True Grit by Charles Portis

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Do you think you would be able to persevere through many difficult obstacles wihout giving up? In True Grit by Charles Portis, Mattie Ross a 14 year old, her father was murdered by a man named Tom Chaney. Throughout the book she has to overcome many hardships and get through many obstacles to avenge her father’s death.

Mattie is constantly talking about a person having “true grit” throughout the book. Her definition of having true grit isn’t being courageous and she isn’t referring to dirt. Having true grit to Mattie means having a rough side and being fearless. After Mattie’s father was murdered she was determined to avenge her father’s death at any cost. Before Mattie could go out and search for the man who killed her father she needed to attend to some of her father’s business. She needed to talk to man named Stonehill about some ponies that her father had purchased right before he was killed. In this scene of the book Mattie shows her grit because Stonehill didn’t want to buy the ponies back and Mattie showed her persistence and her abrasiveness. Eventually Mattie says that she was going to get her lawyer involved and he offered her two hundred dollars but she didn’t take it. Mattie’s wanted three hundred and fifty for the ponies but she told Stonehill that she would settle for three hundred and twenty-five. Another scene where Mattie shows that she is fearless and has a great amount of grit is when she shoots Tom Chaney and the recoil of the gun sends her flying into a hole. During the fall Mattie manages to get stuck upright in a small hole she tries to push herself out with her left arm and she realized that her forearm was bent in an unnatural attitude and she notices that it’s broken. While she was down there she see...

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...he boarding house and got his rifle. Frank tried to stop Tom from returning to the barroom and Tom raised his rifle and shot Frank in his forehead killing him instantly. Tom Chaney has grit and doesn’t care about anyone but himself. Having grit isn’t always necessarily a positive thing. In Tom Chaney’s falls into a different definition of grit than Mattie or Rooster do.

The strength to persevere and keep going are traits that are something everyone should learn to have. No matter what you are going through if you have that mentality or mind state I feel like you can accomplish anything you set your mind to. Mattie had her mind set on avenging her fathers death and wanted to do it at any cost and she wouldn’t stop until she’s had her justice. That was her motivation, maybe something can motivate you to keep persevering through the many obstacles in your life.

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