No Country For Old Men discussion

http://www.livingdigitally.net/2007/12/review-of-no-co.html

Excerpt from a good comment - The dream I believe talks about his father who was a sheriff, carrying a horn and a fire "the way people used to do" in past generations. He is carrying this as far out as possible, before he sets the fire up, and tells his son that he will know he's found him when he reaches the fire. This dream is symbolic I think for how the father (being a sheriff) pushed back the dismal tide. He knew that there is no way to put the fire out, only to "push it back" and delay "the dismal tide." The movie ends on the line: "And then I woke up", because Sheriff Bell realizes that he has reached that fire. He is already living in the hell that his father had tried to push back.