Symbolism, Imagery, Allegory
Setting
The events may be fantastic, but the setting is 100% realistic. We can follow (basically) the same route Mattie Ross takes from her hometown as she tracks Tom Chaney, the man who murdered her Papa,...
Narrator Point of View
True Grit is Mattie Ross's first person, written account of the events which will change her life forever: joining up with US Marshal Rooster Cogburn, and Texas Ranger LaBoeuf to track her father's...
Genre
Set mostly in 1875 west of the Mississippi, True Grit is in the right time and place for a Western; add a revenge plot and showdowns between the lawful and the lawless, and you've got yourself a We...
Writing Style
Analyzing writing style gets tricky in novel like True Grit, which is itself framed as a written story. Do we talk about author Charles Portis' writing style or about Mattie's own writing style? Do...
What's Up With the Title?
No, "true grit" isn't what you track in all over your mother's just-mopped floors. It's a quality—a quality that Mattie Ross celebrates in herself and her homies Rooster and LaBoeuf. In fact, we...
What's Up With the Ending?
Well, you've got your pick. We could look at what happens at the end of the madcap chase to avenge Frank Ross's killer—or we could look at the very end fifty years later, when Rooster Cogburn has...