Matt Lynch
12-22-98
Per.4
English

A Literary Analysis of
The Deerslayer & The Last of the Mohicans

James Fenimore Cooper’s novels The Last of the Mohicans and The Deerslayer are historical romances set in the 1700’s. Their main character, Nathaniel Bumppo is a white frontier scout who has taken on the lifestyle of the American Indian. These books are just two in a series of five that follow Natty from ages twenty to his death at age eighty-three. Set in early 1740’s in and around the then colony of New York, The Deerslayer follows a young, innocent Natty through an adventure in which he will be tested for the first time in battle and subsequently lose that innocence. The next edition to the series is The Last of the Mohicans in which Natty is about thirty-five years old. By now he is an experienced scout and hunter living solely on the frontier. The events of this tale take place in 1757 which is the third year of the French and Indian War.(Anderson 512) In his books, The Deerslayer and The Last of the Mohicans Cooper uses a historical setting, and physical environment to further enhance the characterization of Natty and those who surround him.
The physical environments of The Deerslayer and The Last of the Mohicans are strikingly similar, because they both occur in the same area about fifteen years apart. The events of both novels take place during a time when, “A bird’s-eye view of the whole region east of the Mississippi must have then offered one vast expanse of relieved by a comparatively narrow fringe of cultivation along the sea.”.(Cooper 10) They both take place in upstate New York and much of the books take place in untouched forests that still dominated the land at that time. (Anderson 511) In fact this was the region where Cooper was raised and lived in until his death in 1851. (Gribben 1035) The Deerslayer takes place around Lake Otsego, an actual lake close his home town of Cooperstown which was named for his grandfather.(Railton 74) When first introduced to the area, Cooper spends many lengthy paragraphs describing the environment. Critics feel that this close attention to detail is nothing more than Cooper showcasing his ability to illustrate landscapes with words and makes him sound winded.(Twain 192) This reputation whether he has earned it or not scares most readers away from Cooper’s works.(Railton 74) However his detailed

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descriptions of the environment do not go to waste. In The Deerslayer he uses them to foreshadow Natty’s eventual loss of innocence. He does this by describing Natty’s face and by doing so describes his character. He says that his face has a, “guileless truth, sustained by an earnestness of purpose and a sincerity of feeling that rendered it remarkable”.(Cooper 12) This description parallels the description that he has already afforded the environment, “Centuries of summer suns had warmed the tops of the same noble oaks and pines.”.(Cooper 11) This will foreshadow events to come because the serene environment is eventually destroyed, therefore will Natty’s innocence be demolished as well? This is also the case in The Last of the Mohicans where Coopers writes of the forest, “ A wide and apparently impervious boundary of forests severed the the the possessions of the hostile provinces.”.(Cooper 11) The forest in this book is rougher and less inviting than that of the last as is the Natty that inhabits this book. For by this point he has evolved into a tough frontiersman. But the environment is not the only tool that he uses for character development.
The main focus of Cooper’s writing and the aspect that he does not allow the reader to forget is the historical setting of the novels. The antagonists of both novels are Indians, and commit some of the most atrocious acts ever committed in early American literature. However Cooper also seems to embrace the Native American way of life in Natty, and his best friend Chingachgook. Chingachgook is a “good” Indian who has befriended Natty and taught him the ways of his people, the Mohicans. The weakness of Cooper is to make his “good” Indians all too good and his “bad” Indians all to bad.(Nevins 540) He knows that some Indians were of the noble and honest persuasion, but he also knows that some were corrupt and evil.(Nevins 540) however he has his evil characters commit horrendous acts that seem to reflect his views. One such act is commuted in The Last of the Mohicans. Although based on a real event in which the French general Montcalm had hundreds of English prisoners slaughtered at the hands of a Huron war party the opening scene to this act of butchery is a discredit to the Native American population in general.(Pattee 289) The scene goes as follows, “ The savage spurned the worthless rags, and perceiving that the shawl had already become a prize to another, his bantering but sullen smile changing to a gleam of ferocity he dashed the head of the infant against a rock and cast its quivering remains at her very feet.”.(Cooper 206) This single act of savagery against the most innocent of creatures is a horrible attempt at negative

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characterization. Cooper also uses it to further demoralize the Iroquois in The Deerslayer in a scene in which Natty is tortured at their hands. This would be perfectly fine however Cooper never actually studied Indian culture thus he wrote this passage based on stereotypical knowledge. As well as in other passages such as this one in which he describes the killing eating of a fawn that equates Indians to savage animals, “Without any aid from the science of cookery, he was immediately employed in common with his fellows in gorging himself with this digestible sustenance.”.(Cooper 117) But negative characterization is not the only type to occur in these two novels.
Cooper uses positive characterization for his descriptions of Natty’s physical and personality features. In The Deerslayer he is described as about six feet with a skinny frame and a muscular body. His face has already been describe as having, “ guileless truth, sustained by an earnestness of purpose and a sincerity of feeling that rendered it remarkable”.(Cooper 12) Even in The Last of the Mohicans is described in the same manner, “Notwithstanding these symptoms of habitual suspicion, his countenance was not only without guile, but at the moment at which he is introduced, it was charged with an expression of sturdy honesty.”.(Cooper 33) This is the typical romantic view of the Native American in early American literature. Natty is strong, honest, pure, and because he is so young and has yet to kill a foe he has an innocence about him. The only problem is that truly the Deerslayer is not really Native American. Here Cooper has created the perfect hero, a white Indian. For he is not really a Mohican so the reading American public of the 1840’s will accept him. The book was published at a time when popular support for Indian fighting was high so Cooper had to be careful how he portrayed his main character.(Garbarino 180) Proven by congress passing the Indian Removal Act in 1830 only ten years before Cooper wrote The Deerslayer and ten years after he completed The Last of the Mohicans.(Garbarino 159) In The Last of the Mohicans Cooper uses Natty, Chingachgook, and to parallel the selfishness and stupidity of the white settlers. They live off the land and take no more than what they need. This is the exact opposite of the gluttonous settlers that over trap all of the many animals that were present at the time. Once again their actions reflect a true romanticist’s view of the American Indian in the mid 1770’s living on the frontier.
The degree to which Cooper goes to recreate the historical events in these novels is astounding. Although his views on the acts of the Native Americans may not

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be historically accurate, one must give him credit for basing the events that surround the war in The Last of the Mohicans such as the capture of Fort William Henry and the massacre of its occupants at the hands of Montcalm all actually happened.(Pattee 289) Even if Cooper does exaggerate these events it’s only for entertainment value and that is his purpose in these books. He does not stray from reality to far by not creating his own battles for convenience’s sake. All of the instances in which Natty is involved in fighting in these battles further enhances his brave and selflessness quality. This enables the reader to grow with him. But many feel that the character Cooper has created in Bumppo is far to shallow and does not have genuine human
qualities.(Twain 291)Mark Twain himself compared Bumppo and his fellow characters to corpses.(Twain 191) The critics however neglect the fact that Natty’s innocence is eventually taken from him in The Deerslayer and in the following novels as his
character matures he seems to deepen emotionally.(Lawrence 62) His innocence seems lifted in his first battle in which he kills an opponent and whispers a silent praise, “ I didn’t want your life, redskin but you left me no choice between killing or being killed. Each party acted according to his gifts, and blame can light on neither.”.(Cooper 117) This offering is to a man that was just about to put a bullet in his back. This confirms his sense of justice, and the fact that Natty himself is at heart an idealist.(Nevins 537) This has proven that Cooper has created the antithesis of a frontiersman.
Where many feel that Cooper is lacking, though is in writing the frontier woman. He has often been criticized throughout the ages for his failure to portray women as intelligent beings, and instead portrays them as namby-pamby heroines instead of the true resourceful intelligent creations of the frontier that they should be.(Nevins 541) That may be true for some of his weaker novels, but in The Deerslayer the women seem to be the exact opposite.(Nevins 541) the most prolific of his women characters in this novel is Chingachgook’s Indian wife, Wah-ta!-Wah, or Hist. (Nevins 541) She defends not only her race, but also her gender when she speaks out against the scalping of a Huron girl by a member of Natty’s followers.(Nevins 541) And throughout her role in the book proves to be a strong character. Yet Cooper also makes sure that women are not held to highly in regard when he gives her this dialogue, “S’pose ‘ey come ashore to take scalp?” and then adds in his own narration, “Retorted Hist, with cool irony, at which the girl appeared to be more expert than is common for her

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sex.”.(Cooper 188) Cora and Alice Munro of The Last of the Mohicans however seem to give Cooper’s critics something to write about. They seem incompetent and unable to fend for themselves anywhere narrowly escaping capture at every turn. Such as this situation in which Magua captures the two sisters, “ Placing Alice then, on the same animal as Cora, he seized the bridle, and commenced his route by plunging deeper into the forest.”.(Cooper 211) But this is a book of rescues at the nick of time and this gives Natty something to do.(Pattee 289) Perhaps Cooper was influenced by his age and maturity level when writing his women characters. Although second in chronology, The Last of the Mohicans was the first book to be written. (Railton 80) Therefore a younger Cooper might have seen the world differently as opposed to an older Cooper who could have seen the err of his ways while writing The Deerslayer nearly twenty years later.(Railton 83) None the less the novels still function well with or without an intelligent heroine.
The Leatherstocking Tales are often called the first popular American novels.(Nevins 535) This is a title that they received over the years as many people read it and were amazed by Cooper’s ability to create action while at the same time remaining true to the frontier spirit. The hero which he created for these novels would not have been the same had it not been for the characters that surrounded him or the time in which he lived. Cooper skillfully crafted as set of five novels that spoke
truthfully, about the hardships encountered while living on the frontier. The Deerslayer and The Last of the Mohicans are two books that tell the story of one man that chooses not to follow the norms of society and live outside it, yet still remain attached to it. Natty Bumppo is a free spirit the antithesis of the true frontiersman. He was living in the time when a “man could be a man” and not have to worry about tomorrow or the day after, because he lived in and for the moment. And although the frontier has long been tamed Cooper has created a timeless character that will outlast the ages and always embody the American frontier.

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Works Cited

Anderson, Fred W. “The French and Indian Wars” The World Book Encyclopedia, World Book Inc. 1993: 511-513.

Cooper, James Fenimore. The Deerslayer. New York: Penguin Books USA Inc, 1980 The Last of the Mohicans. New York: Penguin Books USA Inc, 1980.

Garbarino, Merwyn S. “Indian, American” The World Book Encyclopedia, World Book Inc. 1993:136-184.

Gribben, Alan. “Cooper, James Fenimore” The World Book Encyclopedia, World Book Inc. 1993: 1034-1035.

Lawrence, D.H. ,“Fenimore Cooper’s Leathersocking Novels,” in Studies in Classic American Literature, D.H. Lawrence. New York: Viking Press, 1964.

Nevins, Allan. “Afterword,” in The Deerslayer. James Fenimore Cooper. New York: Penguin Books USA Inc, 1963: 535-531.

Pattee, Fred Lewis. “The Historical Romance: Cooper’s ‘Last of the Mohicans’,”. The Chautaquan, Vol. 21, No. 3, 1900: 287-292.

Railton, Stephen, “James Fenimore Cooper” Dictionary of Literary Biography. Vol. 3 Ed. Joel Myerson. Detroit: Brucoli Clark, 1979: 74-93.

Twain, Mark. “Fenimore Cooper’s Further Literary Offenses,” The New England Quarterly, Vol. XIX, No.3, September, 1946: 291-301.