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

Themes

The Effects of Trauma

Cold Mountain takes place during the American Civil War. Though the war is not portrayed directly in the novel, the traumatizing effects of the conflict are evident. Throughout the novel, both Inman and Ada learn to confront and slowly heal from the traumas they have endured.

Inman is haunted by his memories of battle. He is traumatized by seeing so many people killed, by his own role in the killing, and by the indifference of the ruling class. He cannot continue to fight in the war, so he deserts from the army. However, although Inman wants to escape the trauma of the war, the traumatizing effects of the conflict cast a long shadow that stretches all the way back to Cold Mountain. Escaping trauma thus becomes not just a physical journey, but also a psychological journey. Inman’s physical wounds may heal, but his nightmares only intensify; he is forced back into violent situations by other men who cannot leave the war behind. From Veasey to Junior to Teague, there is no way for Inman to truly escape the conflict.

Ada’s trauma is quieter. At the beginning of the novel, she is still trying to process her grief over her father’s death. Ada does not know her place in the world or how to survive without the guidance of a male presence, such as her father or Inman. Ada is lonely and struggling until she finds help through Ruby. Ruby provides practical help, turning the farm into a functional business once again, while also helping Ada navigate the trauma of her loss. Ada heals through self-sufficiency, learning practical skills that help her in a psychological as well as physical sense. This change gives her life meaning and renews her emotionally.

Along Inman’s journey, he meets people who are struggling to escape from their trauma. As he seeks to escape from his trauma, he wants to help others do the same. He talks to the goat-herding woman and assists Sara. When he returns to Cold Mountain, however, he realizes that not all traumas can be escaped. He is confronted by the Home Guard and killed for desertion. Ada, however, survives the trauma of his loss, even if she does not escape it. With Ruby and her family, she builds a life that resembles the one she wanted with Inman, the family filling the niche he has left in her life. The trauma is not escaped, but it is managed.

The Struggle for Survival

For the characters of Cold Mountain, survival is a constant concern. The Civil War is tearing society apart, and there are many setbacks and dangers for soldiers and civilians alike. The novel traces the various facets of this struggle for survival amongst the characters.

The small town near Cold Mountain is one such community coping with the war. Even in this small town, the need for men to fight the war has torn the social fabric of the community. The Home Guard roams around in search of deserters, sometimes further increasing the tensions and violence of the times (See: Background). The lack of fighting-age men leaves many women, like Ada and Sara, forced to cope with taking on traditionally masculine roles while running their homesteads alone. Part of the community enthusiastically shares the propaganda of the glorious deaths of the soldiers, while the other part quietly resents the waging of the war in the name of the enslavers. The small community is not rich, and it struggles to survive the Civil War without causing serious disruption to longstanding social bonds.

On an individual level, survival is even more difficult. Inman returns to Cold Mountain after deserting from the army, but his journey is lonely and perilous. Likewise, Ada struggles to survive on the farm without Inman or her father. In both instances, the key to survival is companionship. Inman survives his journey due to the help he receives from other people. The food and medicine that he receives from the goat-herding woman or from Sara keep him alive when all hope seems lost. When he is on his own, he struggles through the wind and rain until he finds someone who is willing to take pity on him. Inman returns this kindness, helping others when he can, ensuring that they are able to survive. Ada, back on the farm, provides a more permanent reflection of this idea. On her own, she knows, she will not survive. She does not want to leave the farm, but she can barely keep herself fed. By joining forces with Ruby and working together, both women can endure.

The characters strive to survive, yet death looms constantly near. Stobrod comes close to dying, while Pangle does not survive. Inman, never quite able to end his journey, is shot by a young boy who refuses the nonviolent solution. In truth, however, Inman’s spirit survives through the daughter he will never meet, through the impression he left on his beloved Ada, and in the string of people he helped to survive throughout his journey.

The Power of Transformation

In Cold Mountain, both Ada and Inman undergo processes of personal transformation and discovery. Through their respective struggles, their understanding of themselves and the world around them deepens. By the end of the novel, they have discovered the power of transformation and reunite—albeit briefly—as more mature, self-assured people.

Inman’s journey is the clearest example of this, with his transformation beginning when he rejects the war. He recognizes that the war is merely for the benefit of the rich enslavers, with no regard for the lives of the fighting men. Inman’s transformation involves the emotional rejection of principles that he once held to be true. The honor and patriotism that led him to join the war are already obliterated by his experiences of the war, which he now sees as a senseless slaughter. Inman’s transformation is a journey of affirmation, a way to return himself to the loving, more innocent man that he once was.

Ada also experiences the power of transformation as she learns how to survive in a hostile world. Ada learns from Ruby the survival skills she needs to operate the farm, with their friendship providing her with a sense of companionship that fills the emotional void in her life left by Inman’s departure and her father’s death. Instead of clinging to the norms of her old life in Charleston, Ada gradually gives up the luxuries of fine clothes and a personal piano in exchange for a thriving farm and self-reliance. Similarly, Stobrod’s occasional visits to the farm remind Ada that there is room for redemption in all people. Ada, like Inman, is disillusioned with the war and the men who fight in it. She witnesses Ruby’s (justifiable) dislike for her father and encourages Ruby to tolerate Stobrod. While Ruby is resistant at first, she later undergoes a transformation of her own, finding love with her husband and a reconciliation with her father in the novel’s epilogue.

While Inman never returns to his physical home in Black Cove, he reunites with Ada long enough to plan his future. Their reunion has affirmed his desire to live. While Inman does not survive to see his future, his cathartic reunion with Ada represents a change in direction and perspective, implying that he finds a measure of peace and emotional joy right before his death. Their daughter embodies this transformation, representing the transformation that awaits Ada and the country at large in the post-war era.