Sheriff Bell Character Analysis

Words: 442
Pages: 2

The readers see insight into Sheriff Bell’s life and his outlook on the world. He mainly comments on his career as a sheriff and the things that he sees while working. Bell states that “[he] was the sheriff of [that] county when [he] was twenty-five” (90). He was in his sixties when he retired, so he had a long, eventful career. Also, Bell could not understand the young people in society. He comments that “young people anymore they seem to have a hard time growing up” (158). Bell is a whole generation older than the young people he mentions, and he does not relate to them on this level. Bell thinks that “the world is going to hell in a handbasket”, and his thought on this really shows throughout the novel (196). Bell experiences violence and death of innocent people and he has to go through things that an older man can not handle as well.
The violence he sees begins to age him, and the readers see this through his thoughts. He states that “every day is against you, time is not on your side” (216). As he gets older, he thinks this because he sees the murders of the town and realizes that life is short. The violence shapes his thoughts and his actions. Bell got frustrated that they could not find Chigurh because he knew that he was out there. When Chigurh killed
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He says that “this country has got a strange kind of history and a damned bloody one too” (284). Bell’s experiences as a sheriff and before becoming a sheriff contribute to him quitting his job. Bell thinks that he can not compare to the criminals of the modern world, and he does not relate to them in any way. The title of this novel refers to Bell’s aging as a sheriff. “No Country for Old Men” means that the violence in the world should not be placed upon the shoulders of an aging man. Bell believes that he is too old to be working in this violent society. He is no match for the recent murder cases and violence going on around his