True Grit

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

Fittingly for a novel set in the Wild West, True Grit features many guns. These guns are everywhere, presented as a simple fact of life. As well as their practical use for hunting and security, they are used to mediate the violence between men. Even a seemingly nonviolent man like Frank Ross carries a pistol with him, a throwback to his time in the military when he fought in the Civil War. Frank is shot when he tries to prevent Tom Chaney from using his gun to kill others; he tries to interject in an outbreak of gun violence, only to have this violence turned against him. Fittingly, his daughter inherits his pistol. Mattie takes possession of the old dragoon revolver just as she takes up the mantle of responsibility for her family. She places herself at the head of the household, not believing that her mother has the wherewithal to replace her father. Mattie tasks herself with avenging her father, so she takes possession of his pistol in a symbolic transfer of responsibility. 

Mattie takes this pistol on her pursuit of Chaney, a symbol of the way in which she carries her father’s memory on her quest for vengeance.