The novel featuring Fort Smith that has twice been adapted for film was the topic of a presentation Sunday.
Cody Faber, park ranger at the Fort Smith National Historic Site, was the guest speaker for the Clayton House's Clayton Conversations event Sunday. Faber's presentation centered on what was both factual and fictional in "True Grit," a 1968 novel written by Arkansas author Charles Portis that was first made into a film in 1969 and again in 2010.
Part of Faber's presentation was devoted to some of the characters of "True Grit." The first he covered was Mattie Ross, the main character of the story. While Ross was fictional, Faber used her as a means to talk about prominent women in Fort Smith history. This included Mary Rutherford Cravens, who was stationed in Fort Smith with her family prior to the outbreak of the Civil War and whose letters have provided historians insight into how the fort looked at that point in time.
Something similar can be said of another main character, Deputy U.S. Marshal Rooster Cogburn, who was portrayedby John Wayne in the 1969 film adaptation andby Jeff Bridges in the 2010 film. Faber said Cogburn was also fictional, but it is believed he was more than likely partly based on some real people or happenings.
Faber also provided information about real deputy U.S. marshals in history. One of these marshals was Bass Reeves, who was one of the first black deputy U.S. marshals west of the Mississippi River.
Another topic Faber covered in his presentation was Judge Isaac Parker. In contrast to the previous two characters, Parker, otherwise known as, "The Hanging Judge," was a real figure in Fort Smith history. However, Faber said there are certain things "True Grit" depicted, in both book and movie form, that are not historically accurate. For instance, Parker did not watch executions. In fact, he was against the death penalty, believing it to be morally wrong.
Faber also provided the attendees with historical context for Fort Smith and Indian Territory, the setting of "True Grit."
The quote from True Grit, "You must pay for everything in this world, one way and another.There is nothing free except the grace of God," captures the essence of life's inherent trade-offs.
Faber's presentation centered on what was both factual and fictional in "True Grit," a 1968 novel written by Arkansas author Charles Portis that was first made into a film in 1969 and again in 2010.
In True Grit, Charles Portis presents a gripping tale of justice, revenge, and the resilience of the human spirit. Through the character of Mattie Ross, he explores the concept of true grit, portraying it as a combination of determination, courage, and moral integrity.
From “True Grit,” the book's final lines from the narrator, Mattie Ross: “Time just gets away from us.This ends my true account of how I avenged Frank Ross's blood over in the Choctaw Nation when snow was on the ground.”
True Grit was a godsend for John Wayne, who lobbied for the lead role of one-eyed US Marshal Rooster Cogburn after reading Charles Portis' novel of the same name.
A fictional account of the federal court set in the late 1870's, True Grit was first serialized in the Saturday Evening Post and almost immediately developed into a film, released July 3, 1969.
Rooster Cogburn, Mattie's hired partner and a US marshal, reflects a similar ethos when he declares to her, “I was born game, sis, and hope to die in that condition.” She chooses him instantly after hearing him described as “the meanest one…a pitiless man, double-tough, and fear don't enter into his thinking,” ...
True Grit, based on the novel by Charles Portis, is a story of unembarrassed sentiment, of courage and determination. It is also a coming-of-age tale, revolving around the spunky and efficient Mattie Ross, a 14-year-old girl who hires the debauched U.S. Marshall Rooster Cogburn to avenge her father's death.
Mattie falls into the cave, breaks her arm, and is bitten by a snake. Rooster retrieves her and rides all day and night back into town to save Mattie's life before she dies from the snakebite. Mattie loses an arm, but lives. She has achieved justice for the death of her father.
So True Grit (the novel) has definitely got a lower frequency of contractions than the other two works, even though it's not in fact contraction-free; and this pattern is not a true picture of the 1870s southern or south-midland vernacular that its characters (like Mark Twain) presumably spoke.
The snake-pit scene could be seen as Portis' vision of an America which for people of color and Native Americans (among others) might have felt a lot like a ball of snakes curled around the skeleton of a dead white guy.
The final scene of TRUE. GRIT, with the legendary John Wayne performing his. own stunt, jumping his horse over that “four-rail. fence,” is unforgettable, and a fitting way to tip one's.
He said: “In fact, he asked him a couple of times.” In the end, his manager The Colonel pushed it too far by demanding that Elvis should receive top billing above Wayne if he were to play the Texan in True Grit.
Little Blackie may indeed be read as the horse whose tireless labor—and ultimately his death by sheer exhaustion—symbolizes Mattie's “lost connection to life.” But the kind of class life that Little Blackie saves is most certainly not a “revolutionizing practice.” On the contrary, Mattie's “desire” is the ideological ...
Rooster Cogburn: I mean to kill you in one minute, Ned.Or see you hanged in Fort Smith at Judge Parker's convenience.Which'll it be? Ned Pepper: I call that bold talk for a one-eyed fat man.
Grit is living life like it's a marathon, not a sprint. There are no shortcuts to true excellence. Grit, in a word, is stamina. But it's not just stamina in your effort.
Grit is that 'extra something' that separates the most successful people from the rest. It's the passion, perseverance, and stamina that we must channel in order to stick with our dreams until they become a reality. Grit is living life like it's a marathon, not a sprint.
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