True Grit

When reading True Grit, I feel like it really encompasses some of the aspects of that 'Wild West' culture that is often really romanticized into something that wasn't too terribly common, or may not have even existed at all. I think it also points out how a lot of American 'mythology' is violent, or has a huge sense of 'justice' and revenge in it.

I feel as though True Grit really highlights a more 'real' look into the issues of the west, with outlaws, with a sense of justice and revenge that can be pretty understandable when you look into the reasons the characters do what they do.

True Grit really highlights the more violent nature of humans, I think. It also really shows more aspects of that 'dastardly bad guy' and 'paragon good guy' (Mattie's Dad being the 'paragon' who gets killed.) that is pretty common in a lot of stories. I certainly enjoyed this book, which shows the aspects of violent and real human nature, much more than another book that tries to show the same thing, Lord of the Flies.

Mattie is a really interesting character herself, what with sticking it to the 'rules' that were set around at the time. I also really appreciate Rooster, since he's an overweight character that's missing an eye ( sort of.. ) and he's overall a good guy that doesn't have to look like some slick fancy hero. LaBoeuf is an alright character, though I'm not a fan of how much of an asshole he is, in general.

When it comes to things like the mythology aspect of the american west, I think they kind of combine some of the bits of myth together? Mattie is kind of a combination of both the American Hero/American Adam, but she's also the child hero. They combine these two things very well, but they also put bits of the elements

A pretty fun read, overall.