Ed Tom Bell's No Country For Old Men

In No Country for Old Men, Ed Tom Bell a character from the novel states, “It takes very little to govern good people. Very little. And bad people can’t be governed at all. Or if they could I never heard of it.” (64) and he made this statement on the activities of his society at the time. Ed Tom Bell’s message gives an explicit explanation of the general idea McCarthy, one of Americas good novelist, uses to pass off his message to the readers in his novel No Country for Old Men. In his novel, he explores the themes of changing time, morality, greed and especially how the violence in American society is influenced through Texas, Mexican border drug trade of the 1980. Law and order, no longer has a stand in the society not only due to the growing violence that even the people of law can no longer control, but also the fact the citizens don’t …show more content…
Chiefly from Bells perspective, he is on the verge of changing his lifestyle and this is not for a health reason, but for the fact that he can no longer handle the growing violence personally, and morally. Lastly is the youth of the society, who have gotten the urge to grow up faster than they need too. They forget the need for life and education. The rate of misbehavior in schools have increased alongside the issue of suicide, needs, and principle of means to live life, all this because of the ideology in 1980s. All things considered, Change in American society brought by the violence of drug war. This is shown to the reader through the lack of respect given to the law, the attitude of the older generation, and changes seen in the youth of the country especially moral codes.
Through the character of Bell and his observations, the reader is aware that part of the violence is due to a lack of respect for law and order. In No Country For Old Men, it is vividly clear to see the lack of respect society has towards law and order. For example, Sherriff Bell said about a 19-year-old boy, “He’d killed a fourteen-year-old