Charles Portis's True Grit

Stephanie Gonzalez is a 16 year old teenager who grew up and was raised in Chicago by only her mother and older brother. Stephanie has had to persevere through several challenges and obstacles in her life due to the fact that her father left her when she was only an infant. Stephanie was willing to speak out about how her culture needs to relook at the way they view single-parent households in society and how she was deeply affected by the way she grew up (Gonzalez). The percentage of children living with single parents increased substantially in the United States during the second half of the 20th century. Only nine percent of children lived with single parents in the 1960s, while this statistic increased dramatically to 28 percent in 2012. Growing

In the article entitled "Unmarried with Children" the authors present the findings of a study which they spent years interviewing 162 low-income mothers in eight poor neighborhoods in Philadelphia and its suburb, Camden, New Jersey. (Edin and Kefalas, 34). "We spent five years chatting over kitchen tables and on front steps, giving mothers like Jen the opportunity to speak to the question so many affluent Americans ask about them: Why do they have children while still young and unmarried when they will face such an uphill struggle to support them" (Edin at al, 33). Their goal was to paint a portrait of these women's lives from the early days of their intimate relationships, through pregnancy, birth and beyond to tell us why they frequently

Family structure has been changed and there is about one and a quarter million single parents. A family making up to 19% of all families with children, the number of single parents has almost doubled since the early 1970s. According to census 2001 report and labor force survey, the rate of married couple (marriages) has decreased over the last ten years, (accounting for 71 per cent of families in 2006, compared with 76 per cent in 1996). In the same period, the proportion of cohabiting couple increased to 14 per cent from 9 per cent. The proportion of lone parent families increased by less than one per cent over this period, but the

About four in every ten children born in America in 2008 were born outside of marriage, and they are disproportionately minority and poor. “Only about 6 percent of college-educated mothers’ births are nonmarital versus 60 percent of those of high school dropouts” (5). Scholars responded to this by studying single-parent families.

Did you know that more than one fourth of all children in the United States live with only one parent? Single parenting has become more common today than in the 1800s, when it was sometimes frowned upon. As the years have gone by, it has become easier and easier for women to become single parents. In the 1800’s if husbands died or abandoned their families, women had no choice but to work for extremely low and unfair wages. Today, most men and women are treated equal and receive equal wages making it easier for women to be single parents. This concept is shown in Twain’s The Adventures of Tom Sawyer through Aunt Polly in the 19th century, single parenting is also common today.

If you were fourteen and your father was murdered in cold blood, would you want revenge? In the novel “True Grit” by Charles Portis there are characters who have grit but there are also characters who lack grit this novel takes place in the 1870’s post-civil war in Arkansas. According to Shmoop, Wikipedia, and Google True Grit is having passion, courage, and determination. Mattie Ross is a fourteen year old girl who will not listen to anyone and still goes on a long journey into Indian territory and is determined to avenge her father’s death. Throughout the book Mattie shows she has true grit. Tom Chaney on the other hand is the man who killed her father in cold blood and shows he lacks grit throughout the book. Rooster Cogbern is a U.S marshal

Children born to single or unwed parents causes serious problems and discussions not only within society, but also the welfare system. Becoming a parent seems to be one of the most beautiful things life has to offer to people. The laughter of children warms the heart like nothing else can, and the way their eyes light up when they receive something as small as a piece of candy reminds us all that the little things in life are the most important. However, children require time and money which often gets overlooked by many people. Raising a child with two married parents seems difficult enough, but today many people are having children out-of -wedlock which also seems to create more single parent homes and puts more pressure on that one parent who struggles to support the child. From 1960 to 2000, out-of-wedlock births grew by 600%

Libertarian Charles Murray proclaims that “the evil of the modern welfare state is not that it bribes women to have babies — wanting to have babies is natural — but that it enables women [that are not married] to bear children without the natural social restraints” (qtd. in Tanner). However, it is clear that Murray oversimplifies the situation since not all single women choose to get pregnant outside of a marriage. In order to understand these types of situations it is important to factor in the death of a spouse, abandonment, and sexual assault. Many single parents raise their children alone because their partner died, they were rejected by their loved ones, or [in the case of women] they were forcefully impregnated without their consent. In these situations the government should view the parents as victims and not irresponsible con artists. Programs that help single parents should be supported because no child deserves to be without a home. Children need stable housing to feel secure, and it is the federal government’s duty to provide security to all its

Charles Portis’ book, “True Grit,” published in 1968 contains the adventures of the late 1800s America as told in Mattie's plain style. Portis chronicles the character and perception of a young woman stuck between traditional culture and modernity. In line with Mattie's perception of the world, readers cannot help but appreciate the significance of Biblical motifs, particularly the ‘vengeful’ style of punishing sin as evident in the delivery of justice by law enforcement officers in the late 1800s Oklahoma Indian Territory (Butler 386). Portis also enriches the work with deadpan satire in some of rather cruel scenes of murder and punishment of the perpetrators in the late nineteenth century society to enhance readability. This paper examines the accuracy in the depiction of law enforcement within the Oklahoma Indian territory in the late 1800's in the novel.

In 2002, number of children living with their single parent was 16.5 million (Davidson). The most important thing is that each single-parent family is different from the other. Children who live with a widowed mother will definitely be living a different home life from children with divorced parents or the one whose parents were never married. Children of the parents who were divorced will always have some kind of relationship with parents and parents’ partners. But it is obvious that children from single-parent families face tougher times economically as well as

American families have never been as diverse as they are today. There is a constant changing definition of what we call “family”. We as Americans are straying further and further from the idea of a classic nuclear family. One of the biggest reasons is a dramatic rise in kids living with a single parent. In 2014, just 14% of children younger than 18 lived with a stay-at-home mother and a working father who were in their first marriage (Livingston, 2015). This research will address in depth why households are now more diverse than ever, what’s the normal family now, and why aren’t the laws adjusting to how the average American family lives today.

Divorce and out-of-wedlock childbearing are now epidemic in American society. Both forms of disrupted families are harmful to children and to society. The children of single parents are more likely to do poorly in school, commit crimes, and become single parents themselves. In addition, the increase in single-parent families contributes to such social problems as poverty, crime, and a decline in the quality of public education.

Summary: Singles mother hurt themselves and children by trying to show society that they are strong and that they can survive by their own. This source show us how kids can be affected in a bad way because of their mother status. When those women decide to bring to the family a new integrant, kids get hurt with their emotional and in their academy life as shown in this quote “ The more “transitions” experienced by a child — the arrival of a stepparent, a parental boyfriend or girlfriend, or a step- or half sibling — the more children are likely to have either emotional or academic problems, or both.” (Hymowitz, 2014)

Single parent households are a sensitive topic that is highly debated today. This topic is one that has repercussions for both the parents and the children involved. However, regardless of the different consequences, these households continue to grow in the coming years. “In 1970, traditional two-parent married households dominated, making up 81 % of all households in the United States (US). By 2012 this number dropped to around 66 % … In 2012, approximately 21 million children, or 28 % of all children in the US, lived with one parent” (Kramer, 2015). It is interesting to look at the way the single parent households continue to grow throughout the years, all while being a hot topic for discussion on its consequences. When thinking about a book to read for this course, there was no real choice. I stumbled upon this book and knew right away that I could benefit from this book, as well as connect to it on a deeper level and relate to it personally.

Married couples make up 68% of all families with children under 18, compared to 93% in 1950 (US 2015 Census). This demonstrates that more and more children are living in households with single parents. Single parents have to deal with jobs and other sources of stress making it difficult to give their children the attention they need. Additionally, single parents are the only ones that are providing for the family so they have a lot on their plate. This can provide stress on the child because they can feel unloved or even hated. As the rate of single parents go up, so does the amount of children that are not receiving enough