True Grit

True Grit, published in 1968, is an American literary classic, or it should be. Fourteen-year-old Mattie Ross tells the story of her quest to find Tom Chaney, the man who gunned down her father. The Wild West isn’t just the backdrop for the book, but one of its main characters, colored by hard-bitten U.S. Marshals, a dapper Texas Ranger, double-crossing outlaws, and townsfolk entertained by rough frontier justice. Echoes of the Civil War are heard in the snarling animosity between lawmen and outlaws. In the middle of this Western opera is Mattie looking for her own rough justice. She chooses Rooster Cogburn, the meanest Marshal she can find, to do the job, but she dogs him every step of the way to make sure the job is done right. Mattie’s funny, naïve, deadpan delivery brings to mind Huckleberry Finn, but her devotion to her mission calls up Captain Ahab.