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Dynamics Book Discussion Club

Cold Mountain

Charles Frazier
 RC 44762
 Listening Time: 18 hours, 45 minutes

Abstract
 Inman is a Confederate soldier who deserts the war while recovering from a terrible wound to his neck. He embarks on an arduous trek home to Cold Mountain, where his girlfriend Ada awaits. Along the way, he is helped by some kind-hearted people, as well as enduring many hardships: deprivation and exposure in the teeth of winter; being hunted for desertion by the relentless Home Guard; and the intrusions of criminals, drunks, and witches. Inman's story is interspersed with Ada's, whose father has just died. Ada inherits the hardscrabble mountain farm which is the only intact asset of her father's estate. Knowing nothing about farming, Ada pits her wits against the forces of nature and fails. Fortunately, resourceful mountain-native Ruby recognizes Ada's plight and insists on being made equal partner of the farm. Together, Ruby and Ada succeed in making the farm productive as Inman slowly journeys home. Contains some strong language and violence.

Preliminary Question
 The author spent several years researching the time period and region-the language, the food, the superstitions, the names of plants and animals, etc. The book is packed with references to all those, references which do little to advance the plot. Did you enjoy all the side information, or did that bother you sometimes, wishing he would just get on with it?

Biographical Information [1]
Charles Frazier's debut novel Cold Mountain won the prestigious National Book Award and was on the bestseller lists for over a year. In contrast to his present fame, Charles Frazier grew up in the hills of North Carolina, near the Blue Ridge Mountains. He says of his childhood, " there were still farms . that ran in that old nineteenth-century way.. That is, they didn't have tractors, they plowed with mules, everything was done with animal power." [2]. These memories would become a valuable resource to him later, as he began writing Cold Mountain . However, during his college years, Frazier tried to write fiction, but ultimately dismissed his creative writing as weak and pretentious. Focusing instead on studying other authors' works, he received his undergraduate degree in American Literature from Appalachian State University and his doctorate from the University of South Carolina. In between studies, Frazier co-authored an accounting manual and a travel guide to the Andes Mountains. After receiving his Ph.D, Frazier set off on a teaching career. However, at the age of 40, Frazier decided to leave academic life and again try his hand at writing. Without a clear idea of what he wanted to write, he began researching nineteenth-century Appalachia. Midway into his research, Frazier's father told him the story of his great-great-uncle Inman, who journeyed on foot to escape the Civil War. Frazier immediately recognized Inman as the focus of his novel, but there was so little factual information available about Inman that he had to fictionalize all but the basic outlines of his story. He wrote most of the novel, appropriately enough, at an author's retreat in North Carolina's mountains.

Discussion Questions

War:

  1. From the way the novel begins, with Inman recovering in the hospital and reflecting about his war experiences, you might have assumed the book would be all about the Civil War. And certainly the war is a significant, ever-present element of the novel, but beyond a few flashbacks, Frazier does not portray actual fighting. Why do you think Frazier chose to begin the book after Inman's war participation is over?

    • Frazier is more concerned with how the war affected people's lives, not the war itself

  3. How many of you have had your lives closely affected by a war? In what ways did it change you or your lifestyle?

  4. One aspect of the war that does figure prominently in the plot is the Home Guard. Frazier consistently portrays the Guard as evil, but on the surface, its mission is not despicable: to ensure that Confederate soldiers fulfill their commitment to the war effort and to defend local homesteads against attack while most young men are off fighting. In what ways does Frazier demonstrate the Home Guard is evil, despite its decent purpose? What point is the author making by this?

    • when the Home Guard first enters the novel, it is during the captive's story of how his elderly father was murdered for defying the Home Guard's attempt to search his home, and how his two companions were shot in the back, armed only with farm tools, while the only reason the captive lives to tell of it is, as one Home Guard rider says, "it'd look better if we brought somebody in now and then"
    • encountering the Home Guard is a death sentence-either they will send you back to the front to be killed in battle, or they will kill you outright (recall Inman's capture and subsequent several days of chained marching without food or nighttime shelter, then the murder of all the prisoners-except Inman, who feigned death-and burial in a shallow grave, because the Guard decided the prisoners were "just wasting our time")
    • so the Home Guard is evil because they are fanatics without compassion and seem to relish harming others, which is Frazier's point

  5. The author sets up a careful dichotomy between the war-deserters and the Home Guard, but his depiction of the deserters is not so clear-cut as to describe them as "good" versus the Guard's "evil." Stobrod, for example, deserts his responsibilities as a volunteer soldier on a whim, because he was so intent on musical composition and improving his fiddling that "the war just didn't engage him anymore." Still, it could be argued that because of the moral barrenness of the Civil War and the crimes committed on the battlefield in the name of honor, there is no moral onus attached to the act of desertion. Do you agree with this statement? What are Inman's reasons for deserting the war, and do they justify his action? Do Stobrod's?

    • Inman deserts out of despair-he witnessed atrocities perpetrated by both sides of the conflict and was hopeless that society could ever have meaning again after sinking to such depths

  7. Near the beginning of the novel, Inman tells the blind peanut-seller about General Lee's attitude toward war: ".Lee made it clear he looked on war as an instrument for clarifying God's obscure will. Lee seemed to think battle . stood outranked in sacredness only by prayer and Bible reading." On the contrary, however, Inman worries "that following such logic would soon lead one to declare the victor of every brawl and dogfight as God's certified champion." Do you agree with General Lee's view that the victor in a war must have had Divine approval? Or do you think Inman is correct that God does not take sides in human violence?

Inman:

  1. Before leaving the hospital, Inman asks the blind man how he lost his eyes. Inman assumes the man was also wounded in the war, but learns instead that he has been blind from birth. He pities the man, and asks himself, "How did you find someone to hate for a thing that just was? What would be the cost of not having an enemy? Who could you strike for retribution other than yourself?" It seems Inman needs to blame his enemies to come to terms with all that he has been through. Do you think that trials and tribulations in life are easier to understand and deal with when we have an enemy to blame for them?

  2. For those of you with disabilities, past or present: how did you learn to deal with them?

  3. Who are Inman's enemies throughout the story? Does he seem to blame them for his troubles, as he implies, or does he actually forgive his enemies in spite of what he said?

    • the Federals, Home Guard, nature and the weather, various shady characters he meets
    • Inman does not seem to blame his opponents-he is resigned to the horrors of war and to being hunted by the Home Guard

  4. However, Inman meets an equal number of friendly people on his journey who help him. What does Inman learn from all the different people he meets?

    • the depths of depravity that humans can sink to-Veasey, Junior, Teague
    • the power of genuine love and kindness-the slave, the goat woman, Sara (she sheltered him and Inman helped slaughter her pig), and the woman who fed him steak and eggs

  5. What are some things you personally have learned from people you have encountered in life?

Ada and Ruby:

  1. Consider Ada's life before and after her father died. While Monroe was alive, Ada took classes and spent her days reading, sketching, and painting. After her father dies when she is 26, Ada soon realizes that artistic talent and a sophisticated education are no help in finding food or running the farm. Ada could have returned to Charleston instead of remaining on Cold Mountain. Why does she choose not to?

    • she has too much pride and self-respect to return to Charleston helpless and penniless
    • no marriage prospects there, her only option would be working as a tutor or music teacher
    • she wants to make it on her own, although she has not yet learned how

  2. Have you ever had to make a choice similar to Ada's, when you had few options and scant resources? What is the biggest choice you have made, the one which most affected your life?

  3. Ruby is very critical of the lifestyle Ada enjoyed as a young lady in Charleston. After hearing Ada's description of a house-party, Ruby "could only marvel at lives so useless that they required missing sleep and paddling about on a river for pleasure." Ruby has a similar opinion of fashionable Parisian hats: "This business of carrying hats halfway around the world to sell made no sense to her. It marked a lack of seriousness in a person that they could think about such matters." Do you share Ruby's opinion of lives of leisure, or do you think a more balanced view is called for? What do you think the author's views are?

  4. With Ruby's extensive skills, the women eventually revive the farm, but Ada is surprised at how much work farming is. Ada thinks to herself: "all Ruby's talk was of exertion., Ruby's monologues seemed composed mainly of verbs, all of them tiring. Plow, plant, hoe, cut, can, feed, kill." Even when Ada looks forward to resting during the winter, Ruby says: "Oh, when winter comes we'll mend fence and piece quilts and fix what's broke around here, which is a lot." If you grew up on a farm, or in a farming community, does this sound familiar? What was your favorite or least-favorite chore?

  5. How does Ada change over the course of the novel?

    • she rises above "sophistication" and becomes an enlightened, nurturing caretaker
    • she casts aside the false trappings of social status and accepts the relationship between human beings and the natural world

  6. How does Ruby change over the course of the story?

    • she learns to accept her father and his weaknesses
    • she realizes the values of reading, music, and companionship
    • she learns to trust other people

Parents:

  1. Both Ada and Ruby were motherless children from birth. How has that state affected their characters and formed their ideas?

    • both girls are very independent, and are not pining for marriage and families as their ultimate goal in life, probably a result of their lacking a mother role-model

  3. If you know any girls who grew up without a mother, did they share those same characteristics? Did they have good relationships with their fathers?

  4. In spite of their shared lack of a mother, Ruby's and Ada's relationships with their fathers are complete opposites. Ada and Monroe were very close, but Ruby and Stobrod hardly spoke or even saw each other. What are some reasons for this difference?

    • Monroe lived his life being responsible, going into the ministry after being spurned by his lover
    • Stobrod was a small-time criminal and drunkard; he enjoyed his indulgent life and had no pride in himself
    • Monroe wanted his daughter to have every advantage of education and prosperity
    • Stobrod wanted his daughter to take care of herself entirely on her own, so he let her figure out how to do that on her own too

  5. Stobrod and Ruby manage to reconcile their past by the conclusion of the novel, when they live and work together on Ada's farm. How and why do they accomplish it?

    • they accomplish it because they both change over the course of the novel
    • Ruby finds something to respect in her father-his musical talent
    • Ruby also realizes that she would not have learned so much about survival and the workings of the natural world had her father done a better job of providing for her as a child
    • Stobrod comes to realize the value of family through taking care of Pangle
    • by composing fiddle-music, Stobrod finally finds a way to give something back to the community, something he is good at and can apply himself to, which gives him a reason to take pride in himself and feel worthy of attempting reconciliation with Ruby

  6. Was Monroe, overall, a good father to Ada? Consider these aspects of the topic: how did he fail her? How did he contribute to her strength of character?

    • he failed to teach her basic life skills like cooking and growing food and saving for the future
    • though she was 26 by the time of his death, Monroe never treated Ada as an adult: he did not entrust her with responsibility for her own money or encourage her to support herself or take care of herself
    • Monroe taught her the most important intellectual skill-how to analyze things for herself and form her own thoughtful opinions

  7. In what ways did Monroe deceive himself?

    • he deceived himself that his money was safe and nothing could happen to it, and he deceived himself that people with money will never have to struggle for basic needs like food or shelter
    • he deceived himself that Ada was happier living the carefree life of a child

  8. Did Monroe have a responsibility to teach Ada how to provide for her own basic needs? Or should Ada, intelligent as she is, have taken it upon herself to fill the glaring gaps in her knowledge?

    • combination of both: Monroe should have insisted her education include basic life skills, but as an adult on her own for the first time, Ada should have made an effort to learn the skills she lacked by reading and observing her neighbors

  10. In your personal lives, what were the most important skills your parents taught you? Were they practical survival skills, such as Ruby's self-taught knowledge? Was it the value of education? Or other skills entirely, such as interpersonal relationship skills?

Superstitions and the Supernatural:

  1. Ruby tells about the "signs" which govern the favorable timing of things, such as cutting firewood in the old of a moon because "otherwise it won't do much but fry and hiss at you come winter," or killing a hog in the growing of the moon, "for if we don't the meat will lack grease and pork chops will cup up in the pan." Esco Swanger says that "wax thick on the wild crabapples" and "wide bands of black on caterpillars" are signs of a hard winter approaching. Ada thinks, "Monroe would have dismissed such beliefs as superstition, folklore. But Ada.chose to view the signs as metaphoric. They were . an expression of stewardship, a means of taking care, a discipline.. the signs were a way of being alert, and under those terms she could honor them." Many modern readers would agree with Monroe that such signs are ridiculous superstition, and yet many of us still "knock on wood" after mentioning misfortune, or we cross our fingers for good luck. Do you believe some "superstitions" are valid, or at least valid as a "means of taking care," or do you agree most with Monroe?

  2. Were you familiar with any of Cold Mountain's "signs" before reading the novel? What other "superstitions" have you heard of? Do you follow those superstitions, or have you in the past?

Soul:

  1. At one point, Inman thinks back to his Cherokee friend Swimmer, when they were both sixteen. Swimmer told of spells he was learning at the time; Inman remembers:
    "a number of spells had to do with the spirit. Swimmer knew a few ways to kill the soul of an enemy and many ways to protect your own. His spells portrayed the spirit as a frail thing, constantly under attack and in need of strength, always threatening to die inside you. Inman found this notion dismal indeed, since he had been taught by sermon and hymn to hold as truth that 'the soul of man never dies.'"

    Have you ever felt, as Swimmer evidently does, that your spirit is under constant attack, in need of protection and strength? Are there any "spells" that you repeat to fortify yourself in such times? For example, "roll with the punches" or "problems are only as big as I make them" or "at least I can learn from this experience"?

  2. Dismally indeed, Inman's belief in the strength of the human spirit has been destroyed by the war, as we discover from his thoughts near the beginning of the novel: "Inman guessed Swimmer's spells were right in saying a man's spirit could be torn apart and yet his body keep on living. They could take death blows independently. He was himself a case in point, and perhaps not a rare one." Does Inman change his ideas during his journey? Is Inman's soul really dead, as he believes?

    • Inman's soul is not dead, only exhausted-he rediscovers it over the course of his journey
    • Inman comes to realize that the soul has more self-healing power than he thought

  3. This theme of soul is explored at some length throughout the novel. At one point, after spending a rainy night crouched in the hollow of a tree and awakening to find his legs numb with lack of circulation, Inman feels ".in the process of becoming some mere figment, fading from the ground up, as if the journey ahead were to be continued in the form of a veil or mist. A tissue. The idea had its appeal. A traveling shade." Have you ever felt as Inman does, that you were an empty figment of yourself, lacking a soul and devoid of all feeling? Is Inman suffering from clinical depression?

  4. After realizing that his soul is lost, Inman recalls another story:
    "Swimmer claimed that above the blue vault of heaven there was a forest inhabited by a celestial race. Men could not go there to stay and live, but in that high land the dead spirit could be reborn..he said the highest mountains lifted their dark summits into its lower reaches.. Though Inman could not recall whether Swimmer had told him what might be involved in reaching that healing realm, Cold Mountain nevertheless soared in his mind as a place where all his scattered forces might gather".

    Is this the driving reason behind Inman's journey home? Or could the reason be simple homesickness or pining for Ada?

    • Inman does not feel worthy of having a home or a girl or a "life" unless his soul is rejuvenated, so that is the primary reason

  6. Inman is successful in his goal of reaching Cold Mountain. Does Inman achieve spiritual revival as well, as he believed he would?

    • yes, although unconsciously the process was occurring all along

Slaves:

  1. Although Inman and Veasey are captured and then shot by the Home Guard, Inman manages to stay alive, barely. A slave hides Inman in the barn and cares for him until he is healthy enough to continue on his journey. When Inman leaves, the slave draws him a map. The map is described as "a work of art all detailed with little houses and odd-shaped barns and crooked trees with faces in their trunks and limbs like arms and hair.and there were notes in a precise script to say who could be trusted and who could not." What does this secret pathway marked by friendly people along the way remind you of?

    • the Underground Railroad, except that network helped slaves escape their masters, not the "free" whites to escape the Home Guard which is supposedly on their side

  3. Why would a slave help a white man escape? After all, shortly before, Inman had been fighting to perpetuate slavery-or was he? What does the author seem to imply through this inconsistency?

    • the slave respects that Inman realized the inhumanity of war and quit
    • the slave is sensitive to suffering and can tell that, free or not, Inman is worse off than himself
    • Frazier implies the war was not about slavery to most Southerners, merely about defending their lands against invaders seeking to impose a new way of life on them
    • Frazier is also making a point about human kindness being found in unlikely places and against all odds

Themes:

  1. What are the major themes explored in the novel? Discuss.

    • the depths of human depravity and the unlimited capacity of human kindness
    • the intricate relationship between all forms of life
    • casting off social status and conventional religion
    • Inman's struggle to revive his soul
    • to southerners, the Civil War was not about slavery but about defending their lands against an invader seeking to change their way of life

Ending:

  1. As Inman comes upon the farm at the end of his journey, he imagines his meeting with Ada:
    "He would be bathed and in a clean suit. Ada would step out the door onto the porch without knowing he was coming, just going about her doings..She would rush across the yard and through the gate in a flurry of petticoats, and before the gate had even clapped shut they would be holding each other in the roadway. He had seen it in his mind over and over until it came to seem that there was no other way it could happen except that he be killed getting home."

    We soon find out that Inman was correct in feeling he would "be killed getting home," but at least he gets to spend some time with Ada before dying. Did you feel cheated by Inman's death, after he had worked so hard to make it home? Would you have preferred Inman's imagined, fairy tale ending? Why did Frazier choose to end this way?

    • war and death permeated the story, a fairy-tale ending would negate the reality of that
    • Inman dodges death all along, but death always wins in the end