True Grit Vs. The Wizard Of Oz

Mattie Ross from the novel True Grit and Dorothy Gale from the movie The Wizard of Oz are two young girls who embark on two different adventures. Both this novel and the movie are very different in many ways but also very similar if you analyze each detail closely. For instance, both True Grit and The Wizard of Oz were made into a movie and have more than one version. The obvious one is that both of these have their leading role being a female protagonist that is young. The other obvious one is that both of these girls are looking for some type of adventure. Also, the settings of this novel and film were similar in the time periods. Both of these girls are intelligent, brave, and have a real desire for adventure.
Mattie’s situation is a little more different than Dorothy’s though. She states in the opening sentence of the book, “People do not give it credence that a fourteen-year old girl could leave home and go off in the wintertime to avenge her father’s blood” (Portis 1). Mattie is on this journey to get revenge on Tom Chaney for killing her father. She hired Rooster Cogburn to help her find Chaney so I guess you could say this is one of her
Dorothy has her dog “Toto” and Mattie has her horse “Blackie”. In Dorothy’s situation, Toto never died but Mrs. Gulch did try to take him from her. In True Grit, Blackie ends up dying carrying Mattie to get help for her snakebite. Mattie stated, “Blackie fell to the ground and died, his brave heart burst and mine broken. There never lived a nobler pony.” (Portis 245) Both of the girl’s goals in the novel and film are to come back home safely. In Mattie’s case, she relies on the Lord to help her out along the way. She states, “You must pay for everything in this world one way or another. There is nothing free except the Grace of God. You cannot earn that or deserve it” (Portis