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Fate and Freewill in Cormac McCarthy’s No County for Old Men

Fate and free will are two factors that lead us in making a decision, either right or wrong.

It is essential to understand the balance between fate and free will before making any decision.

Fate is what our future holds and cannot be changed, while free will determines whether we are

to take the opportunities or not without knowing the consequences. Based on contemplation

between fate and free will, No Country for Old Men, written by Cormac McCarthy, widely

explores several instances of wrongful actions done in the past by the characters, however, with

nothing to be done to correct the past occurrences. The book explores several themes, such as

dominant morality and greed. Besides, McCarthy captures the difference in ideological beliefs

with the three principal characters in the film. First is the antagonist of the novel Anton Chigurh,

who believes that all our life outcomes lie in fate's hands. On the flipside, Llewelyn Moss

believes in a free will where his actions determine his fate; he believes in his actions and is ready

to deal with their repercussions. The protagonist, Sheriff Ed Tom Bell, is caught at a crossroads

in understanding either Chigurh or Moss' beliefs. As fate is inevitable regardless of whatever

choices we make in life, this paper, through the experiences of the characters mentioned above,

explores the themes of fate and free will as used in the novel; can we determine and shape our

fate by free will or is fate predetermined.

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With Llewelyn on a hunting trip, he comes across a crime scene where a drug deal may

have probably gone wrong he picks 2 million dollars from the scene and runs with it, having the

knowledge that the owners would come lurking (McCarthy 23). As an ideology, the author

portrays Llewlyn as a believer of free will; he knows that taking drug money has consequences.

As a reader, you may ask yourself why he goes back to the crime scene later in the night to bring

water to the wounded soldier. He goes back with water in a jug knowing the dangers that lurk

(McCarthy 25). He leaves his vehicle at the crime scene, so he knows that the antagonists will

hunt him down through the car. He believes that keeping the money is the best choice; thus, his

fate would be determined by how safe he will be from the hands of Chigurh, who swears to hunt

him down and recover the money (McCarthy 131). Chigurh is a ruthless assassin who uses coin

toss to determine whether his victims live or die.

Given that a coin toss embodies luck and probability, it becomes a challenge for

McCarthy's audience to comprehend why a tool used to symbolize uncertainty is used to

determine fate, according to Chigurh. This question may be backed up with several instances in

the novel; for example, he makes a man at a gas station flip the coin and bet on his own life. It is

important to note that at this point, the coin toss encompasses free will where the man is to

choose the outcomes of his future (Pilkington 312). Besides, the man may have decided to throw

away the coin when it was given to him; at that point, what determines his fate now that the coin

is not there?

From the beginning of the novel, McCarthy uses Llewelyn in the genius plot

where he may be seen as a protagonist of the story, and readers expect him to survive till the end

of the story. However, he is greedy to keep the money, knowing the consequences pending.
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McCarthy depicts him as a believer in free will. He thinks he can survive the consequences of his

actions and protect his wife. As choosing free will, Llewelyn unknowingly seals the fate of all

people involved around the stolen money upon meeting Chigurh, who, through a coin flip, the

fate of his victims gets determined as decided by Llewelyn. We can also argue that fate led to all

the happenings in the story, from Llewelyn going hunting, finding the money leading to his death

and the others who were close to him. Chigurh swears to kill Llewelyn as well as his wife Carla

when he does not return the money he took. Llewelyn gets killed by a Mexican drug cartel and

not Chigurh. The latter receives the money and kills Carla Moss after recovering the money

while he promised Llewelyn that he would not harm his wife if he returned the money. At this

point, we can argue fate had it that Llewelyn and Carla had to die since Llewelyn did not intend

to return the stolen money.

Throughout the story, Llewelyn is able to gamble himself out of difficult

situations. Through a conversation with Welles, the latter urges him to return the money as

Chigurh is a principled man and would kill him without hesitation. Llewelyn believes that he can

change his fate and escape death as he has done severally. In the end, he is not able to escape

fate. Sheriff Tom Bell is able to accept his fate when he believes that he cannot overcome

Chigurh, something he can not understand and resigns. He had served as the Sherrif and thought

that every individual must be held accountable for their own actions (McCarthy 134). Carson

Welles, on the other hand, similar to Carla Moss, did not accept their fate at first by trying to

negotiate with Chigurh on money and questioning his morality; why he enjoyed doing what he

was doing. Carla tells Chigurh that she knows what awaits her and does not allow her fate to be

decided with a mere coin. In the end, Chigurh gets knocked with a car which is a subject of his

ideology and moral trajectory.

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Given that Carla refuses to toss the Chigurh's coin, one can argue comprehensively that

she does not practice her free will. However, I believe that her action is a symbolic gesture

portrayed by McCarthy to show that an individual's life outcomes are not dependent on luck; she

is courageous and does not let all that is not important determine her future to the extent of

sacrificing herself. Consequently, Chigurh’s decision to kill Carla can be identified as free will

despite her fate being to die(McCarthy 178). The assassin has the choice of taking the money and

sparing her life, but Chigurh is determined to kill her

Alongside the themes of free will and fate, the novel portrays luck and chance as

parallel to the former themes. Even as we make choices, we are unable to have control over

chance and luck. McCarthy uses Chigurh and his coin to show the way our choices have the

ability to determine our fate, where the coin is a symbol of how our fate can be influenced by the

choices we make. Similarly, the coin symbolizes chance as availed to us during decision-making

(Pilkington 317). Besides, Chigurh uses the coin to convey power and how he indirectly controls

the fate of his victims where he hides behind the philosophy of the coin as the cause of his

victims' deaths while he can avert his actions.

Fate is inevitable; however, it cannot be determined by a tool; whenever we make

decisions based on a coin toss, we get a 50/50 probability of making one choice over the other.

Unlike free will, determining fate through a coin toss does not give us a broad scope of choices

to choose from (Pilkington 15). Additionally, tossing a coin does not take into account the

several external factors that determine our liberty to live. Chigurh believes preposterously on the

coin. Throughout the story, he epitomizes the image of fate where through his interactions with

other characters, the themes of fate and free will are exhibited. Fate constantly gives us a broad

scope of opportunities to choose from; therefore, there is a need to be conscious of grasping

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them. This shows us that you may use free will to try and come up with outcomes that may not

favour your future. Fate can never be changed; the end outcomes of an action cannot be changed

since we are unable to foresee the future. As McCarthy begins to write the story, the fate of all

characters is already sealed. Llewelyn believes in his actions; despite the belief, he still dies even

after being able to escape harrowing situations. His wife dies at the end despite denying tossing

the coin. On the other hand, the Sherriff, Tom Bell, believed in morality that every wrongdoing

was punishable. However, the story ends with him lamenting the vices happening across the

country; as fate was sealed, he could not do anything to change the situation.
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Works Cited

McCarthy, Cormac. "No Country for Old Men. 2005." New York: Vintage (2006).

Pilkington, Tom. "Fate and Free Will on the American Frontier: Cormac McCarthy's Western

Fiction." Western American Literature 27.4 (1993): 311-322.