True Grit: Genre 1 key example

This violent, uncompromising vow prefaces a journey defined by her obsession with retribution. However, the novel immediately subverts traditional genre expectations because this fierce declaration and subsequent quest for justice come not from a hardened adult frontiersman, but from a 14-year-old girl. This perspective challenges the Western's conventional focus on adult male protagonists, introducing an independent and decisive young woman to a world that consistently underestimates her based on her age and gender.

The novel reinforces its Western setting while grounding it in gritty Realism. The narrative highlights the critical distinction between Fort Smith's shaky civilization and the lawless expanse of the Indian Territory. Conventional justice does not apply on the frontier.

In Chapter 2, the sheriff discusses the pursuit of Tom Chaney: 

The sheriff said, “I have no authority in the Indian Nation. He is now the business of the U.S. marshals.” [...] The meanest one is Rooster Cogburn. He is a pitiless man, double-tough, and fear don’t enter into his thinking. He loves to pull a cork. Now L. T. Quinn, he brings his prisoners in alive. He may let one get by now and then but he believes even the worst of men is entitled to a fair shake.

Cite this Quote

The sheriff’s statement establishes the frontier as a lawless space where outlaws flee and where only uniquely qualified men, U.S. Marshals, can pursue them. Furthermore, the novel complicates the kind of romanticization that comes along with frontier stories, ultimately depicting these lawmen realistically—they are not idealized heroes. Rooster Cogburn, the lawman Mattie selects for his renowned "grit," is described as pitiless and a heavy drinker, showcasing him as a flawed, complicated man suited for the brutal job of frontier justice rather than an exemplar of morality. This unsentimental focus on flawed characters operating in a harsh, pragmatic environment is central to the novel's approach to the Western genre.