Similarities Between Cold Mountain And The Odyssey

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Charles Frazier’s Cold Mountain is largely an allusion to The Odyssey. Both stories contain abundant details of the hardships that each protagonist endures. Although you can compare certain elements of the respective journeys of Odysseus and Inman, there is one substancial difference.
Cold Mountain and The Odyssey contain the folloing themes: war, journey, personal growth, and emotional and physical change. Both of the stories follow a character in his journey back to his home after years of fighing in war, and along the way they both meet interesting personalities. Inman and Odysseus are both in relationships with women who struggle to adapt to life without them once they leave. The stories both discuss the challenges that they both must …show more content…

In The Odyssey, Odysseus survived the journey an had a happy reunion with his wife and son. Where in Cold Mountain, Inman was killed by the Home Guard upon his arrival. The reason Frazier made this profound change was because around the time that Cold Mountain was written, the fairy-tale endings had gone out of style. Instead Cold Mountain ends with the return and unexpected death of Inman. “All your grief hasn’t changed a thing. What you have lost will not be returned to you. It will always be lost. You’re left with only your scars to mark the void. aAll you can choose to do is go on or not. But if you go on, it’s knowing you carry your scars with you.” (334). However, Inman’s death did not cause an unhappy ending. It allowed Ada to remain in the life she had become comfortable in, without having to worry about the situation that would have ocurred when Inman would have to fight with Ruby for Ada’s attention. The Odyssey and Cold Mountain both contain similar variations of a story with the same message but a completely different ending. Instead of choosing the cliché fairy-tale ending, Frazier chooses to kill Inman off once he arrives at Cold Mountain. Which ultimately leaves the story with a bittersweet

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