Rooster Cogburn L J

Rooster Cogburn, the man who also appears in True Grit, is very indicative of the changing nature of Westerns by 1975. He is old, stubborn and unruly to a fault. He lives as he pleases and is deemed somewhat unfit for society. He lives alone. The traditional traits of the alpha male cowboy are all embodied by Rooster but he's hardly glorious or heroic looking. Instead what he represents is a man who is looking for redemption. I believe that the dynamic between Hepburn and Wayne in this movie is much like that of George and Lenny in Of Mice and Men. Hepburn supplies the brains and practically uses Rooster like a personal tool of vengeance. Her profession is also enigmatic. She is a spinster, which is a profession that had been mostly female, but she does nothing related to spinning cloth during the movie, she is instead the weaver of deception! I use the term weave because like the phrase "spinning lies", the term spinster could also allude to something about Eula Goodnight's personality....