In the narrative True Grit by Charles Portis, several characters have negative attributes but end up proving themselves somehow. Throughout the narrative the motif of redemption is a recurring theme. Despite the motif being redemption, the theme people aren't always as bad as they are sought out to be. Rooster Cogburn, a main character in the narrative begins off as a trashy, useless, fearless man. Rooster is an American Civil War veteran, who fought under Confederate Guerrilla led by William Quantrill. Over time, Rooster had became an alcoholic which goes along with his trait of being trashy and useless. Along with Rooster being an alcoholic, he lived in the back of a chinese grocery store, that was messy and dirty. Another main character, …show more content…
Mattie Ross, had just recently found out her father had been murdered by the infamous Tom Chaney. Despite all of Roosters flaws, Mattie decides to bring Rooster along due to the fact he had murdered 26 men. This made Mattie choose him because of his fearless trait. While on the journey of finding Tom, they meet up with a Texas Ranger named LaBoeuf.
Rooster being a veteran from the civil war, he constantly made fun of the Texas Rangers; along with LaBoeuf. When the three continue their journey, Rooster is drunk a large majority of the time and that throws off his shooting. For example: When they took a break, Rooster started to shoot their food (corndodgers). They would throw the corndodgers into the air, then try to hit them. Rooster missed every time. Due to Roosters persistent drunkenness and poor shot, this made his Mattie and LaBoeuf question his worth. Although Rooster’s negative attributes seem to be dominate in the narrative, without him Mattie wouldn't have been alive. In the late pages of the narrative when Mattie is nearing her conquest, she fired her father's pistol and it knocks her down due to the immense amount of recoil. The bullet successfully hits Tom in the head. Then knocked down, she gets wedged into a corner and breaks her arm, which later needs to be amputated. Despite Tom getting shot in the head, he mustered up enough strength to get back up and threaten Mattie's life. At this point Mattie's life is in jeopardy. Although Mattie’s life is in jeopardy in this point in
time, Rooster who was known previously in the novel as a non-useful, thoughtless man, finally redeemed himself by shooting Tom in the head. By doing this action, he saves Mattie’s life. Since Tom Chaney is finally dead, Rooster throws Tom into the elongated hole underneath the ground from which they walked.
“It began over a chore Louie’s father asked him to do. Louie resisted, a spat ensued, and Louie threw clothes into a bag and stormed towards the front door. His parents ordered him to stay; Louie was beyond persuasion.” (15) He couldn’t take it any longer because all he did was run since Pete forced him to do so. Louie is respire, he wants to take a break. Furthermore, this is apart of his personality as he refused to listen to his parents. “The Bird demanded that Louie looks him in the eyes; Louie wouldn’t do it. The Bird tried to knock Louie down; Louie wouldn’t fall.” (181) “The Bird” was sadistic. Therefore, this explains of this character trait because he disobeyed when the bird demanded him to look at him in the eyes. “Other prisoners told him to give in or the Bird would beat him to death. Louie couldn’t do it.” (181) When he was held captive of war and “The Bird” was harangued. Consequently, this character trait because he ignored the other prisoners when they told him to give in or else the bird would beat him to death. If Louie was never rebellious his life would probably have been completely different.
The novel Tangerine, written by Edward Bloor, perfectly demonstrates how a character can change their ways and learn lessons. When the protagonist, Paul Fisher, was first introduced, he was a shy, quiet kid, who never tried to change his situation. He has a terrible relationship with his brother, Erik, and is literally terrified of him and what he will do to him. In the beginning of the book, he was moving from Houston, Texas to his new home in Tangerine, Florida. In his fresh start to life in Tangerine, he learns that he shouldn’t be scared, and that he needs to start standing up for himself and letting his voice, thoughts, and opinions be heard. Even though Paul starts off scared, afraid, intimidated, and full of self doubt, he learns that he needs to change his ways and attitude towards his life, and to take action to make things right.
In their respective life journey, both Wes Moores often found them facing with some hard choices or decision to make or standing at a crossroads of life change without knowing which way to turn. Therefore, “for all of us who live in the most precarious places in this country, our destinies can be determined by a single stumble down the wrong path or a tentative step down the right one” (Moore xiv). During their early childhood, both Wes Moores struggle at school and had troubles with the law. However, for the author Wes Moore, attending the military school was the biggest turning point in his life. Aware of his mother’s determination, his family’s sacrifice, and encouragement from classmates and instructors as well as the influence of role models, the author Wes Moore finally made up his mind that he wanted to succeed in the military school. At the end, the author Wes Moore fulfilled his dream and did well academically from then on. On the other hand, the other Wes Moore had tumbled on a series of missteps along the road: dropping out of school, getting involved with drug trade, committing violent crimes, and being a father of four when he was so young and immature. Even though there was a time when he tried to reinvent himself: joining the Job Corp, getting a high school diploma, and finding some decent jobs, the reality and his making-quick-money mentality eventually brought him back to the original path with no return. At last, by committing an armed robbery that left a police officer dead, the other Wes Moore irreversibly drove himself to the dead end of life. Obviously, based on their early life experiences, both Wes Moores would have gone the same route to failure. Nevertheless, at some critical points of their lives, the author Wes Moore made some good choices with intervention and guidance of good people while the other Wes Moore lost his footing under undue
A theme evident in the play Seven Guitars was the African-American man’s struggle for dignity and self-awareness against society and its malevolence. The rooster representing the average African-American man and Canewell and Hedley’s encounters with the rooster in the play depict this. Canewell talks about how roosters down south are different from the roosters up north. He says that the roosters did not crow during times of slavery. Crowing symbolizes waking up, with no crowing no one ...
A college Degree used to be an extraordinary accolade but now its just another thing that we need in order to be successful, at this points its nothing more than a paperweight to some. Mike Rose states, “Intelligence is closely associated with formal education—the type of schooling a person has, how much and how long—and most people seem to move comfortably from that notion to a belief that work requiring less schooling requires less intelligence” (Mike Rose 276). In other words the author of Blue-Collar Brilliance, Mike Rose, believes that blue-collar jobs require intelligence as well. I agree that those who work blue-collar jobs need to be intelligent, a point that needs emphasizing since so many people believe that those who work blue-collar jobs aren't intelligent and that why they have them. Although I also believe that
There are two types of people in this world. There are people like students who work diligently to achieve the highest grade possible, athletes who put in hours and hours of practice so they can make the starting team, young adults who climb the ladder to get to the top of their company, and many others doing whatever it takes to make their dreams and goals become a reality. There are also people in this world who do the bare minimum in order to graduate with a passing grade or to make a paycheck that is possible to live on. They are doing only “just enough” to make it another day. What is the difference between the two? Standardized tests, natural talent, and IQ rankings have been used in the past to determine how successful a person will be, but a new trait has come into play that ultimately determines how much a person achieves during their lifetime. Grit is the most important trait a person
Charles Portis’s famous novel True grit published in 1968 was the basis of both the 1969 and the 2010 movie. The 2010 movie by the Coen Brothers covers a lot of stuff from the book, but I think they made the character Mattie a lot different then the book. In the book Mattie was a 14 teen year old girl who wasn't afraid of anything, and was not afraid to take revenge on her fathers killer Tom Chaney. Some of events in the movie made her look tough but the actor was too nice and cute to play Mattie. They also made her way more emotional than in the book. Even though they covered most of the events of the book I still don't like the way they made the movie.
And No Birds Sang is the story of a young Canadian man, Farley Mowat. The story begins September 2nd, 1939 with a young Farley painting his parents porch when his dad pulls into the driveway and excitedly claims the war is on! Farley was an eager eighteen year old with the aspiration of joining the air force and becoming a fighter pilot. In one month he presented to the Royal Canadian Air Force, he was rejected due to his young age and slim build. Instead he was enlisted in the 2nd Battalion called the Hasty Pees, with the expectation of being transferred to the 1st Battalion and active service. The story follows Mr. Mowat and his experiences during multiple battles as the Allies invaded and eventually took over Italy. The title comes shortly after Farley’s first battle when everything was quiet in the air and no birds sang.
The story of "The Crow" (a graphic novel turned movie) is the story of Eric Draven, a handsome young musician living in the dark gloom of a gothic-industrialized city plagued by continual rain. He is set to wed a beautiful girl when she is raped and left to die by a gang of criminals. Upon arriving to witness it in progress (taking place at his own home), Draven is killed as well; pushed out of a window as high as a skyscraper. The story then chronicles his resurrection from the dead in order to avenge their murders. His only lifeline (or shall we say deathline) is through a black crow. The crow is the connection between the dead and the living, providing Draven with the means to be immortal for one night only. If the crow is harmed then Draven will lose his immortality and assume mortality, putting an end to his plans for revenge. The conflict of the story comes as Draven attempts to execute the criminals one by one, but is cut short by the harming of the crow. He fights to overcome this and prove successful in his journey.
One last aspect of grit is the ability to overcome animosity. Failure is imminent, and in order to achieve success, one must get up, face their fears and keep moving forward. Most people will face at least one person that they would rather not deal with, but they have to anyway in order to keep their job or get through school. In his presentation “Failing Forward” which covered the topic of grit, Professor Eddinger painted a picture of overcoming animosity. Eddinger explained that a mother giraffe will repeatedly push her baby over in order to teach it to always get back up again and to let it know that it
The Reconstruction implemented by Congress, which lasted from 1866 to 1877, was aimed at reorganizing the Southern states after the Civil War, providing the means for readmitting them into the Union, and defining the means by which whites and blacks could live together in a nonslave society. The South, however, saw Reconstruction as a humiliating, even vengeful imposition and did not welcome it.
“What You Pawn I Will Redeem,” by Sherman Alexie gives readers a look at the life of homeless, easygoing, middle aged Native American, Jackson Jackson. The story, which is set in Seattle, describes the conditions that Jackson finds himself in. Alexie’s choice of motifs emphasizes the significance of cultural and historical references. With these concepts in mind, the reader is taken through a journey of self-realization. “What You Pawn I Will Redeem” narrates the internal struggle Jackson feels trying to figure out his personal identity as a Native American.
Merriam Webster says grit is defined as unyielding courage in the face of hardship or danger. Angela Lee Duckworth’s opinion about grit being the key to success is true and correct. Her points about the kids that didn’t have the highest IQ but were the grittiest and were the most successful in the class showed that grit has to do with success. Another point that she makes is that talent doesn’t make you gritty. Just because someone has more talent than another person doesn’t mean that he or she is better. Hard work beats talent when talent doesn’t work hard. The final point that Angela makes is that growth mindset is a good way for building grit. Angela said that growth mindset is the belief that the ability to learn is not fixed, but can be changed with your effort.
what is Grit? Grit is firmness of character or having an indomitable spirit, in other words grit is believing in ourselves and having hunger to succeed. I believe grit is something real and truly makes a difference in anything you do. In the passage the “Significance of Grit” Angela Duckworth speaks about how some people have a trait that leads them to succeed over others and she calls it grit. Me being a student,I can totally see where she is coming from because you need to have an internal flame that roars inside of you to see what you are actually capable of. I had never really heard of the word grit in the academic world until taking this class, I thought grit and being smart where the same thing but that’s not the case.I believe everyone shares this trait but they show it in different tasks Many times I have been resilient and gritty in an academic environment without even knowing.
Despite his stubbornness about selling the rooster, and treating the rooster better than his own wife, his hope and the routine he keeps in his everyday life make him admirable. He had no doubts that someday he and his wife would have food, despite her arguments. He and the rooster represented hope in a time of war, poverty, and political