I. Biography of Cooper
“James Fenimore Cooper one of eleven children of William and Elizabeth Cooper was born on September 15, 1789 in New Jersey. Cooper spent the majority of his early life in the New York frontier Community of Cooperstown near Ostego Lake. After attending school in Albany, New York, Cooper entered Yale College. After a few short years at Yale, Cooper was expelled after a prank had gone wrong, whereupon Cooper gained distaste for New Englanders. After his expulsion, Cooper chose to enter the service of the United States Navy as a Midshipman in 1806. In 1811, Cooper married his wife, Susan Augusta De Lancey (daughter of a loyalist family during the American Revolution) and chose to settle in the countryside. Cooper Began a career as a writer after taking a challenge from his wife that he could write a better novel that the one that she was reading. Cooper answered her challenge with the book, Precaution written in 1820. Because of the way that the American public received his novel, Cooper further went on to pen such works as, “The Pioneers”, “The Leather Stocking Tales” (which include the popular novel, “The Last of the Mohicans”), and “the Deer Slayer”. After penning many American Classic novels, Cooper died after living more than 60 years on September 14, 1851.” (Works Cited #1)
One of the first events in Cooper’s life that bear significance to Cooper himself and to “the Last of the Mohicans” is his childhood in the frontier town of Cooperstown, NY. This experience gave him a firsthand look at the Indian/ settler interaction or lack of it. It is this that Cooper drew from when he was telling the story of the frontier families and the hardships and acceptances of the various Native American tribes in the American frontier. Another significant event to the life of Cooper and bares weight on the text is his service to his country. This experience benefits the novel because it shows a greater understanding of the military mind and shows the discipline that is required to serve ones country. Lastly, Cooper spends extensive time in some of the more prominent European countries of his time and this influenced the way that he wrote and presented his characters. It also lends to the story because it allows him to draw from his experiences in the European mindset and allows his to more accurately portray his character.
Cooper draws many of his character sets and writes as a person who has lived many years in the frontier of America. He shows an extensive knowledge of the frontiersman and writes in words and phrases that allow the frontiersman to greatly understand and recognize their own characteristics in the story. This is greatly exemplified in the way that he writes about the plight of the militiaman and their want to leave the fort in order to see after their families when possible.
II. History of Cooper and “The Last of the Mohicans”
“The Last of the Mohicans” is a Story written in 1826 by James Fenimore Cooper to be included in his collection of stories called “the Leather Stocking Tales”. Cooper penned this work during the time of rebuilding after the war of 1812, during the times of great disdain toward the Native American population from White citizens, and “the proposed removal of Native Americans from their homes of hundreds of years to places like the Arkansas Territory and the Indian Territory (Oklahoma).” (Works Cited #2)
The removal of the Native Americans from their homes in the 1820 is reflected in many of the scene from “The Last of the Mohicans”, although not always from the Indian perspective. In the Book, Cooper tells the story of some of the White Settlers that flee from the established areas of the colonies to the wilderness areas so that their families would have better land and farming opportunities. It is for this reason that the United States government began the process of Indian removal in the first place. In the early 1800’s there were many citizens that were looking for a place in the wilderness of the states of Kentucky, Tennessee, Alabama, and other areas of the country where the only inhabitants were the native American population and to have these lands available for new states and settlement from “upstanding” White Americans was to make the current inhabitants leave, by any means necessary.
For the majority of the populace in America at this time the basic means of living was strictly agricultural in nature. Most families lived on large farms and were greatly self-sufficient. They lived off of the land, only having the food that they were able to grow themselves or were able to hunt in the forests and grasslands surrounding their farms, this concept also extended into every other aspect of their lives, from the clothes that they wore to the way that they conducted business. In terms of Textiles, “they made a lot of their own clothes, often by taking cotton fibers and making the thread in which the individual clothing components were made.” (Works Cited #3) In terms of the leisure time that the Early Americans had, often it was spent in was to provide for the house hold, they would often create various things of a craft nature or would often focus on religious studies by reading the bible and other religious texts.
Had Cooper wrote “The Last of the Mohicans” in a time other than after the War of 1812 and the beginnings of the Indian removal, I could foresee a different text altogether. Had the text have been written just two decades later, I believe that there would not even be an Indian theme to the story, it would have taken a tone much like Harriett Beecher Stow’s “Uncle Tom’s Cabin”, a story dominated by the plight of the slave.
III. Sociology of “The Last of the Mohicans”
“The Last of the Mohicans” is chocked full of peoples of different ethnic backgrounds such as English, French, and several different Native American Tribes. Because the story takes place during the French and Indian War, “There is a great deal of tensions between several of the ethnic groups, i.e. the French vs. the English and the Mohawk Indians vs. the Huron Indians.” (Works Cited #4) The Story was written to tell the tale of the way that the Mohawk Indians were dragged into the French and Indian war on the English Side and because of such the English and Mohawk view is the main one in the story.
Gender plays a key role in the story, especially when the romance between Cora and Hawkeye is explored in greater detail. Because they are in the middle of the war, in the heart of the New York wilderness, the traditional gender roles have been downplayed because a woman during these times must for her own survival, fight her enemy just as hard a man. There are also times when the traditional gender role is upheld in the text, such as when the women are in fort William Henry. While they are there they find themselves as nurses, because all of the men are required to stand on the front lines and fight the enemy.
“The Last of the Mohicans” is a story about how a boy from a frontier family and has been adopted by the Mohawk Indians has fallen in love with a daughter of an English Colonel (whom during the time of the French and Indian War would have been an aristocrat). Because of the Colonel’s rank and aristocratic status, he looks down on the Militia (who were the colonial settlers) and goes against what they have been promised by another officer. Another distinction that is present in the story between the settlers and the aristocrats is when Major Heyward lies about what the officer that promises to do for the frontiersmen. He tells the Colonel that he did not hear any type of promise being made and that the settlers will do as they (the English officers) say because they are citizens of the crown.
IV. Explication of “The Last of the Mohicans”
James Fenimore Cooper presented his Novel “The Last of the Mohicans”, a story that is set during the French and Indian War, in a format which would allow the frontiersman and woman as well as the sophisticated reader be able to follow the story line. He told the story in a chapter format which allowed him to present new ideas and expand on ideas previously given. Cooper also used a language and word choices that all of his time would be able to follow. Cooper refrains from using figurative language, or at least figurative language that one would be able to recognize in today’s society.
The author presents a myriad of characters from all walks of life, from the aristocrat soldiers like Colonel Munro and Major Heyward to Native Americans such as Uncas, Hawkeye, and Magua. Many times in the story, Cooper presents the characters as an exemplar of the way that these subjects should interact, such as when Col. Munro demands that the Mohawk Indians that had guided Cora and Alice to Fort William Henry become his scouts. He also shows the history of his character in there interaction with other characters, such as when Hawkeye and the rest of the Mohawk party happen upon the frontier settlement that had been attacked. This scene provides segue into the history of Hawkeye and the way that he became a Mohawk.
The plot of romance in the time of war would not have been as successful had it not have taken place, obviously, during a war. With Cooper placing the story in the time of the French and Indian war, allows for the theme of interracial romance to better come forth because of the diverse parties that had fought in that particular war.
V. Connections to “The Last of the Mohicans”
In the Novel “The Last of the Mohicans”, the author James Fenimore Cooper presents the readers many themes but by far the most outstanding theme would be interracial relationships. Given the time period in which Cooper wrote this novel, interracial relationships was a taboo subject just like in the novel “Ramona” by Helen Hunt Jackson published in 1884 and the 1981 novel “Let the Circle be Unbroken” by author Mildred D. Taylor. In each of these works, the reader is shown that there is both adversity and acceptance of an interracial relationship.
“The Last of the Mohicans” has been represented in modern media in numerous ways, with the most notable portrayal being the 1992 motion picture by the same name starring Daniel Day-Lewis as Hawkeye, Madeline Stowe as Cora, and Wes Studi as Magua. “This adaptation although based on Cooper’s novel is more in line with director George Seitz’s 1936 performance.” (Works Cited #5)
The Last of the Mohicans is a classic example of American literature and is included in the tomes of early American literature because mostly of the writer. Cooper invented what would become the literary American hero, a character who the public “pulls for”.
Works Cited
