Casey



Yeah Casey!

=Aunt Loma=



__**Aunt Loma Character Traits:**__

Vengeful
 * Sassy
 * Vain
 * Vindictive
 * Self-centered
 * Pretty
 * Fierce
 * Loud
 * Gossipy
 * Bitter
 * Angry
 * Outspoken
 * Opinionated
 * Contradicting
 * Likes to be the center of attention (attention seeker)

Casey A. Cowart

Susan Nielson

English 11

8 January 2014

Cold and Sassy Loma Williams

//Cold Sassy Tree//, written by Olive Ann Burns, takes place in the early twentieth century. It features many creative and different characters. One of the most prominent in the categories of "different" and "creative" in this story is Loma Williams. Though Loma is not the main character of //Cold Sassy Tree//, she most definitely plays a large role. Loma is the Aunt and antagonist of the main character, Will Tweedy. Will is fourteen years old, and Loma is just twenty, putting only a six year age gap in between them. Loma being the only sister of Will's mother, Mary Willis Tweedy, Will has had to grow up with Loma as a sort of surrogate older sister. While she may have a pretty face, she will not so much as hesitate to stab, even the closest of friends, in the back. Loma is a very opinionated lady, and she is set in her ways. Throughout most of the story (up until about the last 1/4th of the book) Loma’s main characteristics include vindictiveness, self-centeredness, and sassy, proud attitude. Loma has had some college education, but the book never specifies whether or not she finished with a degree. At one point in Loma's life, she wanted to become an actress, but her father, strong-willed store owner Rucker Blakeslee, refused to let her follow that dream due to the fact that he believed that the acting troupe was "below" him and his family. After that, Loma married a lazy, lower-class man named Will Campbell just to spite her father. Will Campbell does not earn a very good living, leaving Loma without hired help. She has to tend to her small house and her baby, Campbell Jr., all by herself. This sort of lifestyle does not please Loma, and there are points in the story where the reader is able to sense that she regrets marrying Will Campbell.

Many times in the novel, we see Loma feeling jealous towards her sister Mary Willis and her successful husband, Hoyt Tweedy; they have the life that Loma wants, which includes a hired colored maid named Queenie and a house with two bathrooms. Loma's jealously of some of the other women in the town of Cold Sassy has caused her to try to present herself as "better" or "above" everyone else. A lot of Loma’s jealousy towards her sister stems from Mary Willis finally “outdoing” Loma. Loma is very used to getting everything her heart desires due to the fact that she is the youngest of all of the Blakeslee children (and one of the only two to live.) In chapter two, Will says of Loma, “She was the only child of Granny and Grandpa’s to live more than a few years, besides my mother, and she’d been spoiled all her life. I reckon they thought they had to keep rewarding her for not dying” (Burns 12). Loma’s envious attitude causes the other women of Cold Sassy, Georgia to somewhat “step on egg shells” around Loma, for they are intimidated by her. They are afraid to “out-do” Loma in any way because of the way she impulsively lashes out at others.

Loma’s biggest battle in the novel is accepting her father’s new wife. Three weeks after his wife’s death, Rucker Blakeslee marries Love Simpson, the town milliner and a Yankee, without any forewarning. This is a scandal to the whole town partly because they were married only three weeks after Mattie Lou Toy Blakeslee’s death, but also because of Love Simpson’s age. She is only 35 years old, which is young enough to be Rucker’s daughter. Loma is deeply embarrassed by this. She is used to be on-top of Cold Sassy, so when people start looking down upon her and her family, as opposed to looking up to them, Loma is outraged. She takes out most of her anger on Love Simpson by turning Cold Sassy against her and giving her and her father the “cold shoulder.” Loma puts her anger towards Rucker and Love in chapter two when she says “Dog bite your hide, Love Simpson! And dog bite yours, Pa!” (Burns 7). At the beginning of the novel, the conflict Loma is having seems to go under the category //man vs. man// due to the fact that Loma’s main problem seems to be Love Simpson. But, further into the novel, it becomes apparent to the reader that Loma’s conflict fits under the category of //man vs. self//. This is because Loma is simply not allowing herself to accept Love Simpson, or even give her a chance. She is so worried about what others are thinking of her that she allows it to soil her relationship with her only living parent while also creating drama not only within the family, but all throughout Cold Sassy as well.

As mentioned before, the only reason that Loma married her husband, Campbell (Camp) Williams was to spite her father. Loma seems to dislike him more and more as the novel progresses. She talks to him like he is her slave rather than her husband. The reader is really able to see Loma’s bossiness come out when she is with Camp. Chapter forty-two focuses mostly on the relationship dynamic between Loma and Camp. On page 322, Loma’s true feelings about Camp are told. “Just for instance, the next Sunday while she was helping Mama and Queenie take up dinner, Campbell Junior fell all the way down our stairs. ‘I swanny to God, Campbell Williams!’ she yelled. ‘Looks like you could at least see after your own son when I’m in the kitchen!’ ‘I’m sorry, Loma, I’m sorry,’ he said as he picked up the screaming baby. ‘You sure are! You’re just sorry!’ screeched Aunt Loma, snatching Campbell Junior out of his arms. ‘That’s the smartest thing you’ve said since the last time you said it!’” (Burns 322). Shortly after that incident in the novel, Camp Williams commits suicide whilst Loma is in Athens for the day. After Uncle Camp’s suicide, Loma goes into a sort of shock. But, when she comes out of it, it is evident that somewhat of a change or transformation has happened to Loma Williams. She seems to be more grateful, loving and pleasant.

The novel ends several months after Uncle Camp’s suicide with the death of Loma’s father, Rucker. The deaths of both her husband and father really had an effect on Loma, but not in a completely negative way. The reader really does experience an emotional and spiritual change in Aunt Loma. It is quite powerful. //Cold Sassy Tree// ends with a much more mature and kind Loma Williams than it began with.

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