Death of Illusion essays

Death of Illusion essays The Federals were thick on the ground, lying all about in bloody heaps, bodies disassembled in every style that man could imagine. Inmas only thought looking on the enemy was, Go Home. Home was a place called Cold Mountain in North Carolina. The Civil War novel, by Charles Frazier describes horrific human suffering, Frazier based his story on local history and family stories handed down from his great-great grandfather. He does an excellent job with character development, along with descriptive details in each setting. There are three main characters; Inman, Ada and Ruby. Though separated by war, the characters share a common goal, survival. The realities of their hardships and suffering cause the death of the naive illusions, and lead to the changes necessary to survive. Until the war, Inman had spent his life on Cold Mountain. Like many Young men, he thought the war would be a short duration and an awesome adventure. But it turned into his worst nightmare. Fraziers descriptions of battles like Malvern Hill, Sharpsburg and Petersburg, paint a vivid and gory picture of death and destruction. The war ended for Inman after the battle of Fredericksburg. Wounded, he literally walks away from the war. Inman is not portrayed as a deserter or a coward, but as a broken man who had seen more than he could bear. His walk home to his girlfriend, Ada, was in itself, another war. He faced constant danger, fear, and starvation. He saw himself as disgusting, because of all that he had seen and participated in. Only his need to survive kept him going. Ada was spoiled and sheltered by her preacher father. When he died shortly after the war started, Ada was totally alone. Because she only had social skills, her own war was just beginning. Her only inheritance was a neglected farm. Adas education did not include even the simplest skill, like cooking. She had little hope of running a farm, ...