COLD SASSY TREE - PLOT SUMMARY / SYNOPSIS

CHAPTER 5

Summary

Will describes his grandma, Mattie Lou Toy who married Rucker Blakeslee. Some said he was attracted to her because her father owned a lot of land, but Mattie Lou joked about it and never let it bother her. She always referred to Rucker as Mr. Blakeslee, but it was clear to everyone that she dearly loved him. She was a country woman, but had a refinement that everyone recognized. Her one complaint was that she was never able to give Rucker a son.

Notes

Rucker's relationship with Miss Love isn't the first incident that has caused rumors in Cold Sassy. It appears that Rucker "married money" with his first wife and had to cope with people's assumptions. His wife, however, joked about the rumors and thus put them to rest rather quickly. Now that Rucker has married Miss Love, people begin speculating about whether he had an attraction to her even before his wife died. As with any rumor, it has a thread of truth to it but is exaggerated. Rucker loved Mattie Lou dearly; nevertheless he was incapable of understanding why he should spend money to make her life any easier.

CHAPTER 6

Summary

Will describes the day they thought Granny would die. Grandpa brings him into the room and shuts everyone else out. At the moment Rucker thinks she is gone, he makes Will get on his knees and pray. Grandpa does not ask God to spare her, but rather to help him accept her death. In his prayer he implies that God is punishing him for some sin he committed against Mattie Lou and that only he knows about. Instead of dying, however, Mattie rallies and is better the next day.

Notes

This chapter foreshadows the revelation of some secret and implies that it is of greater magnitude than it will turn out to be. It also gives a preliminary insight into Grandpa's version of religion. He doesn't ask God to give him favors or to do what he might want, but to bear whatever life dishes out with a sense of grace and dignity. His own relationship with God is deeper and far more personal than the showy formality of most of the people of town.

Will's presence in the room is a narrative device. In order to provide a first person narrator with information that the rest of the characters do not have, he has to have some sort of privileged access. Rucker's inclusion of Will implies a closer relationship as well as trust, but also creates a convenience for the narration.

CHAPTER 7

Summary

Granny's rally is short lived. A few days later she has a relapse and begins hallucinating. Finally she talks of seeing angels. Grandpa holds her until she dies. Will recalls the "heartbreak in his face," saying that no one who had seen that could ever have believed that Rucker was glad to be free of Mattie Lou just so he could marry Love Simpson.

Notes

Will as narrator continues a pattern of defending his grandfather, which he began in an earlier chapter.

Cold Sassy Tree by Olive Ann Burns-Free BookNotes Summary

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