Mohicans Gender Roles Essay

Many years have passed since women were given the right to vote, yet more years have passed since the slaves were emancipated. Despite the change intended by laws that have been put into action, social norms are much slower to catch up with the times. In The Last of the Mohicans by James Fenimore Cooper, the author draws attention to the many issues in a specific community, despite all the progress made over time throughout the world. There are racist inclinations between whites and Indians, gender roles prescribed to both men and women, and other various intolerances. James Fenimore Cooper uses gender roles, racial stereotypes, and other prejudices to highlight the flaws in society during the time of the Mohicans. The Last of the Mohicans is crafted around the fact that men are superior to women. This is
In the novel, men are described to be so powerful and mighty that they, “called to each other in the bowels of the Earth” (Cooper 74). Here, the Earth is a God-given creation. To compare the men to the movements of the Earth is to make them God-like creatures. By comparing the men to God and his creations, men are raised, in society, far above women. Another manly aspect is that the setting of the book is distinctly war based. In addition to the book as a whole lacking women, if it wasn’t for Magua’s plan, there would’ve been no women in the war zone at all. In Nina Baym’s essay,"Putting Women in Their Place: The Last of the Mohicans and Other Indian Stories" she writes that men are “overcome by blood lust, and desperate for scalps to demonstrate their manhood” (Baym “Putting Women in Their Place: The Last of the Mohicans and Other Indian Stories”). She describes that men exhibit their power through cruel and violent actions. As far as the book and the gender roles created inside of it are concerned,