Cold Mountain Love

It's not just rom coms that have a lot to say about love. Cold Mountain does too. Ada and Inman gradually realize how much they love each other as they struggle through the challenges the war has brought them both. For Ada, this means learning to come out and say what she feels, and maybe even learning to let herself feel it. Inman's love for Ada, meanwhile, is intertwined with his hope—love for another person may be one way to transform his life after the injuries and disappointments of war.

Other kinds of love matter in Cold Mountain, too: Monroe's love for his daughter and Ruby and Ada's growing friendship, for example.

Questions About Love

1. Can love for Ada provide some kind of redemption for Inman?
2. For Ada, what stands in the way of loving Inman wholeheartedly? What has held her back before, and how does she learn to overcome it?
3. Why does it surprise Ada that her parents were passionately in love? What does she learn from that knowledge?
4. Are the brief few days that Ada and Inman share together enough? Do they find some sort of satisfying experience of love in that time? Or is the ending wholly tragic?

Chew on This

The love Ada and Inman come to share is a significant part of Inman's healing.

Short as their time together is, and tragic as its ending turns out to be, Ada and Inman find something deeply satisfying together.