The Characteristics Of Nat Turner's 'True Grit'

“Mr. Rooster Cogburn…They tell me you are a man with true grit.” Are the words of Mattie Ross to Rooster Cogburn who supposedly has true grit according to the sheriff who told Mattie about him. What does it mean? Was Mattie looking for the right thing? Someone who is courageous, stays true to your word, is brave? In the book True Grit that is the exact characteristics she was looking for. There are a lot of people in U.S. history and in the book True Grit that have real true grit, the kind that she was searching for.

To begin with, real courage is the ability to do something that frightens you. Nat Turner was born on October 2 in the year of 1800. He was born into slavery but ran away and later returned because of a vision he

They continued on, from house to house, killing all of the white people they encountered.” (http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/aia/part3/3p1518.html) Later in his life he was caught, hanged, and skinned. This may not look like a good person with courage, but Nat Turner fought for what he thought was right. He knew he was going to get punished, but he thought it was the right thing to do so he

Bravery is to have a courageous behavior or character towards someone. John Brown was born on May 9 in the year of 1800 in Torrington Connecticut. He was an abolitionist and fought for the freedom of slaves. “On October 16 with twenty-one followers attacked and occupied the federal arsenal in Harpers Ferry. Quickly surrounded by militia commanded by Col.Robert E. Lee, Brown’s position was overrun, ten of his followers were killed, and Brown himself was wounded and captured.” (http://www.history.com/topics/john-brown) As we can see John Brown was a very brave man, he fought for the freedom of slaves and risked his whole life into doing this. He put all his courage toward the slaves; he believed that it was wrong in the eyes of God to have people enslaved. In True Grit, Mattie represents the characteristic of bravery. When they are fighting against the Ned Pepper Gang Mattie met Ross and said that she is going to have to take him to Fort Smith. But he just laughed at her so she said, “If you refuse to go I will have to shoot you.” But he just went about his business. When she cocked the gun she asked him “You will not go with me?’ ‘I think not,’ said he. ‘It is just the other way around. You are going with me.’ I pointed the revolver at his belly and shot him down.” This is a true act of braveness. When she was in danger she stood up for what she thought was right and cocked the gun and shot and did not back down