True Grit (novel)

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True Grit (also: The brave Mattie ) is a Wild West novel by Charles Portis from 1968.

It is about 14-year-old Mattie Ross, who hires Marshal Reuben "Rooster" Cogburn to arrest the outlaw Tom Chaney in order to avenge the murder of Mattie's father. Together with the Texas Ranger LaBoeuf, they pursue Chaney in the Indian territory, which is considered a refuge for numerous criminals.

As early as 1969, the book was filmed under the same title with John Wayne in the role of Marshal Cogburn. In 2010 the novel was remade by the Coen brothers .

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At the beginning of the plot, 14-year-old Mattie Ross comes to Fort Smith , Arkansas to pick up some valuables from her previously murdered father. Since he had bought some ponies from the hapless Colonel Stonehill before his death , for which Mattie no longer has any use, she tries to persuade him to buy the ponies back. However, she only succeeds in this through her pronounced negotiating skills and the threat of litigation. She also receives compensation for stealing her father's horse.

When Mattie later learns that the police are not making great efforts to prosecute Tom Chaney, her father's murderer who fled to Indian territory and who joined the band of the bandit Lucky Ned Pepper after his escape, she decides to find someone responsible for the area Assign Marshal to arrest the killer. Her choice falls on the particularly brave Reuben "Rooster" Cogburn, whom she meets for the first time during a court hearing in which Cogburn's unorthodox methods are heavily criticized by the defense. She offers him $ 100 of the money won by negotiating with Stonehill, on condition that he succeeds in arresting Chaney so that he can be tried and executed at Fort Smith.

During the stay in Fort Smith, the Texas Ranger LaBoeuf turns up, who is also looking for Tom Chaney. In a conversation with Mattie, he reports that Chaney's real name is Theron Chelmsford and that he shot a senator in Texas, which is why a bounty was placed on him there. Since Mattie wants Chaney to be punished in Ford Smith for killing her father, but LaBoeuf wants to bring him to Texas to get the bounty, she refuses his help. He meets with Cogburn and suggests that he work together to capture Chaney and share the bounty. Since this bounty is much higher than the reward Mattie promised, Cogburn decides to work with LaBoeuf, which leads to Mattie demanding her money back. However, Mattie finally comes to the conclusion that there is still enough time later to sue Cogburn with the help of her lawyer, which is why she tries, as originally planned, to accompany Cogburn on the hunt for Chaney. Her mount is a pony, which she bought back from Stonehill beforehand.

When she meets Cogburn and LaBoeuf on the ferry to Indian Territory the next morning, however, they refuse to take her with them and cross over without her. But Mattie manages to swim with her pony through the river and to chase them both for a long time until they can ambush her and pull her off her pony. When LaBoeuf prepares to beat up Mattie, however, he is stopped by Cogburn.

Now riding together, the group reaches a small hut where they can surprise two members of Ned Pepper's gang. An interrogation of the two reveals that Pepper intends to change horses at this hut, whereupon Cogburn and LaBoeuf lie in wait to attack the group from the ambush. When they finally appear at the hut after a long time, LaBoeuf opens fire too early, whereupon two gang members are killed but Pepper is able to escape.

Since LaBoeuf is wounded in this confrontation, the group rides to a small settlement to have the injury treated. Then all three set out on a longer ride that eventually takes them near the bandits' camp. While fetching water in the morning Mattie runs into Chaney by chance. Although she even manages to shoot him at him with her father's old revolver, Chaney can finally kidnap Mattie, defenseless due to a malfunction of her revolver , to the bandit camp. With her hostage, the outlaws force the two officers to ride over a well-visible hilltop and thus give up the hunt for them.

When that happens, Pepper decides to ride ahead with his gang, leaving Chaney hostage with Mattie. Only after they have been released will they share in the booty. When Mattie tries to escape, however, Chaney can only be prevented from murdering Mattie by LaBoeuf, who had approached the camp in an arc. After Chaney has become a prisoner of LaBoeuf and no longer seems to represent a threat, both watch how Cogburn stands alone against the gang of Peppers. By shooting at the group with firearms in both hands, he succeeds in eliminating the entire gang except for Pepper. When the latter approaches the fallen Cogburn to shoot him, Laboeuf saves Cogburn's life by fatally hitting Pepper with his rifle over a considerable distance.

Distracted by the fight in the valley, neither of them notice that Chaney gets up again so that he can finally knock LaBoeuf unconscious. Pressed by Chaney, Mattie manages to fire another shot at him, which leads to the fact that the recoil of the revolver causes her to fall into a hole full of snakes.

Although Cogburn rushes to help and frees her from the hole, he can no longer prevent Mattie from being bitten in the forearm by a snake. To get Mattie to a doctor quickly, Cogburn not only rides Mattie's pony to death, but also commandeers a covered wagon at gunpoint. In this way he manages to get Mattie to a doctor in time, who can save Mattie's life but no longer her arm.

Many years later, Mattie tries to see Ross Cogburn on a Wild West show. However, she is a few days late because he died shortly before. Thereupon she has Cogburn's corpse transferred to her hometown Dardanelle , where she can put a larger tombstone for him.

Narrative perspective

The entire plot is rendered in retrospect by Mattie Ross as first-person narration. Charles Portis tried to make the story appear as if it were being told in 1928, long after the events. This is particularly clear when Mattie mentions in some places what later became of certain people or places. Portis also seems to have tried to make the narrative situation as realistic as possible, so that the work gives the reader the impression that Mattie is the author of the book who reports on real events. Arthur Conan Doyle already used a similar narrative style in his Sherlock Holmes novels , which also use the stylistic devices of experience narration.

Film adaptations

As early as 1968, the book by Henry Hathaway was filmed for the first time under the same title with John Wayne in the role of Rooster Cogburn. In Germany this film was released under the title Der Marshal .

1975 was followed by a sequel entitled With dynamite and pious proverbs (Rooster Cogburn and the Lady) , in which John Wayne also took the lead role, but for which there was no original book.

In 2010, the book was finally filmed again by the Coen brothers , retaining the original title . Many critics praised the fact that the film by the Coen brothers was much more in keeping with the literature than the previous film with John Wayne.

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