Anton Chigurh: the unusual villain in No country for old man

Abstract

This work aims to study the representation of the unusual in the book No Country for Old Men (2005), by Cormac McCarthy, looking, more specifically, a study about the character Anton Chigurh, a hitman who emerges in the narrative to accomplish a mission and leaves a dark trail of death and violence. This murderous persona, shrouded in an aura of mystery and disbelief, makes possible some interpretations that dialogue with the unusual and fantastic, both in literary text and in the film adaptation directed by Cohen brothers in 2007, and creates, with it, a rich process of intermediality, what allowed these artistic products achieves critical and public recognition. Indeed, we’ll use as research methodology the content analysis, about the approach this is a qualitative research, this way we’ll use as theoretical reference studies which portrays themes like unusual, fantastic and violence, and we highlight: Garcia (2008), Todorov (1980), and Ginzburg (2012). As ours results, we evidence that Chigurh rises as a death representation, visible only for those who find it, but without a face or clues for those who haven’t been in its presence. And his unusual ethos is recognized by the sheriff Ed Tom Bell (character who represents law and order), who consider him as a ghost, doubting if the murder is in fact a real man, in view of his shocking, uncanny and singular acts.