Cold Mountain: Analysis of Major Characters

Author: Charles Frazier

First published: 1997

Genre: Novel

Locale: North Carolina; Blue Ridge Mountains

Plot: Epic

Time: 1864; 1874

Inman, a Confederate soldier in the American Civil War from Cold Mountain, North Carolina. After suffering a life-threatening neck wound at a battle outside of Petersburg, Inman finds himself in a hospital near Raleigh. Homesick and broken by war, Inman escapes the hospital in the middle of the night to journey back to Cold Mountain. As a deserter, he must evade the Home Guard and fend for himself in the wilderness. He meets a strange cast of characters on his journey, many of whom bear a resemblance to characters in Homer's Odyssey. Inman meets an untrustworthy preacher named Solomon Veasey. Veasey gets Inman into several life-threatening situations including a surreal, alcohol-fueled episode with a man named Junior and his sex-crazed wife and daughters. Junior alerts the Home Guard of their presence and has Inman and Veasey captured. The Home Guard marches the prisoners for days before killing them. Inman survives the carnage and retraces his steps, seeking revenge. Inman continues his journey, pushed forward by thoughts of Ada Monroe. In letters, he tells her that he is not the same person that she used to know. He meets a woman in the mountains known as the Goat Woman and a young woman named Sara, whose husband has died. Increasingly numb to bloodshed, Inman kills three Federal soldiers and steals their food for Sara and her sick baby. By contrast, Inman shows sorrow and remorse when he is forced to kill a bear cub and eat it. He finds Ada, Ruby Thewes, and Ruby's father, Stobrod, in an abandoned Cherokee village in the mountains, and they agree that he will surrender to the Federal army so that they can start their life together. He is shot by Birch, a young member of the Home Guard, as he tries to bring the wounded Stobrod back to Black Cove. He dies in Ada's arms.

Ada Monroe, an educated woman from Charleston, South Carolina, who moved to Cold Mountain with her father before the war. She exchanges letters with Inman. After her father's death, Ada is left to fend for herself on Black Cove Farm in Cold Mountain, a rural town that, like much of the South at the end of the war, lacks many basic necessities. Half-starved and penniless, Ada meets Ruby Thewes, a much-hardier neighbor, and the two women decide to run Black Cove together. They work during the day, and Ada reads to Ruby in the evenings. The two contemplate human nature and the nature that surrounds them. Later, Ada writes to her cousin that she is a changed woman. Ada and Ruby journey into the mountains and set up camp in an abandoned Cherokee village to nurse Ruby's wounded father, Stobrod. Shooting turkeys in the snow, she comes across Inman. The two make love, but a few days later Inman is killed coming down from the mountain. She gives birth to Inman's daughter, and lives out her days at Black Cove with Ruby, Ruby's husband, and Stobrod.

Ruby Thewes, an uneducated but ingenious woman who lives in Cold Mountain. She was raised by her deadbeat, alcoholic father, Stobrod, and learned how to fend for herself at an early age. She offers her deep knowledge of farming and wilderness survival to Ada on the condition of equality—the women must fend together or not at all. Eventually, she comes across her father stealing corn from the Black Cove corncrib to make liquor. Stobrod tries to strike up a relationship with Ruby, but she is wary of his motives. Relenting, she agrees to help him and his friend Pangle through the mountain to escape the Home Guard. She receives word from Georgia Boy that her father and Pangle were killed by the Home Guard, but, with Ada, finds Stobrod still alive in the mountains. She marries Georgia Boy, whose actual name is Reid.

Reverend Monroe, or simply Monroe, Ada's deceased father. He and Ada moved to Cold Mountain for his health before the war. He became a preacher at a local church and died, leaving Ada to care for herself.

Stobrod Thewes, Ruby's alcoholic father. When Ruby was a child, he left her alone for days and months at a time. He enlisted in the army at the beginning of the war. He does not see his daughter until she finds him stealing from Black Cove. He plays eerie and beautiful music on the fiddle and, until very recently, lived in a cave with a handful of “outliers” who raided houses to stay alive. Stobrod became disillusioned with the outliers and struck out on his own with Pangle, who plays the banjo. Trying to escape from the Home Guard, he is shot by the vicious Teague but survives.

Solomon Veasey, a preacher who tries to kill his pregnant lover. Inman stops the murder but then cannot shake the pistol-wielding preacher. Veasey is killed by the Home Guard after the two men are captured as deserters.

Pangle, a member of Stobrod's band of outliers who may be mentally handicapped. He is drawn to Stobrod in particular because he loves music. He plays the banjo. Despite winning the sympathy of Birch, Pangle is executed by Teague and his men.

Teague, the cold-blooded leader of a band of Home Guard soldiers. He kills almost indiscriminately. He is killed by Inman.

Birch, one of Teague's men, who, though he may have a larger capacity for empathy than his boss, kills Inman.