Literary Characters
OF THE BABY NAME ADA
Ada Monroe is the heroine of Charles Frazier’s first novel, Cold Mountain, published in 1997, and made into a major motion picture in 2003, starring Nicole Kidman and Jude Law. Ada is a preacher’s daughter, newly transported to a rural farm in North Carolina, and the love of W. P. Inman, a wounded, Confederate deserter, who makes his way back to her in an Odysseyan voyage. City bred, highly educated and orphaned by her father’s death, Ada is hit hard by the harshness and deprivation of war. A wandering, illiterate young woman, Ruby, comes to her rescue, and teaches her how to work and save the farm. Waiting patiently and hopefully for Inman’s return, Ada grows and matures in immeasurable ways during this extraordinary schism in American life, and finds herself able to rise to whatever occasion Fate has in store for her. And it is not a pretty one. At novel’s end, we are left with a most elevated admiration for this genteel, yet steely, young woman.
Ada Clare is a relatively minor character in Charles Dickens’ novel, Bleak House, serialized between 1852 and 1853. It has been adapted to other media on numerous occasions over the years – our favorite is the BBC version of 2005, with Carey Mulligan as Ada. Ada is the young ward of John Jarndyce, and the cousin of Richard Carstone, with whom she is in love. A long and drawn out inheritance suit, Jarndyce v. Jarndyce is being carried out in the courts; against this background most of the characters are intertwined in their individual interests in the case. Young Ada is lovely and good-natured; the character of the object of her love, Richard, is somewhat less sterling, although a very likeable young man. He attempts several careers before settling on the military, and after he and Ada are secretly married, he squanders her money in the pursuit of winning the case. Unfortunately, litigation costs have eaten away at all the principal, and there is nothing left for Ada and her child, Richard. Richard senior also has the bad grace to die just around this time, so Ada is penniless. Luckily all that virtue does not go unnoticed by people who matter; John Jarndyce invites her and her infant back into his home, after having forgiven a repentant Richard on his deathbed. We sincerely hope that things look up for Ada after this.