Cold Sassy Tree | Themes & Symbolism

Cold Sassy Tree Significant Topics

Olive Burns stated that in Cold Sassy Tree she wished to "express the lyric wonder and electric yearning between two people in love." Cold Sassy Tree is first of all a romance. Rucker's life with the late Mattie Lou and his current courtship of Miss Love reveal great depths of commitment, care, loyalty and passion. In their thirty-six years of marriage Rucker and Miss Mattie Lou experienced the companionship, devotion and kindness that grow out a life together. The couple endured the hardships of difficult childbirth and early child death, with only two of seven children reaching adulthood. These traumas, however, scarred their marriage and thwarted their intimacy, resulting in an eventual loss of desire.

Still Rucker's love and respect for Miss Mattie Lou shines through as he repeatedly credits her for any good thing that exists in him.

The premise of the union between Rucker...
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