True Grit

INTRODUCTION

True Grit is a 1968 novel by Charles Portis that was first published as a 1968 serial in The Saturday Evening Post. The novel is told from the perspective of a woman named Mattie Ross who recounts the time when she was 14 years old and sought retribution for the murder of her father by a scoundrel named Tom Chaney. It is considered by many critics to be "one of the great Americannovels". The novel takes place in Dardanelle, Arkansas.
Charles Portis was born in 1933 to Samuel Palmer and Alice Waddell Portis in El Dorado, Arkansas. He was raised and educated in various towns in southern Arkansas, including Hamburg.
During the Korean War, Portis enlisted in the U.S. Marine Corps and reached the rank of sergeant. After receiving his discharge in 1955, he enrolled in theUniversity of Arkansas at Fayetteville. He graduated with a degree in journalism in 1958.

CHARACTERS
Tom chaney: Chaney is the killer of Mattie Ross's father, who is being hunted down by Reuben J. Cogburn and law enforcement official La Boeuf.
Mattie ross: is the daughter of Frank Ross and friend and travel companion of Rooster Cogburn.
Reuben j. cogburn: Cogburn is a bounty hunter and USMarshal, hired by Mattie Ross to hunt down her father's killer Tom Chaney
La boeuf: is a Texas Ranger who helps bounty hunter Reuben J. Cogburn and Mattie Ross hunt down Tom Chaney.
Ned peper: is an infamous outlaw who is well known in the Territory.

PLOT
Portis’ novel is narrated in the first person by Mattie Ross, a thrifty, churchgoing spinster distinguished by a rare independence and strengthof mind. As an old woman in the year 1928, she tells the story of her adventures many years earlier, when, at the age of fourteen, she undertook a quest to avenge her father’s death at the hands of a drifter named Tom Chaney.
As Mattie's tale begins, Chaney is employed on the Ross’ family farm in west central Arkansas, near the town of Dardanelle in Yell County. Chaney isn't much use as afarmhand and Mattie has only scorn for him, referring to him as "trash." She says her father, a good, kind man, only hired him out of pity. One day, Frank Ross and Chaney go to Fort Smith to buy some horses. Ross takes $250 with him to pay for the horses along with two gold pieces he always carried. He ends up spending only $100 on the horses. When Ross tries to intervene in a barroom confrontation,Chaney kills him, robs the body of the remaining $150 and two gold pieces, and flees into Indian Territory (present day Oklahoma) on his horse. Hearing that Chaney has joined an outlaw gang led by the infamous "Lucky" Ned Pepper, Mattie wishes to track down the killer, and upon arriving at Fort Smith she looks for the toughest deputy Marshal in the district. That man turns out to be Reuben J.“Rooster” Cogburn, and although he is an aging, one-eyed, overweight, trigger-happy man who never seems to miss a drink of whiskey, he also has “grit.” Mattie decides she's found her man.
Playing on Cogburn's need for whiskey money, Mattie finally persuades him to take on the job, insisting that, as part of the bargain, she must go along. During the negotiations a Texas Ranger named La Boeuf appears. Hetoo is tracking Chaney for killing a senator in Texas, and is out for glory and a big cash reward. Cogburn and La Boeuf don't much like each other, but after some haggling, they agree to join forces in the hunt. The two men try hard to leave Mattie behind, but she proves more tenacious and resourceful than they'd expected and eventually she becomes an accepted member of the posse. Together, butwith very different motivations, the three ride into the wilderness to confront Ned Pepper's gang. Along the way, they begin to appreciate each other a little more.

GLOSSARY
1. Blanket: Anything that covers.
"there was a blanket of snow"
2. Saddle: A seat for the rider of a horse or camel.
"saddle the horses"
3. Undertaker: One whose business is the management of funerals.
“the...