James Cooper's The last of the Mohicans

James Cooper's The Last Of The Mohicans

The Last of the Mohicans

Race Relations in 1757

Residing in the literary genre of the Romance novel, Cooper's work, the Last of the Mohicans' dominant backdrop is that of an adventure in the wilderness and the historical context of the siege and massacre of Fort William Henry in 1757. The overriding theme is civilization vs. nature, or the war between instinct and reason. However, the undercurrent Cooper evokes is the feelings of his times regarding the white privilege of manifest destiny. There is some expression of sorrow at the plight of the "Vanishing American." Yet he justifies it by showing us the savagery of their revenge on the outpost. So in reality and in retrospect the theme is really one of the innate belief in white supremacy and that race's need to posses the entire continent. This tale, as well as Cooper's other frontier stories, is in some sense the justification of that endeavor.

While it is certainly a phrase unknown at the time, white privilege is surely what the prevailing consciousness in the era was about and it is reflected throughout the history of the period as well as represented in Cooper's tales. Furthermore, there is also some reference to having a pure lineage and that mixing races is seen as a detriment to either side. For instance, Hawkeye's almost incessant refrain, "I am a man without a cross," seemingly professing that he is not a man of mixed blood and we encounter his other famous refrain in Chapter Three when discussing with Chingachgook how their forefathers may have met:

I am not a prejudiced man, nor one who vaunts himself on his natural privileges, though the worst enemy I have on earth, and he is an Iroquois, daren't deny that I am genuine white," the scout replied, surveying, with secret satisfaction, the faded color of his bony and sinewy hand; "and I am willing to own that my people have many ways, of which, as an honest man, I can't approve." (Cooper 37-38)

In this section Hawkeye is at once proud of his unblemished lineage of being "genuine white" but he also has some understanding of the Native American's plight as regards the white man and their encroachment upon their lands. At this point it is the conscious of the white America, Cooper's predominant readership, speaking and realizing that there is some wrong being wrought here, but there is also some overriding right (or privilege) that is allowing this injustice to occur. Cooper realizes that he must represent some soul in the white race, some sense that they feel sorrow at the loss for the "red man," but that this loss is somehow inevitable and must be borne as bravely as possible, by both sides.

This ambivalence towards the Native American is brought to light by the allegory between the larger attack and massacre on Fort Henry and the smaller scale kidnapping of General Munro's daughters, Alice and Cora. In one sense Cooper is showing us the brutality and savagery of the "red" man and making that race less than human and less honorable than the white man. In another sense, in the smaller scale kidnapping, Hawkeye seems to feel that there is some justification to these actions due to the encroachment on the Native American's territory. Yet when he is assaulted with the site of the massacre at the fort and comes upon a pile women lying dead and mutilated he says:

have been on many a shocking field, and have followed a trail of blood for many miles," he said, "but never have I found the hand of the devil so plain as it is here to be seen! Revenge is an Indian feeling, and all who know me know that there is no cross in my veins; but this much will I say -- here, in the face of heaven, and with the power of the Lord so manifest in this howling wilderness, -- that should these Frenchers ever trust themselves again within the range of a ragged bullet, there is one rifle shall play its part, so long as flint will fire or powder burn! (Cooper 230)

Here again we see that awareness of race and of pure bloodedness is still playing a large part when it comes to character. Hawkeye again reminds us that "there is no cross" in his veins, that he is a pureblooded white man.

The book does not segregate itself to the discussion of only Native Americans and the feelings thereof, but also has occasion to discuss the prevailing sentiment in regards to African-Americans as well. As General Monro reveals in Chapter Sixteen, we find that Cora has a "cross" in her blood:

There it was my lot to form a connection with one who in time became my wife and the Mother of Cora. She was the daughter of a gentleman of those isles, by a lady whose misfortune it was, if you will" said the old man proudly, "to be descended, remotely, from that unfortunate class who are so basely enslaved to administer to the wants of a luxurious people." (Cooper 201)

It is perhaps a little difficult to discern but the General is talking about slaves in the last sentence. The General does profess that his love his daughter is not diminished by her miscegenation and would strike down any man that would disparage her. I think he doth protest too much. Even Cora knows that she is cursed by her mixed blood. While trying to save her sister from death and torture she states: