Rooster Cogburn In True Grit

In the novel True Grit by Charles Portis, despite his vigilante like ways and utter lack of respect for the law, Rooster Cogburn is at heart a man of stronger character than his seemingly polar opposite law abiding acquaintance Laboeuf. Early on in the book Rooster is depicted as a heartless cold man who seems to have a taste for murder despite being on the right side of the law. However, at his treaty for the murder of the Whartons he is asked how many people he has killed to which he initially responds with, “Around twelve or fifteen, stopping men in flight and defending myself”(50) but then he changes his response to “I believe them two Whartons made twenty-three”(50) an exact number. Rooster tried to play off the the deaths he’s caused as no big deal by not providing an exact number to the amount of people he's

Rooster demonstrates his character again a little later in the book when Laboeuf is hitting Mattie with the branch over and over again for coming along when they specifically said not to. Rooster intervenes saying “Put your switch away Laboeuf ...Put that switch down, Laboeuf!...It will be the biggest mistake you ever made, you Texas brush-popper”(110-111). Here Laboeuf demonstrates a lack of character by letting Mattie get the better of his temper and then responding by disciplining her with a switch while Rooster demonstrates that he actually cares for Mattie by ultimately threatening to kill Laboeuf if he doesn’t stop. When asked by Laboeuf if he was in the cavalry Rooster responds with “I forget just what they called it”(156). Labeouf continues to inquire about his military past yet Rooster continues to blow him off which is most likely linked to trauma experienced during the