Getting to Know Llewelyn Moss and Anton Chigurh

When we first meet Llewelyn Moss he is hunting. Hunting is a very typically masculine hobby, Later on in the film, we see Llewelyn act with toxic masculinity, for example, his need to confront and kill Chigurh himself, putting himself and eventually his wife in danger; his feeling then, that he will be ready for "anything" is disproven, as he is killed by the Mexican gang offscreen, catching both him and the audience off-guard.  The fact that he is hunting hints at this from the moment we meet his character.  Eventually, he finds a trail of blood, leading to the scene of the crime that starts most of the main events in the film. He follows it to find multiple dead bodies in what appears to be the aftermath of some gang related violence. By following this trail, his curiosity leads him into the events of the film and putting himself in the situation of being followed by Chigurh. 

The first scene where we begin to get to know Chigurh as a character is the now famous coin toss scene. We quickly learn that he is very private about his life, as he gets very defensive and takes it personally when the shopkeeper asks him an innocent question, and says he knows that he's from Dallas. We already know at this point in the film that Chigurh is a killer on the run, so his reaction to this makes sense; however, the reason why the character of Chigurh remains a mystery to the audience until the end of the film is reflective of the fact that he remains a mystery to all of the other characters in the film, as he refuses to let anyone know too much about him. The fact that he is so closed to the outside world directly contrasts Llewelyn Moss, who is far too curious, and attempts to interact with every part of the world that he can; Llewelyn's life is far too spontaneous, while Chigurh's is far too carefully planned out. After Chigurh asks the shopkeeper "what business it is of his where he is from", he refers to him as "friendo". The scene is very quiet, with the only sound that can be heard besides the two men talking being the sound of the wind blowing. This is an easy way to build tension as it reminds the audience that they are the only two people around, and that anything can happen in this moment. The fact that Chigurh uses the word "friendo" should break this tension as it is a friendly, if slightly strange and awkward way of referring to someone, but his demeanour or the tone of his voice does not change. When the shopkeeper asks him if there will be anything else or if anything's wrong, Chigurh proceeds to make the situation more awkward, to annoy the shopkeeper for his own pleasure. The shopkeeper, having let Chigurh get under his skin quickly decides he is going to close, to which he answers "at dark", blatantly contradicting himself as it is not yet dark, desperately trying to pull himself out of his situation. Yet, Chigurh, still trying to get under this man's skin for little apparent reason besides the fact that he knew he came from Dallas, flips this situation onto him, asking him personal questions, about whether he lives at the shop and what time he goes to bed. As strange as his way of doing it is, Chigurh at this point is making a statement, as to why he may dislike personal questions so much. When it comes from someone with a friendly demeanour it is seen as innocent, however, when someone such as Chigurh does it, it becomes much more sinister. Throughout this, Chigurh is casually eating what appears to be sweets, further suggesting that he is not phased by this encounter, which, to most would be awkward or tense, and that he may face these encounters very often. He proceeds to dispose of the wrapper on the counter of the shop, hinting at his disrespect and disregard for the shopkeeper, another subtle way to intimidate him and get under his skin. He quickly changes the subject, asking the shopkeeper to call a coin toss. The randomness of this, his strange behaviour and his crypticness of the purpose of this coin toss, as well as, for the audience, his previous killings before this scene, make us worry for the life and safety of the shopkeeper. This is the first time we are introduced to his philosophy and morality. While it is unclear what any of it really means, with most of it coming across as rambling nonsense to most audience members (for example, he talks about how the coin has spent 22 years to reach that moment, and that it was the fate of the coin), Chigurh is convinced of this philosophy. The shopkeeper, increasingly confused and concerned by this point, just calls heads to escape the interaction between the two, to which he wins and Chigurh congratulates him, finally leaving the shop. The shopkeeper goes to put the coin in his pocket, and Chigurh stops him, stating that "it's his lucky quarter, and if put in his pocket it will become just another coin". He stops to add "which it is", potentially debunking his earlier philosophy, or at least acknowledging the ludicrousness of it, showing that he may be conflicted on whether or not his practices are morally right, and that, despite doing everything he can to appear as if he is calm, calculated and in control of all of his actions, he is lost and lives a chaotic life, just like Llewelyn Moss and Sheriff Ed Tom Bell, using his methodology as a means to justify this to himself and convince himself otherwise.