True Grit, By Charles Portis

Grit can cost you an arm from the experience in this novel, but from mine as I grew up I was told to have grit in order to have perseverance for my long-term goals. I was determined to have this characteristic of grit without consequences though. In the novel True Grit written by Charles Portis, a young fourteen year old named Mattie Ross is determined to avenge her father’s death. A man named Tom Chaney killed her father, Frank Ross in a cowardly act of cold blood, then after steals his $150 he had on him, two gold pieces, and his horse and then flees into the Indian Territory. Mattie Ross hires a US Marshal named Reuben ‘Rooster’ Cogburn to go after Tom Chaney and goes on a life changing journey with him and a Texas Ranger named LaBeouf.

She is determined to get what she wants and is demanding with the use of authority. Mattie’s gritty characteristic is also shown when she actually shoots Tom Chaney with the use of her father’s gun. As LaBeouf, the Texas Ranger teamed up with Mattie, was knocked out by Chaney, Mattie reacts by shooting Chaney right in the head. In action, “I hurriedly cocked the hammer and pulled the trigger. The charge exploded and sent a lead ball of justice, too long delayed, into the criminal head of Tom Chaney” (204). Even though Chaney was not killed in action until LaBoeuf was able to recuperate and finish him off, Mattie was driven by her grit but then ended up in a dangerous situation then

Grit has it consequences and Mattie was able to experience them. Grit can come with obstinacy, or stubbornness like it did in Mattie. Her obstinacy didn’t allow her to see the bigger picture of what she was doing or the consequences that could happen. Her focus for revenge caused her to lose more than expected. When she shoots Chaney and is sent plunging into the snake pit she is affected by her actions that cause life threatening consequences. She gets bitten by a venomous snake, and not an older snake but a young, more venomous snake, just her luck, and breaks her arm that would later be amputated, and risks Roosters life to save hers. Compared to Chaney, Mattie lost more than she would never have even thought of. From the start of the novel to the end Mattie’s interpretation of grit is changed. From when she tells her lawyer, “I told lawyer Daggett that Rooster was in no way to blame, and was rather to be praised and commended for his grit. He had certainly saved my life” (218). At this point, Mattie definition of grit has changed from having courage, being fearful, being double tough, to her recent definition of being compassionate, caring, and a savior. But other qualities remained the same like the stable traits of determination and