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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:
Like thee and thine, venerable chief," she continued, pressing her hands convulsively on her heart, and suffering her head to droop until her burning cheeks were nearly...
However, it must be noted that for his time he did try to present some reasonable interpretation of life and humanity as it was unfolding during this era. He does not let the European settlers completely off the hook. "Cleverly, Cooper draws Magua in a way that plays into the fears of nineteenth-century white readers, yet he also projects readers' fears onto a character whose quest for revenge is largely due to the harmful actions of European settlers"(Smith). So in this novel, as well as in real life, there is much ambiguity and no clear cut answers that really can assuage the conscience. We do, however, feel the sadness for both worlds, the savage and the civilized, for surely both have lost something at the end of this tale.
Works Cited
Cooper, James Fenimore. The Last of the Mohicans: A Narrative of 1757. Cleveland, OH: World
Publishing, 1957.
Smith, Lindsey Claire. "Cross-Cultural Hybridity in James Fenimore Cooper's the Last of the Mohicans." ATQ (the American Transcendental Quarterly) 20.3 (2006)
Works Cited
Cooper, James Fenimore. The Last of the Mohicans: A Narrative of 1757. Cleveland, OH: World
Publishing, 1957.
Smith, Lindsey Claire. "Cross-Cultural Hybridity in James Fenimore Cooper's the Last of the Mohicans." ATQ (the American Transcendental Quarterly) 20.3 (2006)
Fenimore is responsible for having provided the public with an adventurous history of the old American landscape. In spite of the fact that James Fenimore Cooper has been born in New Jersey, his father decided to move the whole family to an area around Otsego Lake, near New York, a place where he owned some land. This presented James with the chance of coming across a vast forested territory where
Fenimore Cooper, Last of the Mohicans The theme of James Fenimore Cooper's The Last of the Mohicans would seem to be containted not only in the title of the novel, but also in its subtitle: A Narrative of 1757. The two halves of the book's title both point to a historical past, and the indication of tremendous changes that had occurred on the North American continent between the Colonial era of
Last of the Mohicians James Fennimore Cooper's The Last of The Mohicans was published in 1826, part of a pentology, but the best known work for contemporary readers. The story takes place in 1757 during the French and Indian War, when France and Great Britain were at odds for dominance of the North American Colonies. During this war, the French made treaties and allied themselves with many Native American tribes to
According to Mctiernan (1997), "James Fenimore Cooper's the Spy is interesting precisely because no genre had yet hardened around spying when he wrote it. Cooper relies instead on the conventions of other genres -- primarily, the domestic romance and the historical adventure, which, unlike spy fiction, did not evolve in part to justify the dishonesty and covert manipulation central to espionage" (3). As noted above, Cooper was also able to
Last of the Mohicans, James Fenimore Cooper utilizes a historical romance style to tell his story. is apparent through settings, characters and plots. As Cooper is considered by many critics to be the father of the American historical romance, The Last of the Mohicans is surely an example of why this is so. Cooper celebrated the creative spirit of the individual and had a deep appreciation for nature. He was
Last of the Mohicans has been adapted to cinematic versions many times before, which speaks volumes about the enduring popularity of the book. There is something about the novel that continues to attract modern directors and thus we have so far been given four different cinematic versions of the book, the latest being a directorial piece of Michael Mann who has films like Miami Vice to his credit. This version