A Vast and Breathless Amphitheatre
As Llewelyn Moss carefully navigates the desert avoiding the rifle sights of cartel gunmen, McCarthy describes the landscape: "He studied the blue floodplain out there in the silence. A vast and breathless amphitheatre. Waiting. He’d had this feeling before. In another country. He never thought he’d have it again" (30-31). The description of the land as an "amphitheatre" emphasizes the feeling that Llewelyn is the center of attention, being watched by a faraway audience he cannot perceive. The reference to the familiarity of this feeling refers to Llewelyn's time as a sniper in Vietnam and prepares the reader to expect violence and the constant vigilance required of soldiers in war.
Omen in the Mug
When Ed Tom Bell visits Carla Jean in Odessa, they go to the Sunshine Cafe so as not to frighten Carla Jean's grandmother with the presence of a uniformed policeman. As Carla Jean talks to him, Bell sips coffee out of a heavy China mug, and McCarthy describes the scene: "Bell nodded. He sipped his coffee. The face that lapped and shifted in the dark liquid in the cup seemed an omen of things to come. Things losing shape. Taking you with them. He set the cup down and looked at the girl" (127). The imagery here is uncharacteristically zoomed-in for McCarthy, who generally keeps a wide-shot distance from his subjects. This close-up of Bell's perspective, looking into his coffee at his own face shifting in the amorphous surface of the liquid, conjures up the practice of divining from tea leaves. The ever-present theme of fate and destiny in No Country for Old Men is reinforced by this play on tea leaf prophecy in Bell's beverage of choice, black coffee.
The Rich Tang of Gunpowder
McCarthy describes the street scene after Chigurh's shootout with Moss and rival cartel members as Chigurh limps out of cover:
When he got to the corner there was only one man standing in the street. He was at the rear of the car and the car was badly shot up, all of the glass gone or shot white. There was at least one body inside. The man was watching the hotel and Chigurh leveled the pistol and shot him twice and he fell down in the street. Chigurh stepped back behind the corner of the building and stood with the pistol upright at his shoulder, waiting. A rich tang of gunpowder on the cool morning air. Like the smell of fireworks. No sound anywhere. (121)
For Chigurh, the aftermath of carnage is a comfortable environment. It almost seems like his natural habitat. He operates best in tense, dangerous arenas, because while others stand frozen with fright, Chigurh feels nothing, and he is able to take advantage of their fear and act. This scene demonstrates his proficiency as a killer, and the sensory imagery portrays the scene as a celebration for Chigurh. Closing in on Chigurh's perspective, the "rich tang of gunpowder" conjures not war and destruction, but fireworks, an implement of celebration and jubilee.
A Stray Bullet
As Carson Wells cases the aftermath of the shootout between Llewelyn and Chigurh at the border motel, he comes upon "a darkened room" with a "faint smell of rot." McCarthy describes Wells in the room: "He stood until his eyes were accustomed to the dimness. A parlor. A pianola or small organ against the far wall. A chifforobe. A rockingchair by the window where an old woman sat slumped" (147). The creepiness of the scene is emphasized by the pianola, an instrument that is able to play music without a player. Before Wells arrives to the scene, the old woman goes completely unnoticed by authorities. She is an invisible victim of the drug war between the cartels, and she represents the elderly casualties of the youth-obsessed culture that Ed Tom Bell fears is taking over the country.
