Inman’s Spiritual Journey in Cold Mountain
Cold Mountain is a popular book and movie written by Charles Frazier. Cold Mountain is a book about two lovers, Inman and Ada, during the Civil War, who depart on separate journeys in hopes of reuniting with one another. The novel is viewed as the physical journey of Inman from the Civil War to Cold Mountain and the inner journey of Ada, but people neglect the sheer importance that Inman’s spiritual journey has on the book. Inman’s physical journey is really non-connected episodes that are linked together by the thread that is Inman’s spiritual sense. Inman regains his spiritual sense, gradually, through the entire novel ending where he achieves redemption and self-completeness with his death. Inman’s journey is that of a spiritual sense where he crosses the void from the world of war to the world of spiritual belief which he left behind at Cold Mountain. Evidence of Inman’s spiritual journey is found throughout the book. Inman’s spiritual journey is really a journey of recovering his spiritual beliefs that he lost from the Civil War. For instance, he states that General Lee, “made it clear he looked on war as an instrument for clarifying God’s obscure will” (12). Inman tries to distance himself from Lee’s belief as it troubles him the most. He also believed that “following such logic would soon lead one to declare the victor of every brawl and dogfight as God’s certified champion” (12). Thus both the horror of war and the inconsistency of the Christian witness he has received leads him to reject what he had been taught without having anything to put in its place. His journey then becomes clearly spiritual as he tries to find something, if anything, to replace his rejected beliefs.
Inman begins his journey as both physically and spiritually decimated. He tells the blind man in front of the hospital that he has been turned “hateful” by what he has seen. In describing his own spiritual condition, he uses words like "torn apart" "burned out" "empty,"
Inman begins his journey as both physically and spiritually decimated. He tells the blind man in front of the hospital that he has been turned “hateful” by what he has seen. In describing his own spiritual condition, he uses words like "torn apart" "burned out" "empty,"