The Class Structure and Depiction of Religion in Cold Sassy Tree - Essay Example

There is a story about a 14-year-old boy Will Tweedy and explores themes like religion, social taboos, and death. The narration of the events evokes many different norms, values, sanctions, and the language of the early 20th century, which provides us with an analysis of how social behaviors have changed with time. The writer carefully chose the Sassafras tree to symbolize several concepts. It gives us the hint of an old era, where the story is set. It stands for strength, and composure, displayed by the characters of Rucker and Miss Love. It also refers to their sassy flouting of the social conventions of the town.

The shrinking Sassafras Grove shows the town’s bittersweet progress and the changing thought process of the town’s people. At first, there was a whole grove of sassafras trees, which was cut down to make a new railroad and only one was left which by the end was cut to make more room. This is how the author showed the changing behaviors of the people; and how they were getting accustomed to modernism and were distancing from their culture and heritage.

The townspeople had rigid principles, and the reader of today finds many dissimilarities with the thinking pattern of Cold Sassy people. The character of Will was more of a rebel and defied certain norms, for which he was sanctioned. This shows that the author has attempted to differentiate between right and wrong social behavior for the reader. The contradictory attitude among the town’s people can be explained by a quote from Cold Sassy Tree; “Just the same, Cold Sassy thought it was one thing to like Miss Love and another thing entirely to marry her.

Especially if your wife died just three weeks ago" (Burns). This provides an insight into how rigid and unexpected their behavior was and the discontent, which was building up among the newer generation of the town. The townspeople had strange social rules and norms, and this can be explained by how it was made customary to mourn the death of a family member for up to a year by wearing black, refraining from fun activities, and observing a somber mood. Going to church not just is shown as a religious ritual celebration, but, as an expression of society’s mood.

The townspeople had a traditionalist attitude towards religion, and they believed that God can only be pleased by stern piety, and the church was supposed to be a solemn experience. The character of Rucker is shown to rebel and reject the fundamentalist attitude, even though he was a Baptist. This quote from the novel explains this “What God gives you was a brain. Hit's his will for you to use it-stickler when a train's comin'" and “Whelm; faith ain't a magic wand or money-back guarantee, either one. Hit's jest a way a-living” (Burns).

Burns also tried to bring forth the prevailing class structure in society. Though it was a story about a progressive era in the history of the US, it also highlighted the strides towards undone racial equality. People of Cold Sassy Town were shown intertwined, as the changes in the lives of the main characters are not just the outcome of the townspeople's attitude. but affect the town at the same time. The residents had prejudices against Milltown people and Miss Love has been shown a target of constant discrimination because she belonged to Baltimore and was different from them. The author has highlighted how the sanctity of the church was also violated by the townspeople to manipulate anyone they wanted in the scene when at Methodist Church people very easily grouped against Miss Love when she began to lead the congregation in song. They considered themselves higher than Milltown people, and often referred to them as “Lintheads”.

They showed disapproval for any outsider and looked down on the people from Milltown as poor and uneducated. In Cold sassy town, it was a part of their culture to be discriminated against by blacks. This is shown through the treatment received by the Tweedy family’s black cook Queenie, who was made to eat left over’s and drink from a mason jar. Also, her husband was not allowed to preach due to his color. They considered racism a natural order to things while young Will was shown to be dissatisfied by the narrow-minded attitude toward the town. In this way, the author highlighted the prevailing racism and society’s attitude toward black people around the turn of the 20th century. Read More