True Grit

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

As a novel, True Grit does not shy away from conflict. The characters share a preoccupation with violence, particularly the violence of the past. Most prominent among these is Rooster Cogburn. There is little doubt that Rooster is a violent man. He introduces himself to the audience with a vivid account of killing two men and wounding another. Though he is supposedly an agent of the law, the court calls into question the necessity of his violence. Even in the recent past, Rooster’s accounts of violence are obfuscated to hide his true brutality. Similarly, his references to his actions during the Civil War are often romanticized. He speaks fondly—particularly when he is drunk—of the past when he was not constrained by laws and expectations. When others call his version of events into question, however, Rooster’s military history seems much more brutal, much more untethered, and much more immoral. Rooster, burdened by the horror of what he has done to people, tries to romanticize his war record. In a nation where most of his peers fought in the same way, however, he struggles to hide the truth.