True Grit (pages 69-112)

POST #2


Summary:
Who is this man that showed up at the door? The only intentions he has is to catch Tom Chaney and to kill him, but he wants to only kill him for the senator, who was killed by him. This man wants to team up with Rooster, LaBoeuf, that's the man. Mattie, the one who wants to kill Tom Chaney as well but she wants to kill her to avenge for her dad's death and is teamed up with Rooster. It was dinner time and LaBoeuf showed up and brought up questions to Mattie, she answered and to her disbelief she made the realization that LaBoeuf is trying to kill Tom Chaney and wants to team up with Mattie, but Mattie does not want anything to do with him. LaBoeuf said he is going to have a talk with Rooster about the plans to kill Tom. Mattie shows up one afternoon while they were discussing these matters and they both teamed up. Mattie was enraged, she took matters in her own hands and she headed on down at sunrise at the boat that took her to the other side of town. She met up with Rooster and Laboeuf, and they were ignoring her and they were treating her like worthless trash. LaBoeuf threatened her and said that if she continued on that he was going to whip her, and he went on with his word, Rooster was mad that LaBoeuf hit Mattie that it showed acceptance and the three of them now are riding on the search of Tom Chaney.

Quote:
Rooster said "I would hate to see anything happen to her" (Portis 99).

Reaction:
As I read this I made a connection with my dad and I. You can say I'm a daddy's girl, and I would hate to see something happen to him because it would hurt me very dearly. To others they may have a stronger connection with family or friends but everyone has someone who would hate to see something misfortunate happen to them. This quote also foreshadowed the care that Rooster has for Mattie. Rooster said she was a pain in the neck and that she is very hard headed, but he respected her decisions and never fought with her. It showed that Rooster cares for Mattie a lot. Rooster portrays himself like a father to Mattie, he just wants to take care of her, and make sure she is alright.