Hardships at Cold MountainThe events one goes through in their life often shape the person they become. Challenges encountered early in life help to strengthen the personality and enable one to live and flourish. In the novel Cold Mountain by Charles Frazier, the reader discovers the many obstacles Ruby faced growing up. These difficulties contributed to the person she became and made her strong enough to face obstacles that would arise later in life. By facing many obstacles in life, Ruby was able to learn from them, become a stronger person and therefore survive. Due to her lack of love and parenting, Ruby was forced to mature and learn how to survive at an incredibly young age. Not only did Ruby grow up without a mother, she practically grew up without a father. Stobrod not only abandoned her physically, he never presented her emotionally and often denies her as his own. He told her how his mother said "he had no part in the baby and its cause was a great blue heron." (P. 194) For gr...