Violence In Cold Mountain

Cold Mountain by Charles Frazier is a story about a man, named Inman, who is forced to fight in the Civil War. All the men who are healthy and fit enough have to go fight in the war and they leave their families and loved ones behind. For Inman, this was his beloved Ada. Unfortunately, Inman gets shot in the neck and is transported to a hospital to recover. But, this was not a completely bad thing because when he is well enough to move, Inman leaves the hospital and begins his journey back to Cold Mountain in search of Ada. Along the way violence is a central focus throughout the story. Inman does not want to commit acts of violence, on purpose, especially in the beginning of the book. If he had to commit an act it was purely because of survival; however as his journeys home continues I think he commits them more

When he first arrives at the store there are two men sitting outside but they don’t seem to notice Inman or take any interest in him. When he goes to leave the town the men are gone from the porch and then they proceed to attack him. One man has a scythe and tried to strike Inman with it however he did not succeed and missed him by a mile, while another man pulled a Whitworth gun on Inman. Inman beat the men and continued on his way, however it would not be the last time he would see them. Inman is walking in the woods and he comes to a river; his only way to cross is by way of a canoe with the help of an Indian girl. They are half way across the river when Inman hears voices, before he could do anything though, the light from the moon exposes their location and a bullet pierces the side of the canoe. Another one shortly follows and Inman can tell that it is from the famous Whitworth that one of the men had back in the small town. As we can see Inman could have easily shot these men back in the town and that could have been the end of