True Grit

Content Warning: This section of the guide features depictions of violence and death.



Mattie Ross narrates the story of her life. Not many people will believe, she explains, that a young girl could leave home during winter to “avenge her father’s blood” (113), yet this is what she did shortly after her 14th birthday. Tom Chaney, a drifter with a dark mark on his face, shot her father. Mattie’s father, Frank Ross, was a farmer who took pity on Chaney and hired him to work on the family farm in Yell County, Arkansas. Hiring Chaney, Mattie says, was the worst mistake of her father’s life.

Frank Ross had intended to buy several ponies in Fort Smith from Colonel Stonehill, who offered them at a low cost. Frank had hoped that, by training the ponies, he would be able to make a small profit on them. Frank traveled to Fort Smith with Chaney. He took $250, his old dragoon pistol, and two gold pieces given to him on his wedding day by his father.

Frank concluded the deal for the ponies and stayed the night in the Monarch boarding house with Chaney. In the evening, Chaney went out.