Character Flaws Make Good Literature
The first time I read True Grit, I adored it, as many had before me. Author Charles Portis masterfully draws the reader into the book, igniting both laughter and intrigue, as the story is lived through the eyes of its young heroine, Mattie Ross. She has recently lost her father, gunned down by their hired hand, Tom Chaney, while in Fort Smith, Arkansas on business. This sets Mattie on a crusade for vengeance. She tracks down U.S. Marshall Rooster Cogburn, a man she has been told has "grit”, and along with a Texas Ranger named LaBoeuf, they set out for the Indian Territory, where Chaney was last known to be. Mattie intends to find Tom Chaney and bring him back to Fort Smith to hang. However, if that plan …show more content…
This is very evident in both the first and last sentences: “People do not give it credence that a fourteen-year-old girl could leave home and go off in the wintertime to avenger her father’s blood”(11), “This ends my true account of how I avenged Frank Ross’s blood”(224). However, for all of Mattie’s Bible-thumping, she fails to see that as a “good Christian” she should not be seeking revenge, but offering forgiveness. In the Old Testament, God instructs the people of Israel, “Do not seek revenge or bear a grudge against anyone among your people, but love your neighbor as yourself”(NIV Bible Lav. 19:18) In this scripture, God tells us that we should not pursue vengeance as Mattie does, but show His love to everyone. Similarly, Mattie should not have taken matters into her own hands. When she quotes “The wicked flee when none pursueth”(17), she fails to finish the verse, “but the righteous are as bold as a lion”(NIV Bible Prov. 28:1). If looked at closely, it seems Mattie considers herself the righteous one in that passage, and feels it is her duty to avenge. However, Romans 12:19 explains, “Do not take revenge, my friends, but leave room for God’s wrath, for it is written: “it is mine to avenge; I will repay”(NIV Bible Rom. 12:19). In this passage, Paul is explaining to the Romans that they should not seek vengeance, like Mattie, but leave the task of avenging to God. Mattie should have accepted her father’s death, let the law do its job, and recognized that any revenge would come by the Lord’s hand. Can we trust her story when she can so easily pull meaning out of
The first time I read True Grit, I adored it, as many had before me. Author Charles Portis masterfully draws the reader into the book, igniting both laughter and intrigue, as the story is lived through the eyes of its young heroine, Mattie Ross. She has recently lost her father, gunned down by their hired hand, Tom Chaney, while in Fort Smith, Arkansas on business. This sets Mattie on a crusade for vengeance. She tracks down U.S. Marshall Rooster Cogburn, a man she has been told has "grit”, and along with a Texas Ranger named LaBoeuf, they set out for the Indian Territory, where Chaney was last known to be. Mattie intends to find Tom Chaney and bring him back to Fort Smith to hang. However, if that plan …show more content…
This is very evident in both the first and last sentences: “People do not give it credence that a fourteen-year-old girl could leave home and go off in the wintertime to avenger her father’s blood”(11), “This ends my true account of how I avenged Frank Ross’s blood”(224). However, for all of Mattie’s Bible-thumping, she fails to see that as a “good Christian” she should not be seeking revenge, but offering forgiveness. In the Old Testament, God instructs the people of Israel, “Do not seek revenge or bear a grudge against anyone among your people, but love your neighbor as yourself”(NIV Bible Lav. 19:18) In this scripture, God tells us that we should not pursue vengeance as Mattie does, but show His love to everyone. Similarly, Mattie should not have taken matters into her own hands. When she quotes “The wicked flee when none pursueth”(17), she fails to finish the verse, “but the righteous are as bold as a lion”(NIV Bible Prov. 28:1). If looked at closely, it seems Mattie considers herself the righteous one in that passage, and feels it is her duty to avenge. However, Romans 12:19 explains, “Do not take revenge, my friends, but leave room for God’s wrath, for it is written: “it is mine to avenge; I will repay”(NIV Bible Rom. 12:19). In this passage, Paul is explaining to the Romans that they should not seek vengeance, like Mattie, but leave the task of avenging to God. Mattie should have accepted her father’s death, let the law do its job, and recognized that any revenge would come by the Lord’s hand. Can we trust her story when she can so easily pull meaning out of