In his review of True Grit, Peter Lawler writes:

Sure, we're constantly reminded of the disrespect for human life of these ex-Confederates (the Bridges/Cogburn character rode with the notrious Captain Quantrill of Missouri--the state where all the rules of war vanished into bloodlust). But we're also constantly reminded of the strange sort of cultivation that made these manly men (and woman) more able to articulate who they are than we are. The language of the film echoes that of the novel, where basically unlettered men speak with a formal and precise pagan grace. There's something civilized and even lawful in the violently state-of-nature Indian territory. These men and especially the very young woman are in some ways more civilized than we are, although, of course, not in many ways.


The film shows us what's to be said for and against the virtue that animated the Confederacy and the postbellum southern frontier. It doesn't varnish the truth about honor, even as it displays the virtue it can become when ennobled by personal love.

Is this what the author of the original novel meant to depict? Or is this a generalization that can be applied to any genuine Western novel? I believe Professor Lawler is originally from the South, but what would other Southerners (e.g. Dr. Wilson) make of his description of the characters and his association of them with the Confederacy?