Cold Mountain

Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 1997

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Summary

Background

Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Chapters 1-4

Chapters 5-8

Chapters 9-12

Chapters 13-16

Chapter 17-Epilogue

Character Analysis

Themes

Symbols & Motifs

Important Quotes

Essay Topics

Tools

Beta

Discussion Questions

Character Analysis

Inman

Inman’s long journey from the front lines of the Civil War back to Cold Mountain chart his struggle to cling to morality in an increasingly immoral world. Inman has been traumatized by his experiences in the war. At the beginning of the novel, he has almost recovered from his physical wounds but is still struggling to overcome the psychological trauma of the death and destruction that he has witnessed firsthand. He wants to return to Ada and Cold Mountain, not only because he loves Ada, but because he wishes to return to a more innocent time. He abandons his post and deserts from the army.

In a legal sense, he is committing a crime and acting dishonorably. For Inman, however, the prosecution of the war is fundamentally immoral. He is plagued by memories of the slaughter of thousands of men at various battles. This memory radicalizes him into rejecting his duty; he can no longer fight in a war that means nothing to him. To Inman, desertion is an honorable act, the first of many that he will conduct throughout his journey. Inman is guided by his morality and his conscience—this, he believes, is the only thing left that separates him from the terrors he has seen.

Inman operates from a baseline level of cynicism and self-loathing, rejecting the immorality of the world and his complicity in it. His hero’s journey is a journey of defiance, a journey to defeating his own pessimistic view of the world.

Throughout, he is presented with challenges to his moral code: Veasey, Junior, and Teague represent the immorality of the world that Inman must battle before returning to Cold Mountain. In Ada, he has an idealized symbol of goodness. By defending the poor and the helpless, by challenging the immoral and the tyrants, Inman demonstrates to himself that he is still worthy of Ada’s love.

Inman returns to Ada’s farm, only to find her absent. Inman has imagined his reunion with Ada and used this mental image to motivate him. Reality, however, does not conform with his desires. He realizes that Ada has changed as much as he has. She is practical and self-assured now, though their love endures. They navigate the space between their new selves, learning the ways in which The Effects of Trauma have added contours to their characters. The catharsis offered by Inman’s return to Ada is brief: He cannot escape Teague nor the horrors of war, even when Teague is dead. He is shot down by Teague’s protégé and dies in Ada’s arms, the victim of the world’s brutality.

Ada Monroe

Together with Inman, Ada is a primary character in Cold Mountain. If Inman’s journey is about rediscovering himself through movement, then Ada’s journey is about discovering herself by learning to stay in the same place. At the beginning of the novel, she is caught in a difficult position. Still mourning the death of her father, she does not want to abandon the farm that she inherited, but her chances of surviving on the farm are increasingly slim.

Fundamentally, Ada is a person in the wrong environment. She is used to the urban environment of Charleston; the unforgiving environment of Black Cove is actively hostile toward her, to the point that even chickens attack her. Ada is saved by the arrival of Ruby. The friendship between Ada and Ruby reveals to Ada the breadth and depth of the world around her. Together, they defy the contemporary gender expectations and live independent lives, free from masculine influence. In private, they still indulge their femininity, bonding over competitions to plait one another’s hair. For the majority of their time, however, they must forge a level of independence that is unexpected of women in the era.

By the time Inman returns to Cold Mountain, Ada is almost unrecognizable. She has taken on Ruby’s independence and freed herself from the gendered expectations of society. When Inman first spots Ada, she is dressed in her father’s trousers, hunting wild turkeys. She is in tune with the natural world, rather than the socially constructed expectations she once found in high society and literature. Though she has changed as a person, Ada’s love for Inman endures. They reunite and, for a brief time, Ada experiences the romance and love that was denied to her by the circumstances of the war. Inman dies in her arms a short time later. In their brief time together, she conceived a child.

The Epilogue demonstrates the extent to which Ada achieves everything she wanted, while still being denied that which she wanted the most. Early in the novel, Ada confesses to Ruby that she fears that she will die alone. Instead, she lives on a farm with Ruby, her daughter, and Ruby’s family. Ada is never alone again. Even though she is surrounded by loved ones, she is never able to embrace the life she planned with Inman. Ada is denied romance, but granted companionship.

Ruby Thewes

Whereas Ada is a bookish, sheltered young woman, Ruby is the opposite. She is fiercely independent and practical, though this has been fostered through necessity rather than any particular decision. Ruby grew up poor. She needed to survive when he father would abandon her for days at a time, sometimes even weeks. Ruby was forced to learn how to catch food and which plants she could eat, otherwise she would not have survived into adulthood.

At first, this makes her a foil to Ada. They could not be more different, even though they are thrust together by a shared desire to survive. Gradually, however, Ruby’s influence begins to tell. The strength of her personality can be read in the changes to Ada’s character, as well as Ada’s desire for Ruby’s approval. Ruby knows the names of every bird and plant and feels perfectly at home on Cold Mountain.

In many ways, the character Ruby most closely resembles is Inman. Like Inman, she knows how to survive in the wilderness. A difficult past has imbued her with a cynical desire to survive, if only to prove the world wrong. This similarity to Inman is why Ruby feels that Inman’s return is a threat to her friendship with Ada. When Inman returns, Ruby assures Ada that they do not need Inman to survive. With Ada as her only true friend, Ruby struggles to grasp that Ada might genuinely love Inman. She fears that Inman, with his skills of practical survival, will take her place in Ada’s world and leave her, once again, abandoned by her loved ones.

Unlike Stobrod, however, Ada is not willing to abandon Ruby. She assures Ruby that there will always be a place for her at Black Cove. In this moment, Ada is able to repay Ruby for everything that she has learned. Ruby has taught Ada how to live in the world, but Ada has assured Ruby that there is a reason to do so. At Black Cove with Ada, Ruby will always have a home. This lesson is worth as much to Ruby as any survival trick she taught Ada. In the Epilogue, Ruby is married and has children of her own while still living with Ada.

Stobrod Thewes

Stobrod Thewes is Ruby’s father. He was such an abusive figure in her life that she was forced to learn how to be independent, otherwise she might have died. Ruby is forced to confront her difficult past when Stobrod comes to her for help, insisting that he is a changed man.

Importantly, he has been changed by music (See: Symbols & Motifs). For many years, Stobrod ran criminal schemes to try to make money. He was alienated from the traditional institutions of society and deserted from the army. When he discovered the fiddle, however, he learned a new way to communicate with the world. When he improvised a tune to ease the passing of a young girl, Stobrod realized the power and empathy of music. This has changed him; it is also why, when he returns to Ruby, he is so eager to play to her. He may not be able to apologize or make his past right for his daughter, but he can show her the empathy that he has discovered through the language of music.

Gradually, Stobrod begins to repair his relationship with Ruby. She never quite forgives him and she sets very strict parameters on their relationship, but she accepts him into her life. She supports him in a way that he never supported her, acknowledging a sense of responsibility that Stobrod has never felt. In this way, their relationship becomes an ironic inversion of the traditional bond between father and daughter. Ruby is the practical figure with a sense of responsibility while Stobrod is the pensive, wistful artist who relies on his daughter for survival. Ruby saves Stobrod’s life and, in the Epilogue of the novel, seems to eventually repair their relationship. By the very end of the novel, Stobrod has built himself a place in Ruby’s life.