During the publicity tour of the Coen Brothers' adaptation of True Grit , reviewers described Charles Portis as an unsung master of American letters. Being unfamiliar with Portis, I am surprised and delighted by the humor and wit found in his writing. Told from the perspective of precocious narrator Mattie Ross, the story juxtaposes the naivete of a headstrong girl with the violence and harshness of the unsettled west. Mattie and her pompous airs are inadvertently funny, especially when read against the harsh cynicism of her traveling companions Rooster Cogburn and Mr. LaBoeuf. Portis' style reflects the novel's landscape-bleak, harsh, sharp, yet on occasion beautiful and lyrical.
The novel touches on all the classic themes of the western: violence, loneliness, alienation. Despite the nihilism expressed by many of the characters, there are clear moments of heroism from unlikely sources, such as the iconic scene where Cogburn charges a phalanx of outlaw holding pistols in both hands and clenching the reins in his teeth. Cogburn's grudging admiration for Mattie Portis' "grit" evolves into stronger affection for the girl, a bond that challenges our normal understanding of standard archetypes found in the Western . Ultimately, True Grit is an exploration of friendship, and Portis leaves his readers wondering whether true understanding and friendship is possible in a selfish and cruel world. True Grit clearly belongs in any list of great westerns, and I think it should be considered on any list of important American novels.
The novel touches on all the classic themes of the western: violence, loneliness, alienation. Despite the nihilism expressed by many of the characters, there are clear moments of heroism from unlikely sources, such as the iconic scene where Cogburn charges a phalanx of outlaw holding pistols in both hands and clenching the reins in his teeth. Cogburn's grudging admiration for Mattie Portis' "grit" evolves into stronger affection for the girl, a bond that challenges our normal understanding of standard archetypes found in the Western . Ultimately, True Grit is an exploration of friendship, and Portis leaves his readers wondering whether true understanding and friendship is possible in a selfish and cruel world. True Grit clearly belongs in any list of great westerns, and I think it should be considered on any list of important American novels.
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