Cold Mountain: Chapter 2 Summary & Analysis

A woman named Ada sits on the porch of “the house that was now hers.” She’s writing a letter (to whom we’re not told). In the letter she says, “Despite your long absence … I will never conceal a single thought from you.” After finishing her letter, Ada looks around: she sees a peaceful garden, full of fruits and vegetables.

Ada’s father, a preacher named Monroe, died recently. Since that time, she’s been in charge of her father’s farm, but doesn’t do much work on it. Indeed, she’s so reluctant to work her farm that she’s having trouble finding food—for the time being, she eats mostly eggs, milk, and tomatoes. She remembers being a child and playing with her cousin, Lucy.

We learn a little more about Ada. Ada grew up in Charleston. At Monroe’s insistence, she got an unusually advanced education for a woman. She studied Latin French, and Greek, and learned to paint and play the piano. Now, Ada’s education seems strangely useless—nothing she learned in school is going to help her manage the 300 acres of property that now belong to her. Ada thinks about Monroe’s recent death, and how the farm hands have left as well, either to fight in the war or to desert.

Ada is ill-equipped to run a farm. She isn’t even sure why she’s running the farm at all—she has no use for goats or cows. She sees a big rooster walking around the farm, and tries to shoo it away. The rooster attacks her, cutting her wrist with its beak. Ada goes inside to find clean clothing, but finds none. Ada realizes that her “will to do” is almost gone. She spends the next few minutes going through her father’s things.

Ada reads books in the late morning—by people like George Eliot, Nathaniel Hawthorne, etc. She reads in her study, staring out at the hazy shape of Cold Mountain nearby.

Ada reads a book about “frontier adventure,” which she finds enjoyable but strangely sad. Afterwards, she tries to cook herself some breakfast, but it takes her two hours just to turn on the stove. She eats bread for breakfast and tomatoes for dinner. Then she goes outside to pick flowers.

Ada strolls to the chapel on her property. Monroe is buried outside this chapel, and his grave is so new that there isn’t even grass growing on it. He died in May. He was so old that his complaints of being tired and sore didn’t concern Ada much, since they were nothing new. When Ada discovered his dead body, she thought he was just sleeping. She watched him being buried two days later. As she watched, she noticed his pale, flabby skin and blank eyes.

Ada remembers her father’s funeral. The preacher talked about Monroe’s kindness and wisdom. Afterwards, men buried him in the ground. Sally Swanger, a friend of Ada, offered to take care of her until Ada returns to her father’s farm in Charleston. Ada tells Sally that she won’t be returning to Charleston any time soon—she’ll stay on her father’s property here.

In the present, Ada walks by her father’s grave plot. Walking past the chapel, she enters Black Cove, the town near her home. She notices a man working at a mill—plowing and sowing grains. She continues walking on to where Sally Swanger lives.

At the Swangers’ home, Ada finds Esco Swanger, Sally’s husband. Esco greets Ada, mostly because he wants an excuse not to work. Ada realizes, with disappointment, that she’s come too late—the Swangers have already eaten. Esco walks Ada to where Sally sits and sews thread. Ada, Esco, and Sally talk about the war, and the danger of the Federals’ arrival. Ada recalls that the Swanger family opposed the war from the very beginning, and is still pretty sympathetic to the Federals.

Esco warns Ada of Teague and his Home Guard, a group of marauders and robbers who’ve taken the law into their own hands, taking advantage of the instability in the area. Esco has heard rumors of the Guard invading people’s houses and stealing their food and money. The Guard targets families that showed support for the Federals.

Esco complains that the war has “put a price on anything”—people’s time and political commitment have become newly valuable commodities. He adds that there have also been many ill omens lately—premature births, eclipses, dead goats, etc.

Sally asks Ada if she’s ready to go back to Charleston yet, but Ada admits that she’s not. Ada tells Sally she hasn’t heard anything from Charleston—she has no idea if her father’s fortune is still intact. Esco suggests that Ada look into a well, so that she can see her future. Reluctantly, Ada agrees. She stares into a deep well and notices a strange wheel shape at the bottom. She also sees a vision of a strange man, walking down a road.

Esco asks Ada if she saw anything in the well, and Ada replies that she didn’t. Sally offers her food inside. After her meal, Ada leaves the Swanger house and walks back to the farm. On her way home, she stares up at Cold Mountain.

Ada remembers coming to the town of Black Cove six years ago, hoping to cure Monroe of his tuberculosis. Monroe’s doctors in Charleston recommended that they all move out of the city so that Monroe could get some fresh air. Ada had never seen mountains before arriving at Cold Mountain. She was delighted to find Monroe so interested in Cold Mountain’s foliage and animals. She thinks, “I would follow this old man to Liberia if he asked me to do so.”

When Monroe and Ada first arrived at Black Cove, Monroe made a point of introducing himself to his new congregation, one family at a time. His congregation was mostly made up of unshaven, dirty, but decent people. Shortly after arriving, Monroe visited Sally and Esco, accompanied by Ada. Monroe proceeded to teach Esco to read, and he educated both Esco and Sally in the subtleties of the Bible. Esco had a particularly limited understanding of Christ’s sacrifice—Monroe spent hours explaining the concept of the holy trinity to him. It was only much later that Monroe realized the truth: Esco and Sally were lapsed Baptists, meaning that they already knew all about Christ. Esco, wanting to give Monroe something do so, had feigned ignorance the whole time. After Monroe found out about Esco’s prank, he became good friends with the Swangers. Eventually the Swangers joined the church.

Ada goes to sleep, and has a strange dream in which she’s standing at a train station. She sees a glass case containing the bones of a man, which glow and slowly become covered in flesh. She climbs onto the train, and realizes that it’s leading her out to Charleston, “in the past.” Ada wakes up late at night, and realizes that the man in the case was Monroe, her own father.

A new day begins, and Ada wonders what will become of her when she returns to Charleston. She’ll probably have to ingratiate herself with some of Monroe’s old friends—indeed, she’ll probably need to get married soon. Ada finds the prospect of getting married terrifying—when she lived in Charleston, she avoided suitors as much as possible. When she was nineteen, for instance, she turned down two separate marriage proposals.

Ada sits on her porch, and sees a figure walking toward her. It’s a young woman. Without asking, the woman sits next to Ada on the porch. She explains to Ada that “Old Lady Swanger” has told her that Ada is in need of some help. Ada admits that this is true, and the woman—who introduces herself as Ruby—immediate begins telling Ada how to farm the property: she’ll need to plow, plant, harvest, etc.

Ada quickly grows to like Ruby. Ruby explains that she’s not exactly a servant or a hired hand—something more like an adviser. Ruby makes it clear that she won’t be Ada’s servant; they’ll be something like equals. As they talk and laugh, Ada notices the rooster that attacked her earlier. Without hesitation, Ruby gets up and breaks the rooster’s neck. She immediately begins making plans to cook the rooster.