Cold mountain

Yuri infante

UNIVERSITY OF LA SALLE
FACULTY OF EDUCATION
DEPARTMENT OF MODERN LANGUAGES
ENGLISH INTERACTION AND SOCIETY II
BOGOTA D.C

Cold Mountain “The American odyssey?”

“The idea for the story came from the real-life journey of Frazier’s great-great-uncle, W.P. Inman, back to his mountain home during the civil war.”1

First thing that came to my mind when I was reading thisbook was “homer’s Greek epic poems “The odyssey”. Even then, I get more surprised when I was investigating about the book and its author. The thing was that I wasn’t the only one who thought that way. Actually, looking at the internet I found many sources that think the same way than I do, a good example it’s from one of the most famous internet sites. Wikipedia -The free encyclopedia- showing us thenext introduction “Inman, a wounded deserter from the Confederate army near the end of the American Civil War who walks for months to return to Ada Monroe, the love of his life; the plot shares several similarities with Homer's The Odyssey.”2. But let’s find out if this is true!

Firstly, as the first quote shows. The original idea came from the experience of author’s great-great-uncle and allhe had to go trough during the period of the civil war, which means it’s not an illegal copy of homer’s masterpiece. But maybe he got little inspiration based on that book. So I will write a brief plot summary to show you the similarities parts that both stories have. Cold Mountain is about Inman’s love for Ada a women that he hardly knows. And how he has undertaken a long journey to get backhome, to Cold Mountain for being with his lover Ada and stand by her. While he’s in that hard journey to come back home this book also show us Ada’s story and how she had to survive by herself after her father passed away. On Inman’s journey he found a lot off difficult circumstances because he is a deserter. When he is on his way home, he has to be careful of being chased by the home guard. He meetsa preacher called Veasey, they meet in a very difficult situation, but later after discussing they decide to travel together. Later, they find and butcher a dead cow. Because of that the cow’s owner gives them to the home guard and he and Veasey are tied with other delinquents. But when the home guard has started to get sick of them because they were such a big trouble he decides to kill them. Ireally like this part because Inman comes out unscathed by miracle when he stands behind of Veasey at the moment the home guard shoots the gun. But the things he have been go trough after that are not that emotional or significant for me because they’re just like the same. He’s also helped by a woman, and again helped by some civilians, and then he helped some civilian recovering their hog andagain he’s helped by another woman. That’s when the history gets a little tedious.

Apart from that, there is Ada’s story too. Her character is really weak at the beginning and she’s devastated because of her father’s death. Her way to maturity takes place when she has to look after “Black Cove” her father’s farm. She wasn’t doing so well but when Ruby, young and stronger worker woman helps her. Atthat time the home guard was checking the zone and searching for deserters. That’s why Ruby’s father Stobrod ends up on Ad’s farm and they decided to hide him there during the war. Later he runaway but comes back again with Pangle. Both steals Ruby and Ada’s hidden food and they are caught and shot by the Home Guard. Stobrod survived. Ada and Ruby pitch camp to take care of him. Later Inmanarrives at Ada’s place but it’s empty. When he found her on the cold mountain they didn’t recognize each other, they were now so different since they saw from the last time. After, when they finally figurate out the situation and they spend the night together loving each other just like the wished from times before. On the next morning, they’re planning their future together and they both promised to...