Cold Sassy Tree

            Fantastic and breathtaking, Cold Sassy Tree is a great piece of American literature. There are many reasons why Cold Sassy Tree is such a good book. The author creates an intricate and compelling novel through the use of setting, conflict, and titles and names. It would take too much time to write all of these elements, here is a breif synopsis on setting, conflict, and titles and names. .
             To begin with, setting is a very intriguing part of the novel. Setting can help the reader visualize the books scenery, which is very important. One very important visualization is of Cold Sassy as a small southern town, which Olive Ann Burns does fantastically in portraying. The visualization that Cold Sassy is a very laid-back town helps the reader envision the town folk's daily lives. Setting can also help the reader envision people's prejudices. One of these prejudices is that the town's folk of cold sassy do not like northern people, or Yankees. Another one of these prejudices is that the white folk of Cold Sassy look down on African Americans. These are usually stereotypical prejudices of a small southern down around 1900. Setting also helps explain how mechanically and architecturally advanced the town of Cold Sassy is. For one the setting portrays the country feel of the south and not being as reliant on steel and other northern products as seen today. One good example of this is, "The single-track dirt road had deep wagon ruts, and it like to jolted us to pieces." (Burns 286). As one can see all of these are very just examples of why setting is a very important formalistic element. .
             Hence, a very important formalistic element is conflict; conflict can help the reader stay interested in the main plot of the story. One such conflict is the conflict between Miss Love and the general population of Cold Sassy. This conflict is very important because it shows the reader how the town will jump to many conclusions.