No Country for Old Men

Reading Check and Short Answer Questions on key points are designed for guided reading assignments, in-class review, formative assessment, quizzes, and more.

CHAPTERS 1-2

Reading Check

1. What does Moss find while hunting?

2. What does Bell’s act of moving the dead redtail hawk from the highway illustrate a belief in?

3. When Chigurh tells the gas station owner he stands to win everything in the coin toss, what does he mean by “everything”?

Short Answer

Answer each question in at least 1 complete sentence. Incorporate details from the text to support your response.

1. What stylistic devices does McCarthy use to characterize Bell in the opening?

2. How does McCarthy first characterize Chigurh?

3. How might the sheriff’s monologues relate to the story?

4. What makes Chigurh’s conversation with the gas station owner so suspenseful?

Paired Resource

“All Gold Canyon”

• This short story by Jack London explores greed and revenge through the tale of a prospector who stakes everything on a payout of gold.
• Explorations of greed and revenge connect to themes of Good Versus Evil and Man’s Laws Versus Moral Law.
• Though the stories take place more than a century apart, they can both be classified as Westerns. What similarities do the stories share and how does each play with and comment on the tropes within the Western genre?