Coming Home, Staying Put, and Learning to Fiddle: Heroism and Place in Charles Frazier's <em>Cold Mountain</em>.

<p>In his novel Cold Mountain, Charles Frazier weaves an intricate web of human stories, all converging to make a memorable statement about love, war, life, and death. This study examines these stories and the mythological, literary, and folk models Frazier employs, and in some cases revises, to tell them. The first chapter explores how Frazier recreates Odysseus in Inman, his main male character, to depict the psychological trauma inflicted by war. The second chapter focuses on Ada, Inman’s pre-war sweetheart, and Ruby, a girl with whom Ada bonds, as challenges to the male pastoral tradition. Ruby’s father Stobrod as trickster, culture hero, and ultimate keeper/creator of songs is the subject of the third chapter. Since Appalachia so strongly influences each of these characters, whether native or outsider, this thesis will also discuss such sense of place and prove that these stories, though universal, could not take place just anywhere.</p>

Name thesis:degree_name

MA (Master of Arts)

Level thesis:degree_level

Thesis - unrestricted

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

English

Year dc:date.issued

2004

Author dc:creator

• Gilreath, Heather Rhea

• Cold Mountain
• Charles Frazier
• Appalachian Literature
• Southern Literature
• Civil War Literature
• the Odyssey
• Arts and Humanities
• English Language and Literature

Statement dc:rights

• Copyright by the authors.

Repository record dc:identifier

https://dc.etsu.edu/etd/921

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:dc.etsu.edu:etd-2078