From Helpless To Productive In Cold Mountain By Charles Frazier

Ada: From Helpless to Productive In the novel Cold Mountain by Charles Frazier, main characters are featured: Inman and Ada. Throughout the book, Ada struggles to survive on her late father’s estate. She goes from almost helpless to admitting she needed help to fully productive on the estate, but not without Ruby’s assistance. In the beginning of the book, Ada could barely keep herself fed the weeks following her father’s death. She left the property unattended and hardly took care of the livestock. For example, “She has left the chickens to fend for themselves and they had gotten skinny and skittish” (21). She’s gotten to the point where she neglects the chickens and allows them to run wild. Ada had also failed to learn how to cook for herself. “She wanted a bowl of chicken and dumplings and a peach pie but had not a clue how one might arrive to them” (21). This clearly shows that Ada lacks the ability to prepare a meal for herself, and she was running out of food quickly. Ada acknowledges that she possessed no useful talents that could aid her in advancing forward in life, much less advance in her current situation. Ada had “the ability to render landscape and still life with accuracy in

That help came when Ruby showed up at Ada’s doorstep. Ruby said to her: “Old lady Swagner said you’re in need of help” (51). Apparently, Mrs. Swagner noticed that Ada was in a rough patch of life, and she sent Ruby to assist her. Ada admits that she needed help. She says to Ruby: “Mrs. Swagner is right. I do need help” (51). Ada now had the help she desperately needed, but she was slightly skeptical. She wondered why a man couldn’t do the work Ruby would be doing. Ruby brushed it off, saying, “[…] if you’ve got a horse, I can plow all day” (51). This is a display of Ruby’s confidence in herself that she could do a man’s work as easily and a man. Ruby’s presence will be of much help to