Chapter 11: The Doing Of It

1a. The title of this chapter, The doing of it, actually was mentioned while Inman was conversiong with the goat-woman about their lives. Inman asked the goat woman if she gone lonesome living by herself and she said that sometimes, but that there was plenty of work , and the doing of it kept her from worrying too much.
      Inman went where the slave’s map told him to go. He went through hills, through the mountain range and even its edges. He then went through 'happy valley' which is actually not a happy place at all but while he was there he prevented any confrontation with the patrols of the home guards. Inman follows a track through the forest and came across an old woman that was kind enough to offer him something to eat. Inman decides to travel with her back to her camp, then he realizes that the woman’s home was a caravan encircled by goats. The old woman killed a goat and cooks the meat for Inman. Over multiple days Inman eats meals that contain goat meat and also talks and spends some time with the goat-women. He acted like he was in a "leave" or in a "furloughed" from the army but his lie did not work as the woman didn’t believe him. She told the tale of why and how she became alive unaccompanied in the woods after leaving her abusive husband. Inman and the goat-woman talk about the war, the woman says she thinks the southern army is fighting an irreverent war to protect slavery and she also states that it’s a "curse laid on the land". Inman also talked about his thoughts and experiences by saying that man are attracted to the fight because of the boredom rather than the instinct of self-preservation. The lady gives him herbal remedies to treat his injuries. The goat woman and Inman drink bowls of laudanum, or an alcoholic solution that also works as a pain killer, then out of a sudden Inman find himself talking about Ada. Inman considers living in a hermetic life just like the goat-woman but then he realizes that it would be too solitary. The woman tells Inman that she keeps a record of her life by drawing and writing. They both talk about having to die alone, the woman then says she does not want to after she cannot maintain herself. The following day the goat woman told Inman the tale of the gentleman who would not allow her to keep her bells on her goats she had given to him. Then Inman becomes sleepy and falls asleep. He later wakes up and looks through the woman’s journals and the finds multiple drawings of goats. Then when the goat woman returns she tells Inman to be careful and also gives him a drawing of a carrion flower before he continued his journey

1b. Author's Style: In this chapter Frazier uses flashback, allusion, and imagery.
      Flashback: "I was a little ignorant girl, and he was old”. Beginning sentences of the goat's woman flashback. She was recalling how she used to live when she was forced to marry an old guy and how she came alive alone in the woods after leaving him.

      Allusion: “With one motion she pulled out a short-bladed knife and cut deep into the artery below the jawline and shoved the white basic underneath to catch the leap of bright food". When the goat-woman slaughters and cooks the goat for Inman's dinner, the ceremony mimics the standard feast-preparation formulae of Homer in the Odyssey.
      Imagery: “Later, the fog gathered up again and rain dripped on the roof of the caravan. The place smelled of herbs and roots, earth, wood-smoke." This imagery enables the reader to visualize how the caravan looked and smelled when the goat woman was cooking the goat.

1c. Historical Context: “He dreamed his dream of Fredericksburg, and then sometime shortly after dawn he awoke shivering and in a sour mood” This statement matches the time period of the book, 1864, because 2 years before the battle of Fredericksburg had being fought; battle which Inman attended, and is now traumatized for life.

2a. This chapter reveals that even though Inman has had very bad experiences at war and while traveling back to Cold Mountain, he is still somehow lucky because he, one way or the other, finds help from humble people. For instance the slave that gave him the map, and the goat women that fed him and gave him shelter for a couple days. This chapter also reveals that Inman is a good listener and that he has a good eye to identify who is kind and who is not. As soon as he looked at her in the eyes he could tell she was full of kindness despite all the harsh word she was saying.

2b. The goat woman is spiritual in the sense she knows a lot about nature and its secrets. She is able to physically heal Inman with her herbal remedies. The goat woman not only heals him physically, but emotionally. She has a huge good impact on Inman. She serves Inman as a  way of unbosoming his heart and his thoughts.

3b.