given to sheriffs over the years. He notes that it takes very little to “govern good people” (64) while bad people cannot be governed at all.

Moss. Moss says good bye to his wife, Carla Jean, on the bus to Fort Stockton.

Bell. Bell and his wife are eating dinner when the phone rings. A car is on fire. Bell and his wife go to the scene, meeting his deputy Wendell there; it’s the Ford sedan originally driven by the innocent man Chigurh killed and dumped in the trunk of the deputy’s cruiser.