"I'm a man of this time": Categories of Sin and the Shadow of Dante in Cormac McCarthy's No Country for Old Men
Criticism on the nature of evil in Cormac McCarthy's No Country for Old Men (2005) has acknowledged the precarious moral position of Sheriff Bell, often creating sympathy for the character who resigns at a crucial time. My article argues that the novel's literary ancestor, Dante's Inf...
| Publié dans: | Christianity & literature |
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| Auteur principal: | |
| Type de support: | Électronique Article |
| Langue: | Anglais |
| Vérifier la disponibilité: | HBZ Gateway |
| Journals Online & Print: | En cours de chargement...
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| Fernleihe: | Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste |
| Publié: |
Johns Hopkins University Press
[2019]
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| Dans: |
Christianity & literature
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| Classifications IxTheo: | CD Christianisme et culture KAJ Époque contemporaine NBE Anthropologie |
| Sujets non-standardisés: | B
Acédie
B Morality B Sin B Catholicism B Cormac McCarthy B sloth B Dante |
| Accès en ligne: |
Volltext (Resolving-System) Volltext (doi) |
| Résumé: | Criticism on the nature of evil in Cormac McCarthy's No Country for Old Men (2005) has acknowledged the precarious moral position of Sheriff Bell, often creating sympathy for the character who resigns at a crucial time. My article argues that the novel's literary ancestor, Dante's Inferno, offers a way of reading this novel through categorizing the sins of the three main characters: Moss, Bell, and Chigurh. This categorization suggests not only that Bell is guilty of acedia, one of the seven deadly sins, but also that this particular sin elucidates the sheriff's meaning when he calls himself "a man of this time." Although more noticeable sins, such as Moss's impulsive theft or Chigurh's disciplined treachery, drive the plot and captivate readers, Sheriff Bell's acedia is the prevailing danger to morality in the novel. |
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| ISSN: | 2056-5666 |
| Contient: | Enthalten in: Christianity & literature
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| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.1177/0148333118821457 |