True Grit By Charles Portis: Character Analysis

Imagine that you are on the brink of curing cancer. Many people believe that it can not be done and angrily tell you so. You also have countless difficulties in obtaining funding for your research. Then you remember, the arduous road to curing cancer will bring joy and happiness to millions around the globe and so you to persist day in and day out until you finally reach your goal. This characteristic to “persevere despite a presence of many challenges and obstacles” (TRI) is labeled as grit. In the book True Grit by Charles Portis, a fourteen year old girl by the name of Mattie Ross is determined to find Tom Chaney, the man who murdered her father. She enlists the help of a stubborn U.S. Marshall by the name of Rooster Cogburn. They set off

From the very beginning, Rooster is a man acknowledged for having true grit. Mattie learns from the sheriff that Rooster is “a pitiless man, double-tough, and fear [doesn’t] enter into his thinking” (25). Later, when Mattie first speaks to Rooster, she firmly states ‘“They tell me you are a man with true grit”’ (62). These two quotes specifically state the first definition of true grit and the man with it. This may lead the reader to believe that those are the characteristics of someone who has true grit. However, Portis suggests that the definition of true grit is not yet finished because Rooster still needs to embark on his mission to bring Tom Chaney to justice. One example of Rooster’s true grit was when he contested with four other bandits alone. Mattie explains that “the marshal rode for them in so determined and unwavering a course that the bandits broke their line” (227). We can observe that Rooster had true grit because he was determined and unwavering in the face of a challenge greater than him. Rooster did not know whether he would survive, but he knew what had to be done. As if riding into a four bandit mob was not enough, Rooster then made the ultimate act of true grit by sacrificing a part of himself to achieve a greater goal. Rooster showed his concern for animals when “Two wicked boys were sitting on the edge of [a] porch laughing at the mule’s discomfort...Rooster cut the rope with his dark knife and the mule breathed easy again” (126). This was a surprisingly, wonderful gesture done by Rooster because before, he had showed little concern for anything besides himself. Later, after Mattie had been bitten by a rattlesnake, Rooster needed to get her to town in order for her to survive. Blackie, Mattie’s beloved horse, was the only horse available. Rooster rode Blackie until “Blackie fell to the