Why Bell Fails (No Country)

The gap between generations has been a continuous source of conflict between us citizens in real life. It’s no different in No Country for Old Men in which Sheriff Bell struggles to understand the younger generation. The psyche of people such as Chigurh completely allude him and he always is a step behind. Drug related deaths have been on the rise since long before No Country for Old Men was written and has risen greatly since. Sheriff Bell seemed to place the blame of the issue of drugs and the great violence that came with it on this new generation that he cannot understand. However, how accurate is it that the new generation Bell was confused by is leading to more drugs, violence and crimes. Though drug deaths have gone up, the rate at which crime as a whole has gone down considerably. It may not seem like it due to the amount of media attention on crime (well, at least before coronavirus became the main thing we were concerned about), but the rate of violent crimes is completely dwarfed compared to what it was when this novel was written. Overall I feel like Bell simply couldn’t understand that the new generation thinks much differently from the older generation (even if they’re not pyschos like Chigurh). Even though Chigurh may not think like any normal person, the main problem is that he can’t adapt to a new form of thinking and try to put himself in Chigurh’s shoes. That is ultimately why Bell fails, he cannot understand the thought process of someone from the new generation.