Cold Mountain

“He had been keeping a tally of omens and portents from around the county.”

The Swangers have lost children due to the war, contributing to their broader disillusionment with the war. Unlike Inman, who deserts from the army, their disillusionment is more abstract. They search for omens and portents to justify their lack of faith in the fight, hoping that their faith will align with their beliefs and justify their lack of apparent patriotism.

“When he put a hand to his neck, he found fresh blood where his wound had cracked open and leaked, from the strain of whipping the three men or from the soaking in the river.”

Inman’s neck wound had partially healed when he deserted, but the run-in with the trio of attackers reopens his old wound. The reopening of the neck wound symbolizes the ease with which The Effects of Trauma can return to him. He cannot escape the war in an emotional sense, even as he tries to escape it in a physical sense.

“Ada no longer always put a book in her pocket when she went out to hoe the fields.

Ada is experiencing The Power of Transformation thanks to Ruby. Previously, she escaped from her loneliness and her fear by reading. Now, however, Ada is filled with a renewed hope through Ruby’s presence and guidance. She does not need her books to comfort her by taking her to another place. Work on the farm is not easy, but Ada no longer depends on the escapism of literature to deal with her situation.

“He seemed relieved for someone else to be calling the decisions.”

Veasey is a coward, to the point that the arrival of a man with a gun is less a threat than a relief. He has panicked after impregnating a woman, and his solution—killing the woman—is extreme. He appreciates that Inman is willing to make decisions on his behalf, which helps to explain why he is so keen to ally himself to Inman, even as Inman evidently dislikes him. He craves the alleviation of responsibility that Inman’s certainty provides.

“She had watched the turned ground passing and had snatched up three partial arrowheads and a flint scraper and one fine complete bird point.”

When they plow the land, Ruby and Ada uncover old arrowheads and tools. The items that they find serve as a reminder that civilization—as they understand it—is ultimately fleeting. The people who once lived on this land were removed through a great violence; now, as violence rages in the Civil War, Ada is facing a similarly existential threat and The Struggle for Survival.

“He moved slowly and deliberately and was stung little.”

Inman travels a long way to return to Cold Mountain. As he travels, his greatest impediment is the people he encounters. He demonstrates his attunement with the natural world by carefully removing the honey from the hive with very few stings. Inman’s morality is measured by his harmony with the world around him, which tolerates his presence far more than the Confederate nation for which he fought.

“Every man had tales to tell.”

Inman’s suffering is not unique. Rather, every person he meets has a story of The Effects of Trauma and pain. The men describe their experiences in the war, while women describe the pain of being left to fend for themselves in a hostile world. Every person has a tale to tell, and the preponderance of these stories of suffering illustrates the true destructive power of the war. No one, other than the rich and powerful, is able to escape unscathed.

“He died erect, with the hammer snapping on empty loads.”

In stark contrast to Ada, Mrs. McKennet fully accepts the propaganda of the glorious cause of the war. Ada cannot stand to be around Mrs. McKennet, who beliefs in the glorification of death. The anecdote she shares with Ada illustrates the inherent nihilism of her beliefs; the man may die “erect” (172), fighting against the enemy, but he still dies. Death is glorified and defeat is ignored.

“Well, still, it’d look better if we brought somebody in now and then.”

Teague and his Home Guard (See: Background) are brutal marauders. The extent of their brutality is revealed in the flippant comment about finally bringing someone to the authorities. Typically, the comment suggests, they leave no one left alive. The lives of deserters are determined by the begrudging obligation that Teague feels to show the bare minimum humanity. Other than these fleeting moments, he has fully embraced the brutal violence of his role.

“Junior claimed that the sum of his marital experience had caused him to believe that he should have married a thirteen-year old and raised her to suit himself.”

Junior leads Inman and Veasey to his home, delighting in the stories of his debauchery. Rather than his current (disagreeable) wife, he suggests that he should have groomed a 13-year-old girl to be someone more amenable to his desires. Junior’s depravity is clear, but the ease with which he shares such an opinion speaks to the misogynistic norms at the time, when such a position can be shared as banter rather than damning Junior, even if Inman does not approve of his new acquaintance.

“I get five dollars a head for every outlier I turn over.”

Junior calls Teague and his men to arrest Inman and Veasey in exchange for five dollars apiece. The arrangement illustrates the extent to which desertion has been turned into an industry. Junior, Teague, and the deserters are part of the same violent wartime economy that is built on blood. 

“She immediately regretted it, for the story evidently meant something to Inman, though she was not entirely sure what.”

Inman strives to return to Ada, who awaits his arrival, but their scattered memories illustrate the extent to which their relationship was still very much in the early stages. Ada recalls her unsatisfying response to a story he told her, which leaves a bad taste in her mouth. In her mind, her misjudged reaction nearly destroys their relationship, indicating the fragile nature of this emerging bond. That she immediately attempts to resolve the situation, however, demonstrates her strength of feeling for Inman. Their relationship may be young, but she is determined to make it work.

“Inman looked at the lights in the big houses at night and knew he had been fighting battles for such men as lived in them, and it made him sick.”

Inman is not a particularly political man but the war has infused him with a violent dislike of the ruling class. He and his fellow soldiers have been fed into the meat grinder of the war; those that did not die have been traumatized by their experiences. By this point, however, Inman has come to realize that the people who benefit most from the war are the wealthy men who are insulated from The Effects of Trauma and violence in their big, lavish houses. The disconnect sickens him.

“I could leave any time.”

The goat-herding woman insistently explains to Inman that her ability to leave at any time is an important part of her lifestyle and The Struggle for Survival. She is, in her own mind, essentially nomadic. In spite of this, she has lived in the same place for 26 years. The act of leaving is not as important to her as the potential to leave at any moment. This freedom of movement enables her to feel strong and confident whether she stays or goes.

“The war just didn’t engage him anymore.”

Stobrod is a wayward man who finds meaning during the American Civil War. Rather than battle, however, he finds purpose through desertion. Music emerges as the most important factor in Stobrod’s life, finally giving him a means of expressing himself after a lifetime on the fringes of society (See: Symbols & Motifs). Stobrod finds meaning through the war by rejecting the war itself.

“Their sign was scribbled on the walls of the cave, odd angular marks from some lost pattern of writing.”

Inman kills the Federal troops who stole the pig, then hides their bodies in the cave. Inside the cave, he is reminded of his disconnect from the world that came before him. The writings of the Indigenous peoples on the wall cannot be understood by Inman, but he feels a desire to respond, making his own inscriptions in a doomed effort to communicate.

“She wanted Ruby to come walking up the road and find her sooty, standing sentry over the afternoon’s work.”

Ruby is away, leaving Ada to work on the farm. After several months with Ruby, Ada believes that she has embraced The Power of Transformation. Rather than acknowledging the change for herself, however, she values the idea of Ruby bearing witness to her change. Burning the scrub is not enough; Ruby must see Ada burning the scrub and acknowledge the extent to which she has changed. This desire speaks to the importance Ada places on Ruby’s opinions.

“Even my best intentions come to naught, and hope itself is but an obstacle.”

The universe has conspired against Inman to bring unnecessary violence into his life, from the Civil War to the tragic interaction with the mother bear. Inman tries to be good, but the world presented before him is tragic and bad, forcing him to bend to the demands of the universe and The Struggle for Survival.

“Then they set off together to see what sort of thing they had composed.”

Stobrod and Pangle are musicians on a fundamental level. Music provides them with a lens through which to view the world (See: Symbols & Motifs). They play music together in search of harmony, improvising through a language they understand because they struggle to come to terms with their situation through conventional language alone.

“Had the circumstances been happier, Ada thought, this would have been like the hair contest, a game of dress-up against which they might wager to see who could accouter herself most convincing as a man.”

During the course of their relationship, Ada and Ruby depend on one another to make themselves self-sufficient in a very patriarchal world. They challenge gender norms through their unity and The Struggle for Survival. They dress in traditionally male clothes. The crisis, however, forces them to remove the joviality and the fun from these challenges. 

“He had played out the scene in his mind many days as he walked and as he lay waiting for sleep in every bare camp along the way.”

Inman has travelled long and far to reunite with Ada. Throughout this difficult journey, he has imagined their reunion and used this image to motivate him. When he actually reaches Black Cove, however, there is a clear disruption between his fantasies and reality. Inman is forced to confront the extent to which reality is beyond his control, and The Power of Transformation Ada has also undergone.

“Any wound might heal on the skin side but keep on burrowing inward to a man’s core until it ate him up.”

During this time, The Effects of Trauma were not fully understood. Inman comes to a rudimentary understanding of how his own trauma has affected him. Violence leaves more scars than the simply visible, as traumatic experiences also create psychological wounds. Inman is only able to come to this realization because he possesses a level of empathy that most others lack.

“I’m looking for a way not to kill you.”

In his confrontation with the Home Guard (See: Background), Inman reveals the key difference between himself and them. Whereas the Home Guard seizes on any opportunity to inflict violence, Inman seeks a way to resolve the situation in a non-violent manner. In the midst of a Civil War, he searches for a way to avoid needless deaths. Inman rejects violence in a violent world, while others willingly embrace it.