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Quarter Four Texts.
In Rotation: Selected 07-08 Highlights.
Justice, Mos Def, Murs, Seal, and as always, highlights from the following first-rate podcasts: Brooklyn Radio's "The Rub" & "Wake the Town and tell the People," KCRW's "Sounds Eclectic," and NPR's "All Songs Considered."
11 comments:
My last readers log focused on the idea that both Moss and Chigurh are still very mysterious to us, despite the fact that the majority of the book has focused on their actions. I mentioned how this lack of detailed character description forces us as readers to look deeper into the meaning of their actions in order to seek hints about their personalities and motivations. I found it interesting that the only direct view of Moss we are given comes from his wife’s statements about him to Sheriff Bell. In the most recent passage that we read, this same technique occurs regarding Chigurh. For the first time we are given a glimpse into Chigurh’s life and motivations, from the point of view of Wells, a hit man who we still know very little about. His description about Chigurh helps to understand how Chigurh acts when he says “you can’t make a deal with him. Let me say it again. Even if you gave him the money he’d still kill you” (153). Similar to what occurred in Carla Jean’s description of Moss, we already knew this fact about Chigurh by witnessing his actions, but still the author chose to directly state it from another characters point of view. Later in the passage, Wells describes Chigurh as “A peculiar man. You could even say that he has principles. Principles that transcend money or drugs or anything like that.” I found this statement to be very ironic because ordinarily a man of principles is thought to be respectable and trustworthy. Principles are convictions and beliefs held by a person that hopefully marks their character and makes them a good person. Normally a man of principles is a positive description but how can this be so when this phrase is used to describe Chigurh’s character. Chigurh’s “principles” are entirely evil and not worth respecting at all. When they are said to “transcend money and drugs” that suggests to me that Chigurh’s principles are not rational. Even after the money is returned to him, he would still be determined to kill Moss.
I thought that the sheriff’s narrative in this section was interesting, and found it to perhaps relate to the title. I thought it was interesting that biggest problems in schools in the 30s were things like talking in class, chewing gum, or running in the hallway. While today (the 60s) teachers reported that the biggest problems are rape, arson, murder, drugs, and suicide. As he explains how our country is headed down the wrong path and how its visible that things are taking a drastic turn for the worse I realized that this relates to the main story line. This section supports the title that the country is not what it was once and that it’s a different world not suited for “old men” like Bell. It’s a place he can barely recognize, and a place where he does not quite fit in. This relates to the fact that Bell has really no way of controlling Chirgurh and the other drug dealers, they are too far out of his league. They have reached a new level of crime and killing that not even Bell, an experienced sheriff, knows how to handle them. This shows how is almost powerless in the situation because he is like a foreigner to the situation. This is supporter later in the reading when Bell says, “I don’t know a damn thing,” (213) while he is described to have “the posture of a man perhaps who has just buried something.” This line made me think that perhaps Bell is excepting that the situation is so far over his head that it has no longer in his hands anymore. He is admitting that he doesn’t have enough knowledge or experience of this kind of situation to have any power over it. I feel as if he his letting go his role of “god” that sheriffs play. Now that he is no longer has the power, who has the ultimate power? Who is going to play god in the situation?
When I think of Chigurh I think of one thing, killing. Though we have heard about a lot of killings and dead bodies in this book, Chigurh is the only character we have descriptively read about killing another man and watching him die. The way he can kill people who are pleading for help and watch “the capillaries break up in his eyes” (122), is not only repulsive but gives us a very strong feeling, a bad one at that, towards Chigurh. In comparison, we see Moss who, besides Vietnam, has never killed another man. We see Moss’ reaction when Wells shows him the picture of the old woman that Moss inadvertently shot. All Moss can say to the accusation is “You’re full of shit” (151). Though Moss has admitted that eventually he will have to kill someone, he had the opportunity to kill the very man that is chasing him (Chigurh) and he didn’t take it. I find this difference between Moss and Chigurh difficult. Obviously it is seen as a good characteristic of Moss’ that he doesn’t go around killing people with no care, but eventually I think this lack of a killer instinct could get him killed. In some regards, the way this book is playing out, I think the title could be “No Country for Good Men”. It was in Everything is Illuminated that Alex said his grandfather was not a bad guy; he only lived in a bad time. I don’t think Moss is a bad man (seeing how he loves his wife and refrains from killing people), but he has placed himself in a bad situation, maybe its time for me to take action that is thought of as “bad”.
Tim Walden
Reader's Log p. 194-214
For this log I just have more speculations about Chigurgh. The way that he’s been acting in this reading really has me thinking more about this superhuman god-like figure that I mentioned in my previous log and that my group talked about in discussion. The incident that I’m thinking about is when he goes into the big building. He first ascends the 17 flights of stairs and is breathing no harder than if he had gotten out of a chair. No normal man, especially one who is hobbled by a gunshot wound, is that in shape. I could barely make it up 17 flights of stairs, let alone with a bad leg. After that, he sneaks down he hall and shoots the guy in the room in his neck. He then kneels down and listens to the guy gurgling and slowly dying and talks to him as if he has something to say. He then tells him “The reason I used the birdshot was that I didn’t want to break the glass. Behind you. To rain glass on the people in the street.”(200) Even though Chigurgh is the kind of guy who can roll up on some random guy working for someone he hates and mercilessly kill him, he still makes it seem less wrong with this comment demonstrating consideration for pedestrians below the building. He also showed some consideration by answering what he thought to be this man’s last question. He looked into his eyes and said “I’m the man you sent Carson Wells to kill. Is that what you wanted to know?”(199) It shows me here that he is thinking of other people, but its not enough for me to think he’s totally human/sane. A mere showing of emotions doesn’t justify his brutal killing spree or even justify his actions in the moment. As I said in my previous log, Chigurgh thinks he’s better the everybody else, better than any other man sent out for blood by a drug dealer. He’ll continue to behave this way until somebody can somehow prove or convince him otherwise, but I also feel that’s much easier said than done with Mr. Anton Chigurgh.
The two scenes in this reading that really interested me was when Chigurh killed the man who hired Wells to kill him and when Chigurh visited the home of who I assume to be Carla Jean. In the first scene, once again Chigurh displays how he isn’t conscious of pain by walking up seventeen flights of stairs, even with his injury. Again, he shows that emotions simply don’t register to him and that death is insignificant when he watches this man slowly die, with blood pouring out of his throat. Chigurh says, “The reason I used the birdshot was that I didn’t want to break the glass. Behind you. To rain glass on people in the street” (200). I question if this is because he cares about the people on the street or if it is because he doesn’t want to draw attention to himself. It’s fairly contradictory because, if he cared about how people felt, he wouldn’t be a killer. I think that Chigurh also used the birdshot because it would lead to a slower, more painful death.
In the second scene, I was somewhat perplexed by Chigurh’s actions. Why would he go through Carla Jean’s old mail and for that matter, why would he spend the night at her house? He reads Carla Jean’s pharmacy bottles and sorts through her things. It’s as though he wants to get to know her before he kills her. It’s as if he wants to make her death harder and more personal for him to carry out.
In this passage we read about Chigurh and a man named Wells. These men know each other and the more we find out about Chigurh the more we learn how inhuman he is. He is shot in his leg and obtains a serious leg wound. However this does not faze him. He knows he cannot go to the hospital so he goes to a store and creates a diversion and robs it. He acquires pain killers, a syringe, gauze and some other flesh wound ointments. Every move he makes is incredibly thought filled yet it almost seems he doesn’t plan his actions. He is robotic. We as readers never get the opportunity to feel Chigurh’s emotions. All we can decipher about him comes from his present day actions. We know nothing about his past, or his future for that matter, he is a killing machine as Wells warned Moss. The way in which he casually caused a car to explode in front of a store to rob it says a lot about what extent he is willing to go to to acquire what he wants. If he is unstable and willing enough to completely destroy a car in broad daylight to get pain killers for his leg, then he is probably willing to do a lot more to get 2.4 million or the heroin, or both. He is an unstable psychopathic killer. “There’s no one alive on this planet that’s ever had even a cross word with him. They’re all dead.” (p.153)
Chigurh is described as a ruthless character and person who does not think twice about killing people. The way in which he is described, both his personality and his killing methods resemble an animal. This shows that Chigurh does not value human life, he regards it as something that can so easily be taken away- because he believes that it holds no value. Chigurh also seems to treat himself as an animal. When he is shot he goes and buys, “ a sack full of veterinary supplies” (161). He was inside a pharmacy so it is not as if human supplies were not available. Perhaps Chigurh thinks of himself as an animal- something that kills to survive and something that kills as a daily action-regarding it as insignificant.
Chigurh also is connected to animals due to the weapon he uses- the cattlegun. This is significant because Bell mentions that this is the same gun used in slaughterhouses- where mass killing is done. Chigurh utilizes this weapons in the same way that slaughter houses do-without conscience or anything. When Bell is looking at the scene he describes it as a “huntin accident” (94). This seems like the kind of appeal that Chigurh would want- the fact that he goes hunting for human lives. Wells mentions that, “ There’s no one alive on this planet that’s ever had even a cross word with him. They’re all dead. “ (153). The only contact that we see Chigurh have with human life and the only time he acknowledges human life- is when he is about to kill someone. We have noticed how he always looks someone in the eyes when he kills them and makes them look back. “ Chigurh shot him through the forehead and then stood watching. Watching the capillaries break up in his eyes (122). It is reasonable to assume that this is the only time Chigurh feels alive- when he has control and the ability to end someone else’s life. That is why he looks into their eyes to, “see his own image degrade into that squandered world” (122).
Advancing of Evil
The sheriff’s monologue at the start of chapter 7 talks about the way the problems of this world are much more worse they are then the common evils of generations past. After being surveyed about the problems of learning in school, students in the 1930’s said that, “talking in class and runnin in the hallways,” were the main problems. The same questionnaire given two generations later had answers of, “Rape, arson, murder. Drugs. Suicide.” It’s hard to argue that the evils of this world are advancing and becoming much worse. The thing I found must interesting is how people perceive the world. Not only to they fail to realize the problems of today but rationalize many of the evils. The most shocking concept was that of abortion. At the end of his reflections the sheriff talks about how nobody needs to worry about abortion being banned. The trend suggests that we should be worried in the concept of abortion being advanced: “The way I see it goin I don’t have much doubt but what she’ll be able to have an abortion. I’m goin to say that not only will she be able to have an abortion, she’ll be able to have you put to sleep.” (197) The idea being talked about isn’t whether abortion is moral or not but rather when are limits set. In our day and age advancement has lead to great improvements in life. However, not all things are meant to advance and limits must be sent because eventually you cross the line between want and despise.
Jack
Log p.139-167
I think we may start to see a change in Moss’s character after his lengthy conversation with Carson Wells. Up until now I think that Moss has figured that he can just outlast Chigurah or somehow kill him, especially now that he has gotten rid of the transponder. In the beginning on his talk with Wells Moss doesn’t really seem too concerned about Chigurah, stating, “I can do that myself” (148) in reference to making him go away. After talking with Wells and being alerted to the fact that his wife is in danger, it is clear that Wells is going to become another major character in the book from here on out. Moss, if he hasn’t realized it by page 157, is going to need this mans help if he has any intention of staying alive. It was also interesting to hear what Wells, who had previously known Chigurah, had to say about him. Up until now no other characters have really talked about exactly who this man is, but in this chapter we get to hear Well’s viewpoint. His description of Chigurah not stopping to look for Moss even if he gets the money was a scary thought. Chigurah is a very smart man and the last couple pages of the reading where he blows up the car and gets aid for himself continues to prove this.
The letter entitled “Why I’m not where you are,” written from Oskar’s grandfather to his own father, reveals more about what Oskar’s father may have been like, even though there is no blatant text from Thomas Schell himself. Earlier in the book, Oskar referred to how his father would go through the newspaper and underline the mistakes he found with red pen. It seems that this is what he has done in his father’s letter as well. However, although he has underlined common mistakes such as incorrect use of punctuation of a spelling mistake, he also underlines phrases that seem to have a more cryptic reason as to why Thomas may have underlined them. Examples of these are, “my child,” (208) “you can’t love anything more than something you miss,” (208) “I love our baby,” (215) and “’Life is scarier than death,’” (215). He finally concludes by underlining, “I love you, your father” (216). If Thomas was underlining things that were mistakes, then does he feel that these phrases are “mistakes” as well? I feel that Thomas is suffering from the notion that he doesn’t know his father, and he has underlined “my child” and “I love you, your father,” because he does not truly feel like this man that is writing him letters is his dad. He may be his biological father, but Thomas feels no connection to him. As the letter progresses, Thomas underlines more and more of the text that is not necessarily grammatically incorrect. It’s almost as if he is getting increasingly frustrated by what his father is saying as the letter progresses. Does this mean that Thomas doesn’t believe in his father’s intentions? That he believes his father is lying to him? I wonder if Thomas’ “relationship” (or lack thereof) has affected the way he treats his own son. He seems like he was a very good dad to Oskar – it makes me wonder if this is the reason why.
In our most recent reading of Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close, there appears to be a letter written by Oskar's grandfather to Thomas Shetl junior. This letter is much like the other "Letters to my child" and "Letters to my unborn son" but with one stark difference; this letter appears to be annotated or corrected by someone. There seem to be two types of annotations in this letter. The first obvious one has a corrective tone, circling the start of a run-on sentence or other grammatical error. The second type of annotation or highlighting in this letter is one where the reader highlights certain things, making note of them (for later review?) and flagging them as important. The placement of this letter seems strategic somehow to the storyline, as it comes right before Oskar's father's description of the sixth borough. This forces us to question who highlighted this letter. Was it Oskar, because we're "in his mind" and he highlighted it to convey things to us? If so, why did he choose to accentuate this letter and not the others? If not Oskar, was it his grandfathr who highlighted the letter? His grandmother? Was it his father after receiving it?
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