Isolation In Charles Frazier's Cold Mountain

English novelist, Matthew Lewis, in his novel The Monk wrote, “Man was born for society. However little He may be attached to the World, He never can wholly forget it, or bear to be wholly forgotten by it.” These words could not be an truer in Charles Frazier’s Cold Mountain. The protagonist, Inman, meets several people throughout his journey,and many of those people live in total isolation. Throughout the novel, similar themes begin to develop between the isolation of these characters and the main characters. Although the conditions of their isolation may vary, the isolation of each character is a result of deviation from the norms of society. The isolation of Solomon Veasey throughout the novel is a result of his failure to conduct himself …show more content…
Inman initially meets Odell at an inn, where they sit in a room and Odell recounts his tale to Inman. Odell acknowledges that his isolation is his own fault, and that as the son of a wealthy plantation owner, he could have inherited a great fortune. Instead he fell in love with a slave, Lucinda, who describes as a yellow rose. The image of the rose is similar to the image of the briar, that fastened Sara’s shirt. Once again the text illustrates a woman who is dangerous to get close too. Unfortunately, this danger stems from the discriminatory view of slaves and blacks at the time. The use of the word yellow also implies she had white and black heritage, which was something that southerners would not tolerate. Odell, however, disregards the disdain present for slaves, even though his future is practically sealed as a wealthy man. It would appear that a man with his status would have everything, yet Odell was missing something that he only saw in Lucinda. His current wife, the daughter of a wealthy plantation owner, is described as a frail, beautiful woman, who Odell genuinely loves. However, she has a flaw that Odell saw in Lucinda. “After the wedding, though, once he got the heaps of crinolines off her, there seemed to be just about nothing left.”(169) Crinoline is the large structured petticoat that are typically found on a brides dress. Odell seems to be noting that she is barren. Lucinda, however, is anything but barren, and is constantly associated with symbols of fertility throughout Odell’s tale. The most significant of these symbols was her location when she and Odell first met. “ She was put to work in the kitchen, and that is where Odell first saw her.”(171) In the time this novel is set in, women were typically supposed to work in the kitchen and