Cold Mountain: Spirits of Crows, Dancing
I just finished reading the book Cold Mountain today, when I was struck by this sudden thought about the last chapter before the epilogue.
The fact that Inman is the sole survivor of the story, or so it seems, as he survives every man he crosses along the path of his journey, his death is rather surprising. (Not if you're familiar with the story or even the film adaptation, that is.)
As winter overshadows “spirits of crows, dancing,” death seems to hang suspended over the landscape. The characters are surrounded by a wasteland blanketed in snow. However, warm hearts beat within these frozen surroundings. The icy cabins protect Stobrod and give Ada and Inman some time together. Inman finally seems satisfied, noting that Ada has “filled him full.” As in the rest of the novel, in this chapter, it is tempting to read every natural detail as prophetic. (Ada notes to Ruby that the cackling fire is a warning of more to come.) Inman notes the absence of a duck he had seen sitting in a lake, but he does not know whether the creature drowned or flew away. Thus, what the duck symbolizes is uncertain. It is an eerie foreshadow of Inman's uncertain, unexpected death. Frazier may be suggesting that there is no way of knowing what will survive and what will perish, since there is no certainty in the world. Hence, Inman, the Survivor dies, while Stobrod, the Sinner, survives, when it was the most unlikely outcome. (Especially when the innocent Pangle is killed instantly without a second chance. Perhaps Cold Mountain is a world where the Strongest are fittest to Survive- and strong will is what enables that.)
This lack of certainty is symbolized most powerfully by Inman’s death. Inman is liberated from his anguished life just as he starts to believe in a better future. Just as him and Ada start making plans for Black Cove Farm and starting a family, all those dreams to fade away like footprints in the snow- another omen in the previous chapter. His death is neither heroic nor gallant, although it is preceded by a thrilling gunfight. Inman is simply shot by Birch, a boy with “empty” eyes and a quick hand. After all the danger and violence that Inman has encountered, it is pathetic that he should be killed so swiftly and unexpectedly. However, there is a measure of peace to his death. As sensory perception fails him, Inman’s vision suggests a crossing over to a world of pure spirit. His vision of crows echoes his vision after being shot by the Home Guard in “to live like a gamecock.” This bird has been associated with Inman from the novel’s very first chapter, “the shadow of a crow”; it seems to capture both the sadness and independence of his spirit. Ada holds her lover as he dies. This moment is the only time in the novel when the narrator withdraws from the action, observing the scene as if from afar. The lovers are allowed one moment alone together before he perishes.
Now that the analysis of the chapter is out of the way, this is the reason WHY I think Inman had to die. I'm not saying everything is written in the stars. The vision in Sally Swanger's well represents a forecast warning rather than a prophetic vision. However, I believe that God let him live through such dangerous situations because his purpose in life was to make it back to Ada and give her the life in which his spirit would continue to live on: their daughter. He says in the screenplay that he kept trying to kill God, but God never killed him. He didn't understand it at the time that the only thing that was keeping him from letting them put him the ground was his will to live for Ada. Once he saw her, however, he filled his desires and completed his purpose. There was no reason to live anymore. He had planted the seed of their child in her womb, and that was all he wanted. Was to see her. Now that he completed his spiritual journey, he was ready to meet his maker and embraced death with open arms, like a crow taking off flight.