by: Charles Portis
Publication date: 1968
Pages: 215
Genre: Western
Setting: west central Arkansas
Time Period: 1870s
Synopsis: An elderly Mattie Ross recounts the quest she took at the age of fourteen to avenge her father's murder by their hired hand Tom Chaney. He made off with $150 of her father's cash, two gold pieces, and her father's horse. After settling her father's affairs, she enlists the help of mean U.S. Marshal Reuben J. "Rooster" Cogburn and a Texas Ranger named LeBoeuf to track down Chaney in Indian Territory to bring him to justice and recover her father's stolen possessions. Considered to be one of the great American novels, True Grit is a traditional Western in its setting and plot. However, Mattie Ross's narrative delivery bucks most Western depictions of women, highlighting her strong will, independence, and spunk as she faces skepticism from strangers and unfamiliar dangers on her quest.
Tone: Strong sense of place, Suspenseful
Storyline: Plot-driven
Writing Style: Descriptive, Dialect-rich, Engaging
Subject Headings:
Fathers -- Death
Teenage girls
United States marshals
Outlaws
Revenge
Read-a-likes:
The Outcasts by Kathleen Kent
The Sisters Brothers by Patrick deWitt
Butch Cassidy by William W. Johnstone
Coyote Summer by W. Michael Gear
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