Imitation as Proof of Understanding

Earlier this week I wrapped up a Western piece called “Judgement Passed” that I am still unsure about. I wrote the piece as part of my independent study on the Western literary genre, with the task for this particular assignment being to write a short story based on the book “True Grit” by Charles Portis. I really enjoyed the book, though it was a relatively light read without much deeper meaning, and looked forward to attempting to emulate the signature style of dialogue found in the text. Additionally, I had reach a scholarly text on themes in the Western genre, and looked to structure my piece around the central classic Western themes of resisting broken systems of authority and prioritizing justice regardless of morality. I decided to lay those ideals at the very core of my work, and essentially structured my piece as a philosophical debate on the merits of a code of justice that goes contrary to the law, with the setting being a hanging at high noon and the two sides of the argument being deputies arguing over the code in question, to decide the fate of a killer. I was at first very enthused and self-satisfied with this plan, and envisioned, if done correctly, a clever, deep and succinct little story concerning the very merit of these archetypal Western values, while also emulating "True Grit" in speech and manner of writing. However, the idea provided to be harder to nail down that previously anticipated. Still, this should not be a deterrent but only further motivation for me to improve my technical skills by trying to write an ambitious story. While I felt that I was able to capture the verbose-yet-antiquated manner of speech seen in "True Grit", I could not quite capture the flow and realism I was hoping for. However, this is simply a learning opportunity and a chance for revisions. There are still plenty of aspects to the piece that I like, so I look forward to giving it a second go sometime soon.