Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in True Grit, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Revenge
Maturity, Independence, and Expectations
Collaboration, Companionship, and Loyalty
Violence, Courage, and Intelligence
Summary
Analysis
Mattie is sick when she wakes up the next morning. Thankfully, Mrs. Floyd takes care of her and gives her a medication called “Dr. Underwood’s Bile Activator,” which has a relaxing effect. For the next two days, she stays in bed, reading to Grandma Turner as they both take the Bile Activator. In one particular book, Mattie reads about a young British girl who can’t decide between two men. “She made trouble for herself because she would never say what she meant but only blush and talk around it,” Mattie notes. While she’s laid up with her cold, Mrs. Floyd goes to the post office twice a day to look for the letter from Lawyer Daggett.
It’s unsurprising that Mattie finds it hard to sympathize with a character who “never say[s] what she mean[s],” since Mattie herself has no problem articulating exactly what she wants. Indeed, the mere idea of leading such a passive life is absurd to Mattie, since she is so independent and decisive.
Themes
After her second day of rest, Mattie feels well enough to attend dinner at the boardinghouse, where she meets a new resident named LaBoeuf (who pronounces his name like “LaBeef”). LaBoeuf is dressed in impressive holsters and the trappings of a fancy cowboy, and he guesses Mattie’s name, telling her that he saw her mother two days earlier. “I would like to have a confidential conversation with you,” he says, indicating that they should talk after dinner. Butting in, Mrs. Floyd starts talking about Frank’s death, speaking extensively about the matter even though it’s a private affair. After the meal, LaBoeuf and Mattie sit in the living room and talk about Chaney, who LaBoeuf reveals is really a fugitive named Theron Chelmsford, a man who shot a Texan senator and his dog four months ago and has been on the run ever since.
When LaBoeuf tells Mattie that Chaney is actually a criminal who has been on the run for four months, he creates a broader portrait of the man, one that reveals his true nature as a historically violent and aggressive person. Indeed, the fact that Chaney killed not only a senator but his dog too suggests that he’s merciless and cruel.
Themes
LaBoeuf informs Mattie that Chaney ran away from Waco, Texas after killing the senator, going to Monroe, Louisiana and then moving from there to Pine Bluff, Arkansas, at which point he finally went to Frank Ross’s farm. Mattie tells LaBoeuf that she’s searching for Chaney, too, saying that she is going to hire Rooster Cogburn to track him down in Indian Territory. LaBoeuf likes the sound of this plan, suggesting that he might team up with Rooster because he needs a U.S. marshal to capture Chaney, since he doesn’t have any jurisdiction in Indian Territory. He also adds that it would be good to have Rooster Cogburn’s authority, since it would be a shame to finally get Chaney back to Texas “only to have some corrupt judge say he was kidnapped.”
In this scene, LaBoeuf proposes an alliance of sorts, suggesting that a certain sense of collaboration might prove mutually beneficial for him and Mattie. They’re both after the same person, and though they have different reasons for pursuing Chaney, there’s no denying that they both want to see him brought to justice.
Themes
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.
When Mattie says that she wants Chaney to die in Fort Smith, her emotional investment in the case emerges. Rather than simply wanting Chaney to be punished, she has built a very specific idea of how this should happen, ultimately craving the poetic justice that would come along with Chaney dying in the same town as her father. She is only interested in revenge, whereas LaBoeuf is interested in the reward he’ll receive if he catches Chaney and brings him back to Texas.
Themes
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LaBoeuf says he plans to talk to Rooster himself, but Mattie lies and tells him that the marshal is in Little Rock for the next several days. 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. “Earlier tonight I gave some thought to stealing a kiss from you, though you are very young, and sick and unattractive to boot, but now I am of a mind to give you five or six good licks with my belt,” LaBoeuf seethes, though Mattie keeps her cool, saying, “One would be as unpleasant as the other.”
Again, an adult patronizes Mattie because of her age and gender. This time, LaBoeuf tells her to go home to her mother, assuming that—because she’s young—she shouldn’t be out on her own. However, Mattie defies such expectations and holds her own in verbal disputes like this one, as made evident by her clever retort to LaBoeuf. She proves that she’s quick-witted and unintimidated by men like LaBoeuf, who incorrectly assume they can get the best of her because she’s a little girl.
Themes
