Cold Mountain
Cold Mountain, the mountain that neighbors Black Cove, is clearly one of the novel’s key symbols. It’s such a big, imposing sight that it’s impossible to forget it—everybody who’s lived in Black Cove knows Cold…
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The Neck Wound
During his service in the Civil War, Inman sustains a horrible neck wound that then causes him a great deal of pain throughout the rest of the novel. Inman’s neck wound is an externalization of…
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Birds
Birds are some of the most conspicuous and ambiguous symbols in the novel: crows, ravens, sparrows, turkeys, etc. At various points, the characters see birds flying past and project all sorts of symbolic meanings onto…
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The Fiddle
Before we’re introduced to him, Stobrod Thewes is described as a lazy ne’er-do-well who can’t even take care of his own child, Ruby. But when we meet Stobrod, he’s turned over a new leaf…
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The Road
One of the key symbols in the novel is the road that Inman follows from the hospital all the way back to his childhood home in Black Cove. Often, the road takes Inman to unfamiliar…
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