Mattie Ross

A Young girl’s destiny

We begin this thrilling expedition with a few steps from the hero’s journey in Arkansas, post-civil war. Our Author lived in Arkansas also and he served in the Marine Corps during the Korean War, he also was a writer for The New Yorker. He may have a little bit of grit himself. Let’s start when a young teen sets out to kill the man who killed her father. She hires U.S Marshal Rooster Cogburn who has tough grit. [Mattie say’s] “Rooster was one of the last ones out… His hands were shaking and he was spilling tobacco” (Portis 58-59). This was her first encounter with the man who would eventually become her friend and savior. They are later joined by a Texas Ranger named La Beouf who helps them track down, Tom Chaney the

In the hero’s journey the definition of challenges includes the fact that” Challenges always seems to strike the initiates greatest weakness: [her] poorest skill, [her] shakiest knowledge, [her] most vulnerable emotions” (Harris and Thompson 51). One for instance is early on in the story is when she is abandoned by Rooster Cogburn and La Beouf. They thought they had lost her when all of the sudden she surprises them. [Mattie explains], “I popped blackie all the way with my hat as I was afraid he might shy at the water… Once he was in he swam as though he was raised to it” (Portis 107). She makes it across the river safety. Mattie faces her darkest inner most horrifying fears and feeling’s when she faces her own abyss. The hero’s journey say’s “The initiate faces the greatest challenge of the journey… [She] must face them alone. Here is where she must “slay the dragon,” which often takes the shape of something [she] dreads or needs to resolve (Harris and Thompson 51). Mattie finally has her revenge when she shots Tom Chaney killing him instantaneously, but as she says,” Yet I was not to taste the victory… I had forgotten about the pit behind me” (Portis 204). She falls into the snake pit, gets bitten and breaks her arm. Still she doesn’t give up this shows perseverance. And not giving up is a change in