True Grit part 2
Spoilers, obviously.
Mattie Ross arrives in Fort Smith, Arkansas, with her “chaperone” Yarnell (who appears to be a loyal, trusted servant in the Ross home). She has come to fetch her father’s body.
At least that’s what she has told the folks back home. Mattie, in fact, has other things on her mind. She has traveled from Dardenelle to Fort Smith with a darker purpose in her heart. She means to hunt down and kill Tom Chaney, the man who killed her father. She seeks what she calls “justice,” but which we might label “revenge.” (The poster for the movie promises “retribution,” which implies justice of the divine kind.)
True Grit part 1
I urge the reader to see the movie before reading further. Spoilers, of necessity, follow.
“The wicked flee when none pursueth,” states the epigram, then informs the viewer where to find the quote. If you look up the quote, there is another half to it. “But the righteous are as bold as a lion.”
What does this mean? It’s not about flight and boldness, exactly, but about wickedness and righteousness.