True Grit Analysis

Grit, what is this? Is it success, is it failure, or is it talent? As Angela Duckworth said “Grit is passion and perseverance for very long-term goals. Grit is having stamina. Grit is sticking with your future, day-in and day-out. Not just for the week, not just for the month, but for years. And working really hard to make that future a reality. Grit is living life like it’s a marathon, not a sprint.” Grit is a combination of strength, persistence, focus, and dedication that helps a person to maintain the optimism and discipline needed to persevere in their goals even if they are head to head with failure. Grit does not depend on talent, IQ, or success. Grit is the ability to fail and learn from your mistake, in order to come back next

The first major topic addressed in Grit is the concept of grit itself and why it matters. Duckworth defines grit as passion and perseverance for long-term goals (54). She labels these gritty people “grit paragons,” noting that they aren’t the kind of

Grit is sticking with your future, day in, day out, not just for the week, not just for the month, but for years, and working really hard to make that future a reality. Grit is living life like it's a marathon, not a sprint.” (TED

“True Grit” is about a fourteen year old girl trying to bring justice to the man who killed her father. She hires a sheriff named Rooster to help her. Through characterization, setting, and law enforcement, Charles Portis in “True Grit” sets an accurate portrayal of the time period know as the old west to create a more riveting story.

Grit is a predictor of academic, professional, and personal success. Grit can be defined as strength of character or the ability to overcome failure and continue to work toward success. People with grit are not always the people with the most natural ability, but their work ethic and ability to overcome obstacles allows them to achieve success. Grit is a very valuable characteristic in almost any venture, as it gives someone an advantage in overcoming the inevitable obstacles they will face. However, grit is much easier adopted when an individual has a growth mindset.

Set in the American frontier in the latter half of the eighteenth century, the tale of True Grit reads like the diary of a precocious, headstrong, and mature fourteen year old girl. Mattie Ross, the main character, recruits the callous, no nonsense U.S. Marshal Rooster, Cogburn to aid her in tracking down Tom Chaney, her father’s killer. Cocky, Texas Ranger LaBoeuf, needs Cogburn to guide him through Indian Territory because he too seeks justice, as well as a monetary reward, for capturing the same outlaw. Mattie demonstrates her strength of will as well as her resourcefulness, as the troupe takes on the unexpected in their adventurous wilderness journey. The three main characters; Mattie Ross, Rooster Cogburn, and Texas Ranger LaBoeuf, all demonstrate true grit in some similar and some dissimilar ways in both the 1968 novel by Charles Portis and the 2010 film adaptation by the Coen brothers.

Angela developed a short questionnaire called the “Grit Test”. One must answer the short questions and the results show where you stand on the scale of Grit. She found that the Grit score of someone predicts the level of the achievement they can have under difficult or challenging circumstances. She tried this test at the United States Military Academy, where she had the cadets take the short test and found that the ones who had the highest Grit were the ones who were most likely to go the through with the stringent training program they went through called the “Beast Barracks”. Not the ones with the highest IQ’s, the most talent, or even the most athletic. She tried again in the Scripp’s Spelling Bee, and saw that those who were most intelligent but had a low Grit score were most likely to not make it as far as those who had a higher score. She declared that those who had higher Grit were more likely to pass because they studied harder and with determination. In all of those, it seemed that Grit was the factor that made the students stand out when it came to success, once again proving high IQ’s always being better wrong. Logos is a bit short, as many times in other articles, Grit is simply a glossed over idea that has been thought of up before. In other places, such as a physics teacher and his students in a school in Australia, he saw that Grit had little to do with

“People do not give it credence that a fourteen-year-old girl could leave home and go off in the wintertime to avenge her father’s blood.” (Portis 11) And many people still do not imagine that a story like that is even close to being realistic. Even though, True Grit is fictional; it seemed real as the reader saw Mattie Ross came of age. Coming of age is the transition from youth to adulthood. Throughout the novel, True Grit, the protagonist, Mattie Ross, develops courage, common sense, and bravery as she comes of age from her experience of hunting down the man who murdered her father. The fourteen-year-old faced many challenges that marked the growth of her maturity.

In Charles Portis’ novel, True Grit, the protagonist, Mattie Ross develops new characteristics of maturation as she hunts for her father’s killer. She is very brave and mature for a fourteen year old girl, even in the wild west. Mattie goes on a journey to look for a man by the name of Tom Chaney, a murderer and robber known to many officials in the west. This man killed Mattie’s father and robbed him after a gambling problem. Mattie shows maturation throughout the novel True Grit, by showing bravery, standing up for herself and not letting Rooster and LeBoeuf hold her back, and by developing true grit as she ages through the novel.

Who knew that someone at just 12 years of age would be the definition of true grit. "Grit is knowing who you are and where you are headed, moving determinedly forward with eyes fixed on the mark, rather than the obstacles that lie in wait."-Christine Bisch. Regino V. Soto, lost his mother and father at this young age, he then took off into the wilderness on his own, lost and confused. Eventually he made up his mind to forge ahead.He didn't have enough money for many things in life, as he was working for pennies, prior.  It took a toll on him a few years later when he started his family and he couldn't afford simple things like medicine to save his baby daughter's life.   My grandfather was a man who was determined to have a better life and didn't let up regardless of how tough things got. This isn't what Tom Chaney displays, in the novel, True Grit, by Charles Portis.  Rooster Cogburn and also Mattie Ross, had what my grandfather had, grit.  Mattie Ross's innocent father was killed just after the Civil War in Arkansas and this 14 year old girl wants to see the culprit, Tom Chaney face consequences. Rooster Cogburn didn't let the obstacles get in his way of capturing the coward,Tom Chaney.

I believe that ‘True Grit’ properly titles this book. Throughout the story almost all of the characters displayed some of kind of bravery or courage, a.k.a grit(courage and resolve; strength of character). Mattie Ross especially had grit. She was only fourteen when she took on a daring task most people wouldn't, to find fugitives in the “Choctaw Territory” and avenge her father’s death. Mattie was the biggest example of “True Grit”, in my opinion. Another was Rooster Cogburn. He went rode bravely, into a shootout, with four brutal criminals all by himself. Almost all of the characters showed some kind of grit in their own way, but Mattie and Rooster were my favorites.

Now, true grit is something you don’t see everyday. I actually happen to know someone quite well who has shown grit recently… Myself! Actually, I showed grit at the latest soccer game, on the eve of August 27. The previous soccer game that quickly followed my mile run was tiring enough.. And Band, don’t even get me started on band! They gave me, the shrimp of the band, the Quads... the large 35 pound mess of drums. And if that wasn’t enough, our recent workouts in PE were all difficult and lasting! So, by the end of the day, my knees felt weak. Literally and figuratively! Then the whistle blew, signalling the start of the soccer game. Oh, I dreaded it. I ran as fast as the stilts I call my legs could carry me. My legs did carry me as I

"True Grit” is about a fourteen-year-old girl trying to bring justice to the man who killed her father. She hires a sheriff named Rooster to help her. Through characterization, setting, and law enforcement, Charles Portis in “True Grit” sets an accurate portrayal of the time period known as the old west to create a more riveting story.

True Grit steps outside of traditional Western boundaries, setting it apart from most films categorized in the same fashion. Where the typical movie located “out west” falls short with only a dominate primary plot (i.e. man v. man, man v. nature, etc…), True Grit brilliantly excels in developing underlying subplots that promote complex and sophisticated themes, such as the rather unforeseen, unique, and heartwarming relationship development between a teenage girl and an older man. The storyline breaks conventional 19th century culture by introducing and sustaining Mattie Ross as the main character—a powerful, intelligent, strong willed girl in a western society dominated by male figures. Ethan and Joel Coen’s initial uplifting and respective portrayal of Mattie immediately deviates the film from the mainstream western genre, making it relevant even in 21st century cinematography. In a film that draws upon a female character to assume the main role in True Grit, the Coen’s succeed in assigning Mattie a degree of “true grit” that surpasses her male rivals in terms of

True Grit is a Novel about a girl, Mattie Ross, who is only fourteen. Mattie has bad blood with the man who murder her father, and she seeks avenge for her late father. Mattie leaves home with little money in her pocket to start her journey to West, but on the way, she met up with Rooster Cogburn, the meanest Marshal around. Mattie believe that Rooster has true grit, and that is way she chooses Rooster to join her in getting revenge for her father. Mattie also happens to fortunately meet Le Boeuf on the way meeting Rooster. The three of them set out to the west to seek revenge. If Mattie Ross was written as a young boy instead of a young girl, the novel True Grit would have a completely different point of view. The relationship with Rooster