When you hear about the Civil War, you mostly hear about the fighting between the North and the South and the men involved in the war.   Cold Mountain, by Charles Frazier, gives you a different perspective of the war, one from the people in the South at home during the fighting.  This, in my opinion, is the reason why the book is so successful and why I loved it so much.  I love how Frazier was able to show the everyday struggles that women faced when they were home during the fighting, while at the same time show the struggle of the men to make it home alive from the war.

Throughout the entire novel, I kept seeing the themes of isolation and determination show up again and again.  I first noticed the theme of isolation in the title of the book where the word “cold” makes you think of being alone and cut off from everyone around you.  The fact that the majority of the novel takes place in the “Cold Mountain,” you can begin to assume that the events that takes place will involve the theme of isolation.  Ada and Inman face this theme both in their own ways.  Ada is isolated from virtually everybody due to the fact that she lives in a house deep in the Cold Mountain.  This affected Ada both mentally and physically during the novel.  She had a hard time dealing with all of the responsibilities that arose with the death of her father, which became more difficult because she had no one around her to help until Ruby arrived.  While Ada was struggling to keep her home and farm running in the isolated Cold Mountain, Inman was having difficulty returning to the Mountain from the war by himself.  Though he meet many people on his journey home, he spend the majority of the trip alone with only his thoughts to talk too.  I also noticed that Ada and Inman are almost isolated from each other, and that forced them to each go on a separate journeys to find themselves individually.  This in the end made the relationship between them stronger.

The theme of determination also showed up continuously throughout the novel.  Ada would not have been able to keep her house and farm running without her determination to do so.  There were many times that she wanted to quit and give up on getting the farm up and running, but with the help of Ruby she was determined to make things work.  Inman was without a doubt one of the most determined characters in the novel.  If he was not determined to get back home and see Ada,  he would have died when he was in the hospital, when we was shot and thought to be dead, or when we was tired and hungry with little effort left.  His determination is what saved his life and allowed him to make it to Ada.  I think Frazier wanted people to see that with determination, you can accomplish anything you set your mind too.

By having the two themes of isolation and determination, Frazier was able to create a story that people can relate to.  It made the story stronger and kept you wondering if either Ada or Inman would reach their goals.  I really enjoyed the way Frazier weaved these themes between the two different stories that took place throughout the novel.  By seeing both characters struggle with these themes in their own way, I was able to relate the themes to my own life.  This made me feel connected with the characters and allowed me to really understand what they went through.

Overall, I really enjoyed reading this book.  It allowed me to see a whole new side to the Civil War and specifically the side of the  South.  Previously, when I was taught the Civil War we mainly focused on the fighting and the politics involved with the North and the South.  We never really focused on the women who were home from the war, nor did we discuss the men who tired to leave the war before it ended.  I feel like I am more educated on this time period now and can have a better opinion on the topic of the Civil War.  This novel not only educated me, but also allowed me to relate to the different themes of the book which I really enjoyed.