A fourteen-year-old girl from Little Rock, Arkansas, and the narrator of True Grit. Mattie is a strong-willed young woman who uses her intelligence and determination to succeed in a world where she is consistently undervalued. She comes to Fort Smith in the aftermath of her father Frank Ross ’s murder.
Lawyer Daggett: I'll tell you frankly. I fully intended to have you jailed, and I'm just the man who could do it. But when Mattie told me the straight of the matter, I had second thoughts. I still think you showed poor judgment in this affair, but you're not the scoundrel I took you for.
When Mattie says, “If you want anything done right you will have to see to it yourself every time,” readers recognize her independent nature. Indeed, this sentiment is the same impulse that drives her to take the Chaney situation into her own hands.
True Grit (1969) - John Fiedler as Lawyer Daggett - IMDb True Grit (1969) John Fiedler: Lawyer Daggett Showing all 2 items
“You must pay for everything in this world one way and another. There is nothing free except the Grace of God. You cannot earn that or deserve it.”
In the film's final scene, Mattie stands before Cogburn's grave and says in a voice-over: “It is true I have not married; I never had time to fool with it.” She then says a few more lines, and the film ends. Films with female leads sometimes end this way.
True Grit (1969) - John Fiedler as Lawyer Daggett - IMDb.
Fourteen-year-oldFourteen-year-old farm girl Mattie Ross hires Cogburn, a boozy, trigger-happy lawman to go after an outlaw named Tom Chaney who has murdered her father.
Mattie, in the end, achieves her goal of killing Tom Chaney, thus avenging her father's murder. In the remake she kills Chaney with LaBoeuf Sharpe's Carbine, though she is bitten by a rattlesnake and loses her arm after failing down a mineshaft due to the recoil.
Mattie falls into the cave, breaks her arm, and is bitten by a snake. Rooster retrieves her and rides all day and night back into town to save Mattie's life before she dies from snakebite. Mattie loses an arm, but lives. She has achieved justice for the death of her father.
While "True Grit'"s observant teenage protagonist was a thinly-veiled avatar for many of Portis' own thoughts and feelings about the Old West, the novel was otherwise fictional; Mattie Ross, Rooster Cogburn, and La Boeuf are all Portis' brainchildren.
Watch True Grit | Netflix.
True Grit (2010) - Joe Stevens as Cross-examining Lawyer - IMDb.
Tom ChaneyIn 1878, Mattie Ross (Hailee Steinfeld), a fourteen-year-old from Yell County, Arkansas, is determined to avenge her murdered father. Frank Ross was killed by his hired hand, Tom Chaney (Josh Brolin), after trying to dissuade a drunken Chaney from shooting a fellow card player who had allegedly cheated him.
A fictional account of the federal court set in the late 1870's, True Grit was first serialized in the Saturday Evening Post and almost immediately developed into a film, released July 3, 1969. The film had an immediate effect on the park, boosting visitation that month to over 10,000.
But the 18-year-old actress is not new to cinema. Hailee Steinfeld played Mattie Ross in the Coen brothers' 2010 version of True Grit. Her feature-film debut was less cheery than an a capella blockbuster: She played a stubborn teenager determined to track down her father's killer.
#2: “You can’t rob a thief, can you? I never robbed no citizens.” #3: “I said, “That is my father.” I stood there looking at him. What a waste! Tom Chaney would pay for this! I would not rest easy until that Louisiana cur was roasting and screaming in hell!”
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Here are some memorable quotes from "True Grit"."True Grit" (also known as "Grinta, Il", "Marshall, Der") is an Adventure/Western/Drama film directed by Henry Hathaway, and written by Marguerite Roberts (screenplay), released in the USA on June 11 of 1969 .John Wayne and Glen Campbell are starring, alongside Kim Darby, Jeremy Slate, Robert Duvall and Dennis Hopper.
A fourteen-year-old girl from Dardanelle, Arkansas and the narrator of True Grit.Mattie is a strong-willed young woman who uses her intelligence and determination to succeed in a world where she is consistently undervalued.
Do you want some motivation to reach your long-term goal? If yes, grit is something that you need to cultivate, and to make that happen here we collected True Grit Quotes and Sayings. True Grit
The True Grit Community Note includes chapter-by-chapter summary and analysis, character list, theme list, historical context, author biography and quizzes written by community members like you.
Mattie goes to the post office the next morning and receives the letter from Lawyer Daggett, which includes a “notarized release” outlining the deal with Stonehill. It also includes a note from Daggett, in which he expresses his support but says he wishes Mattie would let him handle such matters. He urges her to come home, saying he will expect her ...
He complains about having to “follow all the regulations laid down by Uncle Sam,” including writing up “fee sheets” so the government will pay him. Changing the subject, Mattie says she read in the paper that Odus Wharton is going to be hanged, and Rooster explains that the execution will take place in January, though Goudy is “going to Washington city to see if President Hayes will not commute the sentence.” He then complains that Goudy will tell lies about the case. “I should have put a ball in that boy’s head instead of his collarbone,” he says. “You will sometimes let money interfere with your notion of what is right.”
Mattie demands that Rooster give her back her down payment, but he has already spent it. Though he promises to reimburse her after the trip, she knows he’s lying. She leaves in a rage, going back to the Monarch, gathering her belongings, and telling Mrs. Floyd that she’ll be gone for a few days. Going back to Stonehill ’s barn, she asks if she can sleep in the back office because she wants to “get an early start” the next day. When Stonehill agrees, Mattie arranges to have the watchman prepare Blackie an hour before dawn and to wake her up.
Rooster says Mattie will be “crying” for her mother if she comes with him, but she argues, saying, “I have left off crying, and giggling as well.” She then tells him to make a decision. “They told me you had grit and that is why I came to you,” she taunts, and when he says he should slap her, she suggests that he’s incapable of doing so, at which point he jumps toward her but only spills his coffee. Grabbing his “fee sheets,” Mattie holds the papers above the stove and threatens to burn them. Hearing the commotion, Lee bounds into the room, but Rooster tells him to leave, saying, “Everything is all right. Sis and me is making medicine.” When they’re alone again, Rooster says he can’t leave town until he finishes his expense reports.
When Mattie tricks the deckhand into letting go of her and Blackie, she uses her intelligence to her benefit. As such, she once again proves how useful it is to be quick-witted in the rugged world of the Wild West, where everyone around her seemingly relies on grand displays of power and aggression to get their way.
Even though he turned his back on her in order to make more money with LaBoeuf, he now stands up for her, proving that he won’t let anyone push her around—including LaBoeuf.
It’s obvious that Mattie isn’t quite as mature as she thinks, but she’s quite capable of holding her own. She proves her ability to outsmart grown men, as she threatens to burn Rooster’s “fee sheets.” In doing so, she makes up for the fact that she wouldn’t stand a chance in a physical fight against Rooster. Readers thus see that what she lacks in physical strength she makes up for in intelligence and resourcefulness—traits that will come in handy if Rooster lets her accompany him on the manhunt.
Mattie goes to the post office the next morning and receives the letter from Lawyer Daggett, which includes a “notarized release” outlining the deal with Stonehill. It also includes a note... (full context)
Mattie believes wholeheartedly in Daggett’s usefulness, often telling people that she has a “good lawyer” and that she isn’t afraid to go to court. When Daggett responds to Mattie’s initial message, he sends her what she needs but also implores her to come home, saying that her mother is worried.
When Mattie convinces Stonehill to buy back the ponies he sold to her father, she sends a telegraph message to Daggett explaining that she needs him to write out the terms of the deal so that Stonehill will be comfortable paying a child. Mattie believes wholeheartedly in Daggett’s usefulness, often telling people that she has a “good lawyer” ...
The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance. Chapter 2. Because Lawyer Daggett —the family attorney—is out of town at the time of Frank’s death, Mattie is the one... (full context) Chapter 3. ...make Stonehill uncomfortable.
Whatever his adversaries, the railroads and steamboat companies, may have thought, Lawyer Daggett was a gentleman, and on hearing the straight of the matter he was embarrassed by his actions. He said he still considered the deputy marshal had acted with poor judgment, but in the circumstances was deserving an apology.
Becoming frustrated, LaBoeuf criticizes Mattie for meddling in matters about which she knows nothing, suggesting that she should go back home to her mother. As a retort, Mattie pokes fun of the fact that LaBoeuf hasn’t caught Chaney even after four months of chasing him.
Mattie tells LaBoeuf that he’ll have to talk to Rooster about joining forces with him. “It is nothing to me one way or the other except that when we do get Chaney he is not going to Texas, he is coming back to Fort Smith and hang,” she says, but LaBoeuf only laughs, suggesting that it surely must not matter where, exactly, Chaney hangs. However, Mattie says it’s important to her that the outlaw die in Fort Smith, at which point LaBoeuf says he stands to earn a lot of money if he brings Chaney back to Texas. “You said yourself they might turn him loose down there,” Mattie points out, but LaBoeuf promises to shoot him himself if this happens. “I want Chaney to pay for killing my father and not some Texas bird dog,” Mattie replies.
Yarnell took me outside the office. He said, “Miss Mattie, that man trying to stick you.”
Note: all page numbers and citation info for the quotes below refer to the Harry N. Abrams edition of True Grit published in 2010.
He brushed the snow and dirt from my face and said, “Your life depends upon their actions. I have never busted a cap on a woman or anybody much under sixteen years but I will do what I have to do.”
LaBoeuf said, “She has come this far.”
LaBoeuf said, “You are getting ready to show your ignorance now, Cogburn. I don’t mind a little personal chaffing but I won’t hear anything against the Ranger troop from a man like you.”
Lucky Ned Pepper said, “It is enough that you know I will do what I have to do.”
MR. COGBURN: I never shot nobody I didn’t have to.
Mattie exaggerated the cave that she fell in a lot. While in the cave, Mattie says that it was cold and dark in there, but it was not totally dark (“True Grit”). She also goes on to say she shockingly noticed her forearm was bent in an unnatural way (“True Grit”). Everytime I go from a bright place, like outside during the day, and enter a dark place, like a basement or a cave, I cannot see anything for a while. It takes about half a minute for my eyes to adjust. If it was truly dark, but not totally dark, she would not have been able to see her arm bent in an unusual way for a while longer. She tries to tell the this part of the story with as little detail, and as fast as possible, so the reader believes it went extremely fast, and very intense.
I think everyone stretches the truth at one point or another. If everything everybody said was truthful, there would not be as much interesting things out there. It creates fun in stories, like True Grit, so readers have have a hard time separating truth from fiction. Mattie stretches the truth just like Rooster when she accused him of “stretching the blanket”.
LaBoeuf: I aim to finish what I started!
Mattie Ross: You never told me you had a wife.
True Grit Quotes. A drunken, hard-nosed U.S. Marshal and a Texas Ranger help a stubborn teenager track down her father's murderer in Indian territory. Mattie Ross: You must pay for everything in this world, one way and another. There is nothing free except the grace of God.
Rooster Cogburn: There was a boy. Nola taken him with her. He never liked me anyway. A clumsier child you'll never see than Horace; I bet he broke 40 cup.
Rooster Cogburn: Well, I wouldn't want you to bury 'em if they wasn't.
Emmett Quincy: That don't bring nobody to mind. A funny lip?
LaBoeuf: A saucy line will not get you far with me.
Mattie lets us know that she's not exactly like other women by comparing herself to her mother —using a Biblical reference, of course. She says, "like Martha I have always been agitated and troubled by the cares of the day but my mother had a serene and loving heart. She was like Mary and had chosen the "good" part" (1.11).
Over and over, Mattie reminds herself that she's not here to hang out with Jesus: she 's here to get her revenge. Hm. That doesn't sound very Christian to us—but it sure is effective.
You know what? We take it back. Ninth grade has nothing on Mattie Ross.
Right away, we learn a few things: (1) This story is being told sometime after it actually happened ("then"); (2) expectations about what's appropriate for various genders and ages have changed; (3) even back "then," Mattie never did quite what other people expected her to. Really, how could she just go and marry some dude after her life-changing, madcap adventure?
She's no-nonsense, straightforward, determined, and an all-around Type A chick who later becomes a courageous woman living life according to her own code. Mattie is truly gritty, able to stand her own with the toughest men around, never compromising her principles—whatever you think of them—or her sense of humor. And that's true of fourteen-year old Mattie and our older narrator.
Y'all, being fourteen is hard. You're only a year into this teenage gig, you've probably got some pimples, your parents totally still treat you like a kid, you can't drive yet, and your dad has just been senselessly murdered.
In other words, Mattie is still single-minded, independent, and determined—and determined to take care of herself and her family before anything else. We don't get the sense that her life has been bad, or that she regrets her actions, or her life path, but we do get the sense that she's judged harshly for her choices.
Mattie exaggerated the cave that she fell in a lot. While in the cave, Mattie says that it was cold and dark in there, but it was not totally dark (“True Grit”). She also goes on to say she shockingly noticed her forearm was bent in an unnatural way (“True Grit”). Everytime I go from a bright place, like outside during the day, and enter a dark place, like a basement or a cave, I cannot see anything for a while. It takes about half a minute for my eyes to adjust. If it was truly dark, but not totally dark, she would not have been able to see her arm bent in an unusual way for a while longer. She tries to tell the this part of the story with as little detail, and as fast as possible, so the reader believes it went extremely fast, and very intense.
I think everyone stretches the truth at one point or another. If everything everybody said was truthful, there would not be as much interesting things out there. It creates fun in stories, like True Grit, so readers have have a hard time separating truth from fiction. Mattie stretches the truth just like Rooster when she accused him of “stretching the blanket”.