Classic Book - A story of forgiveness and revenge

MARY REICHARD, HOST: Today is Tuesday, March 1st. You’re listening to WORLD Radio and we’re so glad to have you along today.

Good morning. I’m Mary Reichard.

NICK EICHER, HOST: And I’m Nick Eicher.

Reviewer Emily Whitten joins us now with her Classic Book of the Month. She says a 1968 novel by Charles Portis delivers in just about every way. With plenty of action, lots of laughs, and a plot that echoes gospel truth, Christians can share it with teens, grandparents, or the neighbor next door.

REICHARD: Just make sure you get your copy back. Emily says this one’s a keeper.

EMILY WHITTEN, REPORTER: When narrator Mattie Ross begins her tale in the novel True Grit, she’s an older, dyed-in-the-wool Presbyterian woman reminiscing about younger days. Back then, in the 1870s, Mattie was 14, living on her family farm near Fort Smith, Arkansas.

The action kicks off when her father sets out for Fort Smith with hired hand, Tom Chaney. They hope to buy a string of ponies to breed and sell locally. Here’s a clip from the audiobook read by Donna Tartt.

AUDIO BOOK CLIP: Instead of going to Fort Smith by steamboat or train, Papa decided he would on horseback and walk the ponies back all tied together. Not only would it be cheaper, but it would be a pleasant outing for him, and it would be a good ride. No one liked to prance about on a steed more than Papa.

Soon, though, Mattie gets news that Chaney, in a drunken rage, shot and killed her father. Mattie and a guardian arrive in Fort Smith to retrieve her father’s body and settle his affairs. We quickly see her smart, sharp-edged personality. In one memorable scene, she talks rings around the pony salesman. Here’s the 2010 movie version, with Hailee Steinfeld playing Mattie.

MOVIE CLIP: “I will pay $200 to your father’s estate when I have in my hand a letter from your lawyer absolving me of all liability from the beginning of the world to date.” “I will take $200 for Judy plus 100 for the ponies and $25 for the gray horse that Tom Chaney left. He was easily worth $40. That’s $325.” “The ponies have no part in it. I will not buy them.” “Then the price for Judy is $325…”

Mattie realizes that to get justice for her father, she’ll have to hire a marshall herself. She recruits the meanest law man in town, Rooster Cogburn, and eventually, she, Rooster, and a Texas Ranger named LaBoeuf track down Tom Cheney to bring him dead or alive–preferably dead, as far as Mattie’s concerned.

I recently spoke with a friend of mine, Deanna James, a homeschool mom who lives near Nashville, Tennessee. Here’s her take on Mattie’s motivation.

JAMES: She wants revenge. She wants it done. She doesn't want anybody to come back, saying well, you know, he was too hard to find or I shot him, so she wanted the job done. She wanted it done right.

James didn’t grow up reading classic novels, but she’s catching up now. Over the past few years, she’s loved Jane Eyre, didn’t care for Dickens, but Mattie’s voice immediately drew her in to True Grit.

JAMES: Maybe strong willed is the word. Her mom couldn’t write, hardly read, but yet she's able to read, write, negotiate like nobody's business. Oh, I admired her a ton. I was stupid at 14. But this girl’s got - she had great value in herself.

James also appreciated the other main character, Rooster Cogburn, and the humor of his interactions with Mattie. James isn’t alone. Many critics note Portis’ clever wordplay and inventive humor.

JAMES: It's very entertaining. It's not slow. And that's a great book for people that don't like to read because it's an easy read. It's really funny. Like how she interacts with these men. I know I've said that a lot. But it's really funny how she gets these grown men to do what she says.

Another thing that sets this book apart: Portis masterfully teases out deeper themes. In the midst of shoot-outs, train robberies, and life-and-death situations, Portis uses his characters to ask bigger questions like, what is justice? And when does grit or perseverance, become a negative?

By the end of Mattie’s story, a hanging scene from the beginning gains new meaning. In that early scene, Mattie’s just come to Fort Smith, and she gets a chance to see fallible, human justice up close.

AUDIO BOOK: Two white men and an Indian were standing up there on the platform with their hands tied behind them and the noose hanging beside their heads. They were all wearing new jeans and flannel shirts buttoned at the neck. We pushed up closer. A man with a Bible talked with the men for a minute. I took him for a preacher. He led them in singing Amazing Grace How Sweet the Sound. And some people in the crowd joined in.

In that scene and throughout the book, pride often blinds characters to their true situation or guilt. For some, though, suffering focuses the mind and leads them to repentance. Even sacrificial acts of mercy.

That said, Portis serves up more than simple moralism. Characters live complicated lives, and their motives aren’t always good or bad. For James, on the one hand, Mattie does show heroic qualities.

JAMES: She can outpace anybody. I mean, she, you know, said I wanted to cry because I was so cold. And what did she do? She turned over and she went to bed on the, you know, the cold ground. And I just thought she had way more grit than Rooster.

But Mattie also misses the real bottom line as a Christian.

JAMES: I don't think it turned out very well for her in the end. I think her–like just jumping forward, I think her strong willed, I-will-not-give-up is what made her not really an old maid but unmarried woman; it's just not being able to back down…

Charles Portis wrote True Grit in installments for The Saturday Evening Post during 1968–a time of cultural upheaval, racial conflict and war. In that way, it’s very current. Yet Portis also connects readers to an older way of thinking and a Christian-ized culture filled with saints and sinners.

It’s a great trip, and one that can help Christians today rethink what really matters. James summed up her thoughts like this.

JAMES: Our bottom line is to sin, repent, forgive and go on and teach about Christ.

I’m Emily Whitten.

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