True Grit: Analysis of Major Characters
"True Grit: Analysis of Major Characters" delves into the complex personalities that drive the narrative of Charles Portis's novel. The story is narrated by Mattie Ross, a determined fourteen-year-old girl who has taken on adult responsibilities from a young age. Fifty years after her father's murder, she recounts her quest for justice, showcasing her pride, resourcefulness, and unwavering bravery. Rooster Cogburn, a U.S. deputy marshal with a rough past, becomes her unlikely ally. While he is grizzled and flawed, his notorious reputation for grit makes him a suitable companion for Mattie's mission. LaBoeuf, a Texas Ranger, complicates matters with his own pursuit of the same fugitive, bringing a contrasting dynamic to the trio. The antagonist, Tom Chaney, is identified as the murderer of Mattie's father and serves as the focal point of their adventure. Together, these characters navigate themes of justice, perseverance, and moral ambiguity, making "True Grit" a rich exploration of human motives and relationships in a rugged American landscape.
True Grit: Analysis of Major Characters
Author: Charles Portis
First published: 1968
Genre: Novel
Locale: Arkansas and the Indian Territory
Plot: Adventure
Time: Late 1870's
Mattie Ross, the narrator-protagonist, a fourteen-year-old girl who has been an adult since birth. Mattie is narrating the story fifty years after her grand adventure. She has never married. Her most intimate contact with a man has been her warm, but chaste, relationship with Rooster Cogburn, the grizzled lawman whom she hired to catch her father's killer. Mattie is proud, rigid, and self-righteous. She can also be imperious. More important, however, she is bright, resourceful, tenacious, loyal, and exceedingly brave.
Reuben J. “Rooster” Cogburn, a U.S. deputy marshal for the western district of Arkansas. He has a questionable past, having fought as a guerrilla rather than as a regular soldier during the Civil War. He is approaching middle age, has lost an eye, has grown fat, and drinks too much. Mattie needs a man with grit, however, to run down her father's murderer. Cogburn appears to possess that commodity in abundance, as he has killed twenty-three men in the past four years.
LaBoeuf (lah-BOOF), a Texas Ranger on detached service, seeking the same quarry as Mattie and Rooster. The fugitive, known by another name in Texas, has killed a state senator in Waco. The senator's family has hired LaBoeuf to find the killer and bring him to justice. Mattie, both as a woman and as an Arkansan, immediately develops a strong prejudice against the swaggering Texan; she finds him flashy, conceited, and condescending.
Tom Chaney, the murderer of Mattie's father, Frank Ross, and (under his original name of Theron Chelmsford) of at least one other man in Texas. After killing Ross in Fort Smith, Chaney flees across the Arkansas River into the Indian Territory. There, he joins Lucky Ned Pepper's band of desperadoes, with whom Mattie, Rooster, and LaBoeuf eventually have a thrilling confrontation.