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Compare and Contrast Essay: The Last of the Mohicans: Hawkeye VS Magua The Last of the Mohicans is a historical novel by James Fennimore Cooper. The story took place in 18th century North America during the French and Indian War, where a white man adopted by the last members of a dying tribe called the Mohicans unwittingly becomes the protector of the two daughters of a British colonel, who have been targeted by Magua, a sadistic and vengeful Huron warrior who has dedicated his life to destroying the girls ' father for a past injustice. The main characters in this story are Hawkeye and Magua- the hero and the villain. Hawkeye, the protagonist of the novel, goes by several names: Natty Bumppo, La Longue Carabine (The Long Rifle), the …show more content…
He adapts to the difficulties of the frontier and bridges the divide between white and Indian cultures. A hybrid, Hawkeye identifies himself by his white race and his Indian social world, in which his closest friends are the Mohicans Chingachgook and Uncas. His hybrid background breeds both productive alliances and disturbingly racist convictions. On one hand, Hawkeye cherishes individuality and makes judgments without regard to race. He cherishes Chingachgook for his value as an individual, not for a superficial multiculturalism fashionably ahead of its time. On the other hand, Hawkeye demonstrates an almost obsessive investment in his own “genuine” whiteness. Also, while Hawkeye supports interracial friendship between men, he objects to interracial sexual desire between men and women. Because of his contradictory opinions, the protagonist of The Last of the Mohicans embodies nineteenth-century America’s ambivalence about race and nature. Hawkeye’s most racist views predict the cultural warfare around the issue of race that continues to haunt the United …show more content…
He sometimes expresses a pantheistic philosophy that shows his love of nature, and this is contrasted with the religious piety of David Gamut. Hawkeye is also a veteran fighter who has taken part in many battles with the French and the Indians. Although he has a generally low opinion of Indians, Hurons especially, he likes Mohicans and Delawares, whom he regards as more honest. He has a deep, long-standing friendship with the two Mohicans, and is ready to risk his life to save Uncas. At the end of the novel, when Chingachgook laments that he is now left alone, Hawkeye pledges to stick with him in
In The Last of the Mohicans, the English travelers are not used to the savage American forests. They are used to having tea on their lawns and garden parties every week. They are used to having whatever they want, whenever they want it. This Victorian lifestyle of having more than you could ever want, is very different from the the lifestyle of the Americas where you don’t have anything but the clothes you are wearing and the gun in your hand, and if you don't find food that day, you won't eat dinner that night. Even during combat, which Heyward was not unused to, the officers still traveled in luxury and were expected to be treated well even if they were captured. In this book, Duncan Heyward goes from a posh military man, who is not used to the woods, to being so good at being stealthy that he could be disguised as an Indian. David Gamut, a young psalmodist who was originally very frightened to be in the woods, not only turns into a more hardened man, but actually becomes a help during the battle against the Delawares. The harsh American landscaped changed these men into seasoned foresters.
Although the work is 40 years old, “Custer Died for Your Sins” is still relevant and valuable in explaining the history and problems that Indians face in the United States. Deloria’s book reveals the White view of Indians as false compared to the reality of how Indians are in real life. The forceful intrusion of the U.S. Government and Christian missionaries have had the most oppressing and damaging affect on Indians. There is hope in Delorias words though. He believes that as more tribes become more politically active and capable, they will be able to become more economically independent for future generations. He feels much hope in the 1960’s generation of college age Indians returning to take ownership of their tribes problems and build a better future for their children.
Author and Indian Activist, Vine Deloria makes compelling statements in chapters 1 and 5 of his Indiana Manifesto, “Custer Died For Your Sins.” Although published in 1969 this work lays important historical ground work for understanding the plight of the Indian. Written during the turbulent civil rights movement, Deloria makes many comparisons to the Black plight in the United States. He condemns the contemporary views toward Indians widely help by Whites. He argues that Indians are wrongly seen through the historical lens of a pipe smoking, bow and arrow wielding savage. Deloria views the oppressors and conquerors of the Indian mainly in the form of the United States federal government and Christian missionaries. The author’s overall thesis is that whites view Indians the way they want to see them which is not based in reality. The behavior of whites towards Indians reflects this false perception in law, culture and public awareness.
in exchange for reimbursement, it was negotiated by a Cherokee leader, John Ridge, who claimed to represent the Cherokee Nation when really, he spoke for only a small portion of the group. This book begins with the conception of John Ridge, it incorporates everything that the Cherokees believed in and what Ridge had to do in his initiation to manhood. At this time, the white’s already have a correspondence with the Natives, as one of their forbears is white. Eventually, the American Revolutionary War happens and Major Ridge (John’s father) and his family are driven into the madness. Soon after the war has ended, the only thing that whites are focused on is obtaining good land. A discovery of gold in Georgia leads the white people to the Natives land. After finding that all this land meets their needs, they figure that the Indians are wasting it and come up with a plan to acquire it all. In the meantime, Major Ridge is living his life with his children, he has become a wealthy plantation owner as well as a leader of the Cherokee Nation. His son John becomes an attorney, and his nephew Elias Boudinot becomes the first editor of the Cherokee Newspaper. Eventually, Major Ridge and his family are the first to discover that plans have been made to remove all Natives off their land and send them to the other side of the Mississippi
Throughout the history of American literature, the Native American is rarely presented as a fully developed character; instead, he is degraded to a mere caricature, one deeply rooted in traditional racial prejudices. In his novel, The Pioneers, James Fennimore Cooper became the one of the first American authors to depict an Indian as a leading character; in fact, Cooper's depiction of the infamous Chinkachgook is widely considered to be the original archetypical basis for Native American figures as seen in American literature. However, Cooper's characterization of Chinkachgook, known by a variety of names, including John Mohegan and Indian John, is based solely on the white perspective, and as a result, is a highly unrealistic and historically inaccurate stereotype. Moreover, Cooper clearly romanticizes the character of John Mohegan, presenting him as a noble savage, but in doing so, Cooper both demonizes and sentimentalizes Native Americans as a people.
The first factor that we shall discuss is the concept of ‘The Other’ and ‘Boutique Multiculturalism’ in order to understand how Disney's portrayal of Pocahontas in its film has misrepresented the actual historical account. The notion of The Other is defined as, ‘An individual who is perceived by the group as not belonging, as being different in some fundamental way’ and at the same time, ‘The Other is almost always seen as a lesser or inferior being and is treated accordingly’. (Melanie 2010). In the case of Pocahontas, she was considered The Other because her Native American world was considered to be fundamentally different to the explorers of the New World, who were physically similar yet different, speaking another language and using distinct signs (Coppi Agostinelli 2012:2). Through the understanding of The Other, we begin to understand how Pocahontas and her tribe are seen as The Other in the eyes of the colonists who considered themselves to be from a more civilised culture. Similarly for the Powhatan’s tribe, the unwelcomed colonists are considered to be The Other as they are seen to come from an unknown culture. As Melanie has suggested, The Other is often treated as the inferior group, especially in the face of what is considered to be backwards and tribal versus civilised and modern. According to Ono and Buescher, while Pocahontas’ story is meaningful in the Native American history, it is not told as such because of its inferiority in comparison to colonists’ account of the turn of events (2001: 25). From this brief look into the notion of The Other, we can begin to understand how Disney's portrayal of Pocahontas in its film has misrepresented the actual historical account.
Romantic Author James’s Fennimore Cooper created characters in the tradition of independence and self-control. Apart of his “Leather Stockings” series, “The Last of The Mohicans,” uses the American frontier an aesthetic articulation of male Identity. (“Masculine Heroes” American Passages Voices and Visions) In an excerpt from Cooper’s classic, “From Volume I Chapter III”, (Cooper. 485-491) the reader is introduced to the recurring character Natty Bumppo – referred to as Hawkeye-- and his friend Chingachgook. Both men can be seen as representations of the American Frontier, Heroes that embody the mythic elements in Cooper’s setting. They are rugged frontiersmen that thrive self-sufficiently, in a world of harsh realities.
He’s committed to his identity and proud of it; he lives as a traditional Navajo and he takes pride in Navajo ways. On the other hand, Chee is practical enough to see that many Navajos live in poverty, and that his own career could be much advanced by leaving the Reservation and living in the larger, dominant-culture world. Matters are complicated by the fact that Chee’s girlfriend, Mary Landon, is a white woman. For much of their relationship, she envisions Chee leaving the Reservation and taking a position with the FBI or the Bureau of Indian Affairs, so that they can raise their children in the “white world. There are a few FBI agents, some members of the Los Angeles Police force and a mentally twisted paid assassin who aren’t particularly engrossing. Margaret Billy Sosi, the Navajo teenager who runs away to find her grandfather and shows more quick thinking bravery than the other characters. They hold clues to the mystery surrounding him, and what’s especially interesting is that at first, no-one wants to listen to them because they’re elderly and some of them are not always
Not to far away in the same forest, were an Indian and a White man talking about their race’s existence in the "New World." The Indian was Chingachgook, the chief of the Mohicans, and the White man, Hawkeye; this was the name given to him by the Indians. They talk for a while and then decide to eat. Uncas kills them something for dinner and shortly after, The Party on it’s way to Fort William Henry runs into them along the path. They stop for a while and talk and then ask for directions to Fort William Henry. Hawkeye is suspicious of their guide and ask to see him to find out if he is an Iroquois, Hawkeye looks and discovers he is. Learning this, Duncan goes to keep their guide there so that Chingachgook and Uncas can do something about him. As Duncan was staling, Chingachgook and Uncas jumped out of the foliage and accidentally chased him away. They chase after him for a while and wound him but in the end, he is to fast for them and they return to Duncan and his party. Feeling that they were still not safe, Hawkeye offers to help them at no cost. They boarded Hawkeye’s canoe and they head for safety. Chingachgook and Uncas offered to lead the horses up stream to where the others were going by canoe. They go to and island at the foot of Glenn’s Falls for safety. Once everyone was one the island torches were lit and they went down into a cavern. At the break of dawn, the Iroquois began their attack. The attack laste...
Whilst making their way to a British Fort, Major Heywood and his party are attacked by Indians. Three men come to their rescue, two of them Indians, and another is a white man whom was raised by the eldest Indian. This man, Hawkeye, his brother and father rescue the Major and the two women that are in his party.
James Cooper is a popular American writer. By 1851, he became one of the most famous writers in the world. After achieving initial success, he moved to Europe for about seven years, where he continued to write impactful books. The Last of the Mohicans was written in 182...
...rior over the Native Americans based solely on his race and social class. This impacts his decisions when it comes to engaging in war with the Native Americans and his attempt to shoot and kill Chief Powhatan. There are many different values that each character has that support political socialization and political culture.
Nunez-Harrell, Elizabeth. "The Paradoxes of Belonging: The White West Indian Woman in Fiction." MFS Modern Fiction Studies 31.2 (1985): 281-293.
At a time when images of the white settler conquering the "savage" frontier were prevalent in antebellum America, depictions of racial polarization and, alternately, co-existence among different ethnic groups had already begun to find expression in various artistic mediums, from painting to literature. Today more than ever, such works continue to elicit critical re-examinations where race relations, colonization, and literary representation are concerned. While many literary and cultural critics have proposed allegorical readings of political and religious natures, Herman Melville's Moby-Dick can also be read relatedly as an ethnic allegory, where particular scenes and images representing death or destruction illustrate Melville's uneasiness with how white expansionist attitudes are enacted often in tension with or at the expense of different ethnic peoples living within America's geographic borders. For these purposes, I would like specifically to examine Melville's rather unconventional portrayal of a non-white character such as Queequeg. The correlation between his anticipated and ultimate death and the calamitous demise of the Pequod , as a space which rearranges traditional structures of hierarchy and accomodates ethnic diversity, in the end, demonstrates Melville's indecisive anxiety between an imagined fantasy of an alternative social reality and the historical reality of American westward expansionism.
Nunez-Harrell, Elizabeth. "The Paradoxes of Belonging: The White West Indian Woman in Fiction." MFS Modern Fiction Studies 31.2 (1985): 281-293.