True Grit By Matte Ross Character Traits

“Who Has Grit??”

The Definition of grit is to have Courage, determination and passion a goal. In the novel True Grit the character that have this trait are Mattie Ross because she is avenging her father’s death. Also Rooster Cogburn has grit because his a man with no fear and keeps his word with helping Mattie Ross. The Character that lacks Grit is Tom Chaney because he is a run away running away running away from the crimes he has done. Mattie Ross is a character that shows grit in the story because in the beginning of the story she wants to avenge her father’s death and she is willing to do anything to achieve what she sets herself to do. She is a character that won’t take no for an answer for example when Rooster told her he wasn’t taking

He shows that he doesn’t have grit because at the beginning of the story he kills Mattie’s dad when her dad was unarmed and unable to defend himself. Mattie said “I was fourteen years of age when a coward going by the name of Tom Chaney shot my father down… And robbed him of his life and his horse and $150 in cash money.”(Portis 25) Tom shows that he lacks this trait because thru out the story he is running away from ‘justice’ after killing a senator as well. At the end of the story he show that he is a coward and tries to say that the world its against him when he’s been killing and running away. “Harold Permalee would interrupt Chaney’s question with mockery.” (Portis 192). This would show that nobody cared about what Chaney had to say and would make him feel like the world was against

The one character that shows a lack of grit is Tom Chaney. Mattie Ross shows that she has grit because she achieves her goal on finding her father’s killer. She also shows she has courage by not letting Rooster stop her from going with him in the hunt for Tom. Tom Chaney is the character that lacks grit because he shows in the novel that he kills people who are unarmed and robs them. He also lacks grit because he keeps running away after committing a crime. The second character that shows he has grit is Rooster Cogburn for showing courage when he charges at Lucky Ned’s man knowing he was out numbered. He Also puts his love for animals aside when he is trying to save Mattie Ross’s life from the snake bites, He pushes Mattie’s horse to its limit until he dies and has to carry Mattie to safety. Mattie and Rooster Cougburn are the two characters that show they have grit while Tom Chaney is the character that lacks