True Grit Ten

"Well, we done the best we could with what we had. We was in a war. All we had was revolvers and horses."

In True Grit by Charles Portis, Rooster Cogburn compares and relates many of his experiences with those from when he was fighting in the Civil War. It was a major event in his life, and his loneliness that he experienced afterward shaped him into the alcohol-addicted hobo of a character that he has become. The war was a crucial point on Cogburn's timeline, however, because it also serves as the marshal's sturdy backbone for the grit that Mattie Ross believes him to posses. Without the pride for his nation, or at least for his state, he would not have the drive and ambition that he shows in the hunting down of Tom Chaney.