James Fenimore Cooper

In The Last of the Mohicans by James Fenimore Cooper, historical romance is apparent through settings, characters and plots. Cooper is considered by many critics to be the father of the American historical romance. Fred Lewis Patee said, “Not only was Cooper the pioneer (of the historical romance) in America, and thus worthy of the highest praise, but in many respects his romances have never been surpassed.” (212) Cooper celebrated the creative spirit of the individual and had a deep appreciation for nature. He was a romantic who enjoyed the mysteriousness and exoticness of the frontier. He favored the use of emotions over reason. Through his romantic writings, Cooper is able to captivate the reader and led them on journey through
The characters are manifestly impossible. (Pattee 212) Hawkeye is one of these impossible characters. He is an ideal character who is pure and untainted by the corruption of society. Hawkeye, like Cooper, is a romantic in that he has a deep respect for nature. Cooper uses Hawkeye to celebrate the creative spirit of the individual. Hawkeye, Chingachgook and Uncas are characters all folklores are about. They are the heroes that complete impossible task to help others. Cooper also portrays, in his novel, the stiff upper-class society and their true desire to escape to the frontier. (Magill 448) Cora and Alice represent the stiff, elegant society. The reader soon sees that under their refined life, they have a wanting to be “freed” from their upper-class society. They want to escape this boring life and be allowed to live. They see the frontier as this pure, beautiful place where they can be freed of the control of their society. (448) Cooper uses characters to portray his
This intensity can be seen in the novel when Alice, Cora, and Major Duncan set out for Fort Henry on the secret route. A dangerous character named Magua leads them. The reader knows that Magua was previously punished severely by the girl’s father. This situation creates a feeling of apprehension for the reader. The reader does not use reason and question why this dangerous character would be chosen to led them, but is filled with suspense as these seemingly innocent characters are put into jeopardy. Cooper keeps the plot movement swift and full of urgency. This technique gives the reader hardly any times to question seriously why Munro’s daughters would push forward their visit at this worst of times and would feel safer almost alone on a dangerous path in savage territory than in the company of several hundred trained fighting men. (Hart 103) From this early scene, Cooper’s dramatic irony is able to make the readers forget reason and be taken into Cooper’s romantic world through emotions. Cooper keeps the readers in awe by intriguing them with his stories of heroism and fighting. Critic Fred Lewis Pattee calls the novel a “book of rescues in the nick of time.” (212) This nick of time rescue can be seen when Hawkeye, Chingachgook, and Uncas save Alice and Cora on the summit of a mountain. (212) As one of the Huron Indians raises his knife