“There is no God and we are his prophets”: The Visionary Potential of Memory and Nostalgia in Cormac McCarthy’s No Country for Old Men and The Road

Abstract

Memory and nostalgia work in complex, paradoxical ways in Cormac McCarthy’s No Country for Old Men and The Road, haunting Sheriff Ed Tom Bell and the father, as well as bringing them to crucial realizations. They give up the traditional hero role for the more meaningful and generative image of “carrying the fire,” which unites the novels. Carrying the fire represents a memorial and nostalgic longing for home and family. Bell and the father attain this vision because of their obsession with the past, and their struggle with memory and nostalgia. Memory, for these characters, has both personal and collective dimensions. Nostalgia, likewise, has a dual function, following Svetlana Boym’s definition of nostalgics as being capable of restorative and reflective longing for the past. Family, or Paul Ricœur’s theory of close relations, bridges the gap between the conflicts of memory and nostalgia, acting as the means by which they understand this vision of carrying the fire while also embodying it. Additionally, the duality of both memory and nostalgia drive Bell and the father to seek a prophetic vision, a stability in the past to help them deal with present threats.