Big events last week. On Tuesday, Jacqulyn West conducted two seminars for interested students and faculty. Some really interesting conversation ensued. Jacqulyn talked to the students about reading the novel as a Fort Smithereener. One of the more interesting conversations I heard started with a few students who wanted to "indict" poor Mattie. She was wrong, they said, to seek revenge for her father's death and should have just left it to law enforcement. Well, I was having none of that! I think Mattie did the honorable thing. Showed "true grit," as it were. Sure, we don't like vigilante law, but really . . . ? Mattie was wrong? I just won't have it? Most of the other students rose to her defense, thank goodness.
On Thursday, we screened the movie twice in Echols. Both showings were well-attended. Lots of students at the first showing and lots of folks from the community at the second showing. Great conversations. I found that after my third viewing I really was appreciating Wayne's performance more. He DID win an Oscar for it, too.
Fantastic True Grit stuff going on! Keep blogging. If you're on Facebook (and who isn't?) you can see more pictures at the College of Languages and Communication Facebook page. Use the link on this blog.
I gotta disagree with you on Mattie. See the end of the novel. (Not the movie, which frankly screws this point up.) There's a reason Portis has Mattie lamed and broken and hating on her community at the end of that book; and notice Rooster is the same sort of character. It's the vengeance trail that leaves her in this state.
ReplyDeleteSee also the many biblical quotations through the book that reference the Cain/Abel story, and Tom Chaney being marked like Cain; and the triple hanging there at the start, which is a clear reference to Christ's crucifixtion. Portis is pointing us at something, and it is not his approval of Mattie.
Hello from the "Grit Expectations" [Westphal] class. Like some of you, we are just getting down to the nitty-"Grit"ty of the book. Okay, enough of the puns. Don't forget the Heritage festival Saturday 4/10/10. It is going to be a lot of fun and would be a great event for all us "True Gritters" to attend. It can help put the real setting into our heads.
ReplyDeleteAs for the many Biblical references, don't forget Mattie says she has "...her father's business to attend to" (24). In her case, she means not only the literal business of the ponies, but that of revenge for her father. Thinking of it in the Biblical sense, although vengeance belongs to the Father, Mattie is stepping in and exacting the revenge herself.
I have enjoyed reading this book. However, it is a challenge to do the critical thinking and try to analyze someone else's writing and wonder.....what are they really saying? or why do you think they said this or did that? Nonetheless, I will do my best. I know people have different views so there is really no wrong answer. That Mattie, she is a pistol!! See ya at the Heritage festival on Saturday....should be interesting!
ReplyDeleteHi, Marie: Re the "my father's business to attend to." But don't miss what that alludes to. By which I mean, who says that in the Bible and what is he doing? It's Christ, of course, and the business he is engaged in is the studying of the Torah; and, if we extend that business, the bringing of his message to the world. His message is not vengeance or revenge. He does not take up the sword and slay those who have offended him. His message is love your neighbor as yourself, do good to those who do evil to you, and love your God with all your heart. (Note, btw, that this *was* Mattie's father's actual business -- that's what Frank Ross spent his life doing.)
ReplyDeleteVengeance is mine, says the Lord. He doesn't say this just because he likes laying down rules. He says it because when we take vengeance into our own hands, we destroy our communities and ourselves. Portis, who had been to war, and was living in 1968, knew these things.
This brings me to my final point: have a look at every place that Mattie uses biblical quotations in the text. In nearly every case--indeed, an argument might be made for every case--she is misusing the quotation. Sometimes she is flatout wrong; other times, as when she quotes the case of the demons being cast into the swine to explain why cats are evil, she is only bizarrely misusing the text.
My point here -- it's something along the line of the devil can quote scripture for his purposes.
I understand that Mattie is an attractive character. I like her too. Portis wants us to like her. I don't think we should lose track of the other truth in the story, which is that he wants us to recognize that what she is doing is destructive. "I think you are wrongheaded," Col. Stonehill tells her gently, and he is right.
When we cheer her on, we fall into the same error she is committing. Portis knew we would do it, too. He knew his Americans.
Hmmm!!
ReplyDeleteHmmm!
ReplyDeleteI was at the heritage festival. I didn't see any classmates..maybe I got there a little too early(12).
ReplyDeleteI do believe Mattie did the right thing to go seek her fathers revenge. It would be a whole different story if it was during todays time because of the technology and how we have professionals that crack down on these situations. Mattie probably felt like they were going to look past it if she did not Intervene.
ReplyDeleteI agree she felt justified. I agree any of us would have felt justified.
ReplyDeleteOTOH, what do you make of the scene where she is in the snake pit? (Notice what puts her *into* the snake pit -- she's knocked in there as a direct result of shooting Tom Chaney -- and notice what "pit" means, in the Judeo-Christian symbol set.)
Then, once she is in this pit filled with snakes, what does she do? Lie still and be zen? No, she whangs on them, hits them, stirs them up. It is directly because of these actions that she is maimed. It's a tiny microcosm of the novel.
How many people die and suffer and are injured because Mattie goes on the vengeance trail? Is the world made better or worse because of her desire for revenge?
Notice also how many other people in the text are maimed/injured/destroyed because they felt they had a right or a justification to seek revenge. Notice that one of these is Tom Chaney.
It's the over-arching theme of the book. I'm suggesting to you that Portis does not want us to come down on the side that Mattie has done the right thing. I'm suggesting the book would end differently if he did.
I think that what mattie did was very admirable and i respect here for the choice she made in the situation she was in.
ReplyDeleteOn the other note, i do believe that John Wayne did an amazing job in the movie and was well deserved of the Oscar that he won.
In the book and in the movie both Mattie is very head strong and knows what she wants. And to her the justice she wants for her father is Justifiable.
ReplyDeleteYeah, I think Mattie's motive was justified back it that day. But as Anonymous said it's not the way is handled in this day and time.
ReplyDelete