The "True" Grit in True Grit

           
         I would like to focus my discussion of my thoughts on this book on the meaning of the title throughout the work.  The term "True Grit" is a description used often by characters within the book, especially by the narrator, the young Mattie Ross. In her search for someone with this rough and tough quality, Mattie uses the term most often to describe the Marshal Rooster Cogburn whom she hired to help avenge her father. In my own reading of the book, however, it seemed to me that each character seemed to show their own form of "True grit"- suggesting that despite the name, there may not be a true form.
        As is characteristic of westerns, most characters had there own strong form of determination and will. From the wild outlaws with their rebellion and determination to stand against the law despite their shortcomings in the robberies, To the stand-offish tale-telling LaBoeuf, who just wanted the reward for Tom Chaney's death. Even though Mattie may not recognize it herself at first, she herself has true grit. Despite her age and stature in society, Mattie refuses to stand down until she receives the justice she wants and on her terms. Her stubbornness and persistence against the difficult odds shown to her, even as she continues through life after their adventure, in the end, show her own true grit.
      I believe that as Mattie journeys through the book, she comes to see the true grit in many of the other characters, and eventually within herself. She learns of her own strength. Although she loses a lot and doesn't physically gain much she grows tremendously in this definition by the end of the book.