Inman On The Other Hand example essay topic

The archetype of the journey is seen in Charles Frazier's novel Cold Mountain, most clearly through experience Inman has wandering back to Cold Mountain. The journey archetype sends the hero in search of some truth to restore order and harmony to the land. The journey often includes the series of trials and tribulations the hero faces along the way. Usually the hero descends into a real or psychological hell and is forced to discover the blackest truths. Once the hero is at his lowest level, he must accept personal responsibility to return to the world of the living.

Inman's trip fits this description very well in some ways and not in others. It could be said that Inman's search for truth is his desire to be back home. He has been disillusioned by the war. He saw horrible scenes daily and fought for his life. By coming home to Ada and his mundane life is a welcome constant for him in a world he has recently determined to be wild. He believed that once he had reached his destination, order in his personal world and soul could begin to return to normal.

In accordance with the definitions of the archetype journey, Inman goes through a great deal angst and tribulations. He has practically starved many times, been mugged, and fired upon. This strife is culminated when he his betrayed and shanghaied, marched nearly to death, then shot and left for dead. He is buried with a thin layer of dirt in a mass grave, and spends half a day under ground with the dead.

This is his low point, his personal hell. At this point he even considers not uncovering himself and allowing the easy death to occur. For such a logical and even headed man this is particularly extreme thought. But he eventually finds the will power to hoist himself out of the grave to once again take up road. Finally he gets to the house and restores order to his metaphysical kingdom, coming to terms with many of his thoughts. Ada goes through a more mental archetypal journey.

She has to find manageable independence, an aspect development of which she had always been deprived. Her low point was at the beginning of the book when she realized that she no longer had the money that once had enabled a work-free life style. At the beginning, she has no idea what to do or what she even wants. Once Ruby comes, she begins to come to important self-realization about the pettiness of her past life and how she is no longer able to return. Once she has done this, she is able to rely upon herself and can be secure in doing so. Inman says that theirs is a time and place without law.

In such times secular anarchy, a sense of personal responsibility must come into play. In such lawless times, when there is no one to administer justice, morality and ethical responsibility take center stage. In Cold Mountain the Ten Commandments and the seven deadly sins play a great role in identifying the moral boundaries. When the book begins and we first are introduced to Ruby, we have a picture painted of a filthy immoral man Stobrod, her father.

What particularly classifies Stobrod as immoral is the lack of interest that he has for raising Ruby. He is the embodiment of sloth. Ruby says that he would sleep in a hollow tree and that such would suit him fine. He would lie around all day and be drunk, never working but once, during which his sloth almost cost a man his life. Even when he returns to Ruby with a focused life, he is slothful in the conventional sense.

He asks for room at the plantation, never once offering to pull his weight, oblivious to the fact that these girls have worked unceasingly to scratch out a living. His band of outliers sits in a cave and lives idly, leading them to a life of theft and other sinful behavior. Greed plays a major role in Inman's journey. Junior is a man characterized by his immorality. He sits in a den of lusty sluts, drinks all day, and gambles on his fighting cocks.

To solidify his crookedness into something tangible, his house is on a slant. But perhaps his worst quality is his greed. It leads Junior to betray Inman and V. Not only did this lead to V's murder on the hands of Junior, but also it physically came back to him when Inman bludgeoned him. In addition to this he breaks many commandments. He is adulterous in his story of the well, thus also coveting his neighbor's wife.

His household steals V's pistol. He is wrathful with his wife when he makes her bleed. He himself had murdered the man and his dog. He sullies the name of G-d by comparing his urine to one of His greatest works.

He probably didn't keep sh abbas either. Veasy is a pretty sinful guy as well. His introduction foreshadows his immorality. His lust and pride bring him to a situation in which he feels he must murder. Repeatedly he is seen in a lustful light and even calls himself "a man overly charmed with the peculiarities of the female anatomy". He steals the pistol from the only person who will take compassion on him, and then he uses it to steal again.

Inman on the other hand is the height of morality. Even when it would be easy to steal he chooses not to do so. Once he has beaten Junior, he could have taken pork from the shed and would have had an easy time rationalizing it as well, but he just walks away hungry. He returns the stolen hog, thus righting the sins of others. In a time of war, maintaining morality and ethics is a difficult task, especially when there is no immediate physical consequence, but Inman's strong moral bearing allows him to do so. Several of the characters serve as foils to one another, enhancing the qualities of the other by stark contrast in Cold Mountain.

Ruby and her father serve as perhaps the greatest foils to each other. When one reads of Ruby's extreme incredible work ethic and practicality in every matter, even towards bird-watching (she uses migratory patterns to plant seasonally), one understands that she has lived in harsh conditions and foolishness was not an option. Once contrasted with her father and his physically unproductive lifestyle, one may come to view her as a calculating robot. On the other hand, Stobrod may look as though he has a far worse work ethic than he actually does wen contrasted against his daughter. Similarly, this was the dynamic of Ada's relationship to Ruby when Ruby was first introduced.

Inman, the rational, moral, and selfless farmer boy and Veasy, the lecherous, self-centered preacher serve as foil to one another. When the pair is together Inman seems so strait laced and moral, thinking every aspect out well in advance, then taking the most sensible route. Veasy on the other hand is made to look even more of a lecherous buffoon, when he, who has just had relations with Laura Foster, solicits the massive Tildy for sex in the tavern while Inman, the lonely former-soldier who has not been with woman for a long time remains celibate.