"People do not give it credence that a fourteen-year-old girl could leave home and go off in the wintertime to avenge her father’s blood but it did not seem so strange then, although I will say it did not happen every day. I was just fourteen years of age when a coward going by the name of Tom Chaney shot my father down in Fort Smith, Arkansas, and robbed him of his life and his horse and $150 in cash money plus two California gold pieces that he carried in his trouser band." So begins Charles Portis’ 1968 novel, True Grit. Mattie Ross, now a forty-year-old spinster, narrates the events that surrounded her quest to find and punish her father’s killer. The opening passage demonstrates the deadpan quality of her narration as well as the detail in which she recounts her single-minded determination to achieve her goal no matter the obstacles that she will have to fight to overcome.Chaney, after killing her father, fled to the Indian Territory (present-day Oklahoma) and joined up with the “Lucky” Ned Pepper gang. Mattie realizes that she can’t travel alone into that treacherous territory and achieve her goal of bringing Chaney back to Fort Smith to stand trial in Judge Isaac Parker’s federal court for the Western District of Arkansas. That court also has jurisdiction over any case in the territory that involves a white person who is either a victim or perpetrator. Therefore, because the territory comes under federal jurisdiction, she sets out to hire the district’s meanest, toughest, orneriest U.S. deputy marshal to assist her.She seeks advice on this matter from the local sheriff:“Who is the best marshal they have?”“The sheriff thought on it for a minute. He said, ‘I would have to weigh that proposition. There is near about two hundred of them. I reckon William Waters is the best tracker. He is a half-breed Comanche and it is something to see, watching him cast for sign. The meanest one is Rooster Cogburn. He is a pitiless man, double-tough, and fear don’t enter into his thinking. He loves to pull a cork. Now L.T. Quinn, he brings prisoners in alive. He may let one get by now and then but he believes even the worst of men is entitled to a fair shake. Also the court does not pay any fees for dead men. Quinn is a good peace officer and a lay preacher to boot. He will not plant evidence or abuse a prisoner. He is straight as a string. Yes, I will say Quinn is about the best they have.’”“I said, ‘Where can I find this Rooster?’”Mattie isn’t looking for a good tracker, or a fair man, she is looking for a man with “true grit,” a characteristic that she admires and that which she personally possesses in full measure. It turns out that Reuben J. “Rooster” Cogburn is a one-eyed, hard-drinking, ruthless, fat man of about forty who isn’t sure that he wants to work for Mattie, or, as he makes plain, any woman. But after much verbal sparring between the two, Rooster’s reticence is overcome by Mattie’s agreement to pay him the hundred dollars he demands for taking on the job. It is more than she wants to pay, but she compromises by promising to pay him fifty now and the other fifty after the mission is accomplished.Matters become even more complicated when a Texas Ranger by the name of LaBoeuf (pronounced La-Beef) arrives in Fort Smith. He is also on Chaney’s trail. It seems that Chaney killed a state senator in Texas and that there is a sizable bounty on his head. The marshal and the ranger decide to join forces and split the proceeds if they are able to capture – or kill – the fugitive.“Anyhow, it sounds queer. Five hundred dollars is mighty little for a man that killed a senator.”“Bibbs was a little senator,” said LaBoeuf. “They would not have put up anything except it would look bad.” Neither of the lawmen wants a fourteen-year-old girl to tag along and they attempt to leave her behind, but they don’t know Mattie. She will not be denied. The three, at odds with each other, and with differing goals, ride into the territory in search of Tom Chaney.Even if you have watched one or both of the movies based on the book, both of which are good adaptations, the book is still an enjoyable read. It is unfortunate that the two successful movies have had the effect of shoving the book below the reading public’s radar screen. However, the publisher did re-issue the book as a tie-in with the later movie and therefore it is back in print and is no longer hard to locate.Novelist Donna Tartt, writing in the introduction to the new edition, calls the book a masterpiece. She writes that four generations of her family, beginning with her great grandmother, deeply admired the novel. Her great grandmother was in her eighties when she first read it and introduced it to the other females in the family: her middle-aged grandmother; her twenty-something mother; and to her, who was ten when she first read it. She does not mention any male members of her family being enamored with the book, and it is easy to see how this independent, bold, courageous, and yes, self-righteous and unaware young heroine would resonate with her and her female relatives. Mattie is the star of the story, but she is ably assisted by Rooster and LaBeouf and there are enough thrills and adventures to appeal to readers regardless of gender or age.One of the book’s many qualities is that it can be read on more than one level. It can be approached as a coming-of-age story, or an adventure story, or a satire, or a story of redemption and loss of innocence, for it contains all these elements. As Michael Cleary wrote in Twentieth Century Western Writers, “True Grit is … a curious amalgam of parody, formula, and myth.” Cleary points out that Rooster, motivated by greed rather than justice, violates almost all perceptions of a Western hero. “Portis overlays realism on the romantic world of the West. [Therefore,] Rooster is not burdened by the moral introspection of a Virginian or Shane.” But Rooster meets his match when he tries to get the best of Mattie Ross. Here we have two people who are willing to do whatever is necessary to achieve their goals. But more times than not, it is Mattie who prevails. Mattie is not only smart and stubborn, she believes that others should carry out her wishes. Why? Well, because her self-assurance tells her without reservation that it is the right thing to do.Part of the appeal of the novel is that Mattie’s narration contains much deadpan humor. However, she doesn’t know that. She is unaware of how she sounds and, anyway, she wouldn’t care even if she did.Here are a couple examples of her unintentional humor:“On his deathbed he asked for a priest and became a Catholic. That was his wife’s religion. It was his own business and none of mine. If you had sentenced one hundred and sixty men to death and seen around eighty of them swing, then maybe at the last minute you would feel the need for some stronger medicine than the Methodists could make.”“You can expect that out of Federal people and to make it worse this was a Republican gang that cared nothing for the opinion of the good people of Arkansas who are Democrats.”Portis was born and raised in southern Arkansas, was educated at the University of Arkansas, and has lived most of his life in the state. That background allows him in True Grit to demonstrate his deep understanding of the people, place, and language of the time. In a profile of Portis in the New York Times, Charles McGrath writes, Portis “doesn’t use e-mail, has an unlisted phone number, declines interview requests … and shuns photographs with the ardor of a fugitive in the witness protection program.” Maybe that reluctance stems from the many years he spent as a reporter prior to becoming a full-time novelist and is aware of how interviewers sometimes misquote or misconstrue or otherwise distort the interviewee’s remarks. Portis is the author of five novels. True Grit was his second. The first was Norwood (1966), filmed after True Grit, it flopped at the box office. The other three are The Dog of the South(1979), Masters of Atlantis (1989), and Gringos (1991).
The story opens with a grand paragraph of affairs.. "PEOPLE DO not give it credence that a fourteen-year-old girl could leave home and go off into the wintertime to avenge her father's blood but it did not seem so strange then, although I will say it did not happen every day. I was just fourteen years of age when a coward going by name of Tom Chaney shot my father down in Fort Smith, Arkansas, and robbed him of his life and his horse and $150 in cash money plus two California good pieces that he carried in his trouser band." True Grit a story that will stand the test of time not due to wonderful prose or sentences but due to the characters and the actual storytelling. This story is successful due to its creation of one big-hearted spunky young woman who is bent on reaping vengeance upon the guilt individual who had taken her cherished father from this earth. She hires a man she hopes has some true grit in aiding her bringing the murderer to justice. Eventually she finds herself part of a trio that's going to have its communication problems, flaws and a series of sabotages that try to stop her in her tracks. This girl won't give up it, giving up has no place in her psyche.She's a memorable, witty, gusty girl, who is one step ahead of other that try to outsmart her, those that don't give her credit due to her physical appearance and her age. If you ever have a to leave behind a young girl, a legacy, she would be the one that many fathers would be proud to leave behind on this earth to face its darkest hours.She the young soul 'Mattie' is a strong potent voice thee driving force of the narrative of this story. A girl's best friend is her horse in this story a beauty back beauty of a steed, these two gallant and great hearts face adversity with plenty of spunk. Memorable characters in the literary field and a splendid character on the big screen with the excellent adaptation on film.A true classic work of pure storytelling in an uncomplicated form with staggering violence and beauty. She is one to add to the hall of fame of heroines of mine from literature. You have so far:Matilda from Matilda, Ree Dolly from Winters Bone, Swan from Swan Song, Scout Finch from To kill a Mockingbird, Penny Miller from The Hungry , Sue Ellen from Edge of Dark Water and Katniss Everdeen from The Hunger Games. "The Irishman said,"And is that the man?" He held a candle in his face. The body was wrapped in a white shroud. I said, "That is my father." I stood there looking at him. What a waste! Tom Chaney would pay for this! I would not rest easy until that Louisiana cur was roasting and screaming in hell!" "I hated these ponies for the part they played in my fathers death but now I realized the notion was fanciful, that it was wrong to charge blame to these pretty breasts who knew neither good nor evil but only innocence. I say that of these ponies. I have known some horses and a good many more pigs who I believe harbored evil intent in their hearts. I will go further and say all cats are wicked, though often useful. Who has not seen Satan in their sky faces?" "Well, they were a sight to see with all their arms. They were both wearing their belt guns around their outside coats and LaBoeuf cut a splendid figure with his white-handled pistols and Mexican spurs. Rooster was wearing a deerskin jacket over his black suit coat. He carried only one revolver on his belt, an ordinary looking piece with grips of cedar or some reddish wood. On the other side, the right side, he wore a dirk knife. His gun belt was not fancy like LaBoeuf's but only a plain and narrow belt with no cartridge loops. He carried his cartridges in a sack in his pocket. But he also had two more revolvers in saddle scabbards at his thighs. They were big pistols like mine. The two officers also packed saddle guns, Rooster a Winchester repeating rifle and LaBoeuf a gun called a Sharps rifle, a kind I had never seen. My thought was this: Chaney, look out!" "People love to talk. They love to slander you if you have any substance. They say I love nothing but money and the Presbyterian Church and that is why I never get married. They think everybody is dying to get married. It is true that I love my church and my bank. What is wrong with that?..........A woman with brains and a frank tongue and one sleeve pinned up and an invalid mother to care for is at some disadvantage...."Review also @ http://more2read.com/review/true-grit-by-charles-portis/ along with the adaptation movie trailer.
Do You like book True Grit (2002)?
I recently reread this book for a book club meeting and was just as struck by Portis's prose as I was the first time I read it. The movie version (which I watched repeatedly as a teenager) is surprisingly faithful to the book's narrative. The story of the headstrong (sometimes obnoxiously so) Mattie's quest to kill the coward Tom Chaney is every bit as entertaining to me now as it was then. Of course, the real star of the book is the brutish and brash Rooster Cogburn, the U. S. Marshal Mattie hires to help her track down Chaney, who shot her father in cold blood. In the contrast between Mattie and Rooster is the contrast between the rapidly disappearing uncivilized frontier, as well as the strong, hard-bitten men and women it produced, and the introduction of societal mores and conveniences. Despite this contrast, there is a stubbornness in Mattie and Rooster that is recognized and respected by each. Portis's use of language is stripped of "fluff" and moves the story along brusquely, but not at the sacrifice of character or plot development. The dialogue is often unexpectedly hilarious and, as an Arkansan, it's also refreshing to read about an Arkansas that is not that of the stereotyped backwoods full of rednecks and outhouses. The historical details are accurate (including Fort Smith's famous "hanging judge" Judge Parker) and paint a vivid portrait of frontier life in Arkansas.Cross posted at This Insignificant Cinder
—Amanda
People seem to have been raving about this book for some time, even before the Coen brothers did that movie back in 2010, so when I finally saw a cheap copy someplace I picked it up so I could check it out for myself.As much as I'm all rah-rah for good, strong female characters in literature, I'm a bit more hesitant about precocious female characters that really don't do much besides be... well... precocious. I worried that this would be similar and frustrate me, but I actually didn't get that impression.The story is told from the perspective of an older Mattie Ross, reflecting on her life and telling this story of her life at 14 years of age when she went out to avenge her father's killer. Young Mattie Ross knows what she wants, how she wants to get it, and she will take no shit along the way. The storytelling feels sort of dry and matter-of-fact which worried me at first, but ultimately I decided that fit considering this was Mattie's recollection, and sometimes people's recollections come across exactly that way as the memories come back.In any case, Mattie's story is a fun and exciting read, and perfect for what I needed right now. It's also a super fast read. Not only is it a short book, but Mattie's story really moves along. I think the last Western I've read was like Stephen King's Darktower series, so y'know. This is different than that. I don't know how it compares to other Westerns, nor do I really care. It didn't knock my socks off, but it amused me, and that's all I really wanted anyway.
—El
Fourteen-year-old Mattie Ross hires a grizzled lawman to avenge her father’s blood and then narrates her adventure, fifty-years later, in a deadpan tone. Charles Portis spins his entertaining yarn with freshness and economy (only 224 pages). Most potential readers will have already seen at least one of the two famous movie adaptations; therefore, I will limit my review to quick, bullet-style observations.Great Title: “True Grit”– a concrete phrase in simplified English that captures ideas—courage, resilience, determination, and will-power. Great Lines: t“It was his cur nature, to change from a whining baby to a vicious bully as circumstances permitted.” t“Quincey was always square with me. He never played me false until he killed me.” tI can do nothing, son. Your pard has killed you and I’ve done for him." t“I will say all cats are wicked.... Who has not seen Satan in their sly faces?” t“People love to talk. They love to slander you if you have any substance.”t“A Methodist and a son of a bitch.” t“I mean to kill you in one minute, Ned.” t“Everything is against me. Now I am shot by a child.” t“What have you done when you have bested a fool?” t“Shooting cornbread out here on the prairie is not taking us anywhere.” t“The charge exploded and sent a lead ball of justice, too long delayed, into the criminal head of ******** ”And, of course the incomparable and famous,t“Fill your hand, you son of a bitch! ” Great Scenes: tMattie, the close trader, negotiating with an overmatched Colonel Stonehill;tMattie, lugging her Colt Dragoon, attempting a citizen’s arrest on a whiney killer; tRooster, outnumbered four-to-one, reins in his teeth, navy sixes blazing; tthe corn-dodger shooting contest;tcomic bickering between Rooster (a US Marshall) and La Boeuf (a Texas Ranger) as they insult each other’s states, CSA regiments, law enforcement agencies, firearms, marksmanship, and horses. No disrespect to Rooster, but it’s the fourteen-year-old, Mattie Ross who most consistently demonstrates true grit. She declares, “I will see the thing done.” I hope I can entice my young daughters to read this book. Mattie Ross (like her literary ancestors Elizabeth Bennet, Jane Eyre, or Dorothea Brooke) has valuable lessons to teach them. originally reviewed in March 2012
—Steve Sckenda
