The alternation of chapters between Inman and Ada establishes these characters as co-protagonists. It also builds suspense, at first about the nature of their relationship and finally about the future of it. When the characters are reunited in the eighteenth chapter, "Footsteps in the Snow," the alternation ceases and Inman and Ada share three chapters, as they share three days in the deserted Cherokee village. The only chapter that belongs neither to Inman nor Ada is the sixteenth, "Naught and Grief," the chapter in which Pangle and Stobrod are shot by the Home Guard. This chapter's singularity underscores the crucial importance of its action and foreshadows the final gun battle.

However, the most striking technique in Cold Mountain is its unique diction. Cold Mountain's prose bristles with unfamiliar nouns (harls, passway,jemson, snath, cullions, internalments, barns, spurtle, rindle), unusual verbs (frabble, rare, frail, way, row), and strange adjectives...