1. Cold
Mountain . . . soared in his mind as a place where all his scattered
forces might gather. Inman did not consider himself to be a superstitious
person, but he did believe that there is a world invisible to us.
He no longer thought of that world as heaven, nor did he still think
that we get to go there when we die. Those teachings had been burned
away. But he could not abide by a universe composed only of what
he could see, especially when it was so frequently foul.
These lines come from the first chapter
of the novel, “the shadow of a crow,” in which Inman convalesces
in an army hospital before setting out on his epic journey home
to Cold Mountain. They suggest that Inman sees Cold Mountain as
a healing place, a spiritual sanctuary where he can retreat from
the sufferings of the world. Frazier shows that Inman has to believe
in a world other than the one he inhabits since his existence itself
seems pointless. All that surrounds Inman is misery, putrefaction,
and partition. His sentiments propose that the only way to accept
that there is no order to this world is to know that harmony exists
elsewhere. Inman’s philosophy is made more poignant by the fact
that his yearning for spiritual understanding overlaps with his
longing to return home. In the novel, Cold Mountain is both a physical
and spiritual place. It is simultaneously Inman’s home and a refuge
for his soul.
