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Chapter 1
Explanation and Analysis—Mattie's Self-Assuredness:
Mattie Ross is the first-person narrator of True Grit, recounting the story as an adult looking back on her experiences as a 14-year-old girl. This perspective immediately establishes her as an unreliable narrator, whose boastful, self-assured tone colors the entire narrative, inviting the reader to question whether events were as straightforward or her actions as competent as she presents them.
The opening sentence of the novel exemplifies Mattie's self-assuredness:
People do not give it credence that a fourteen-year-old girl could leave home and go off in the wintertime to avenge her father’s blood but it did not seem so strange then, although I will say it did not happen every day.
Chapter 2
Explanation and Analysis—Mattie's Self-Assuredness:
Mattie Ross is the first-person narrator of True Grit, recounting the story as an adult looking back on her experiences as a 14-year-old girl. This perspective immediately establishes her as an unreliable narrator, whose boastful, self-assured tone colors the entire narrative, inviting the reader to question whether events were as straightforward or her actions as competent as she presents them.
The opening sentence of the novel exemplifies Mattie's self-assuredness:
Unlock with LitCharts A+People do not give it credence that a fourteen-year-old girl could leave home and go off in the wintertime to avenge her father’s blood but it did not seem so strange then, although I will say it did not happen every day.
