Death Of A Family In 'True Grit' By Charles Portis

The death of a loved one or a family member can be very traumatic for a family. More often than not, the family of the loved one who passed is left distraught, confused as to why this happened. This confusion, like the confusion Mattie Ross goes through in True Grit by Charles Portis when her father is murdered, leads to revenge and violence. This revenge and violence, even though it is bad, is seen as valid by the person avenging the death of their loved one. It’s seen as giving an eye for an eye. Mattie feels that since her father is gone and her mother is at home, she needs to be the one to carry out the murder of Tom Chaney, the man who killed her father. And she has every intention of doing just that. Revenge gave Mattie Ross the drive she needed to effectively avenge the death of her father.

She doesn’t have any friends throughout the course of the story, except for the two men, Rooster and LeBoeuf, who are traveling with her. Which is why she wants to avenge her father’s death without any help, even though no one believes that she can complete this task. This can be seen when Charles Portis writes. “This needs to be done for me. I am young, but I am the only one who can bring Chaney to justice”(Portis, 11). Mattie believes right from the beginning that she is the one that needs to avenge her father’s death. She believes that she needs to do it by herself, not involving anyone else. That way she knows that everything was done right, in the way she planned and wants. That way no one can stop her from doing what is