Character Analysis
(Avoiding Spoilers)
Grew Up… independently. Ruby's father, Stobrod, was an alcoholic whom she left as quickly as she could. He was never a dependable father, spending more time with his fiddle than raising Ruby. But still, something of his gruffness must’ve rubbed off on her, because she grew into the toughest woman Cold Mountain has ever seen.
Living… on the Black Cove Farm, in Cold Mountain. She came to the farm to help Ada, a city girl raised to be a good Southern lady. Ada, however, has no idea how to keep up a farm, and with all the men are fighting in the Civil War, Ruby is the only help Ada has. As Ruby puts it, “Ain't no man better than me. On account of there's no man around here that ain't old, or full o' mischief.” Luckily, Ruby is about the best help Ada could ask for, and not only do the two efficiently turn the decrepit farm around, they also bond as women.
Profession… farm worker, for now. After a life of doing odd jobs, Ruby's the kind of woman who can do just about anything. She's used to getting her hands dirty, calmly picking up a rooster and tearing off its head for supper.
Interests… eating well, surviving the winter, and keeping her shotgun close. Ruby clings to her tools for survival. She’s interested in utility, in things she really needs.
Relationship Status… single. She doesn’t want to become an old maid, but for now, her only companion is Ada.
Challenge… turning around the worst-looking farm in Cold Mountain. When she arrives, she asks Ada what she’s holding a rake for, because it “Ain’t for gardening, that’s for sure”— not when there's barely anything to garden.
Personality… spry, curt, and tough. Ruby speaks her mind, and isn’t prone to softening her words for the faint of heart. From the beginning, she’s upfront about the deal between herself and Ada, telling her new companion, “I’m not a servant.” Ruby has a great pride in herself and her capabilities, and she won’t be treated like an expendable worker.
Get to Know her in...
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In this classic story of love and devotion set against the backdrop of the American Civil War, a wounded Confederate soldier named W.P. Inman deserts his unit and travels across the South, aiming to return to his young wife, Ada, who he left behind to tend their farm. As Inman makes his perilous journey home, Ada struggles to keep their home intact with the assistance of Ruby, a mysterious drifter sent to help her by a kindly neighbor.
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NOW A MAJOR MOTION PICTURE
One of the most acclaimed novels in recent memory, Charles Frazier's Cold Mountain is a masterpiece that is at once an enthralling adventure, a stirring love story, and a luminous evocation of a vanished American in all its savagery, solitude, and splendor.
Sorely wounded and fatally disillusioned in the fighting at Petersburg, Inman, a Confederate soldier, decides to walk back to his home in the Blue Ridge Mountains and to Ada, the woman he loved there years before. His trek across the disintegrating South brings him into intimate and sometimes lethal converse with slaves and marauders, bounty hunters and witches, both helpful and malign. At the same time, Ada is trying to revive her father's derelict farm and learn to survive in a world where the old certainties have been swept away. As it interweaves their stories, Cold Mountain asserts itself as an authentic American Odyssey--hugely powerful, majestically lovely, and keenly moving.
From the Trade Paperback edition.
