Coopers Chingachgook

1620 Words4 Pages

Coopers Chingachgook

The Death of Chingachgook as the Apogee of the tragedy of the Indian

Nation in Cooper^s The Pioneers

The Pioneers, written by James Fenimore Cooper in 1823 opens the

popular series of books about the adventures of an inhabitant of the

New England forests Natty Bampo ^ a white man, a scout, and a hunter.

However, the novelist does not merely narrate the life of Natty, his

main aim is to present the whole situation on the Eastern Coast of

America in the seventeenth century. In The Pioneers, in particular,

Cooper writes about the new settlers in America, about their conquest

of the lands, and about the tragic extinction of the Indian people,

who had been proud owners of the lands of America. One of the most

important moments in this book, and even in the whole cycle, is the

scene of the death of Natty Bampo^s best friend Chingachgook, the last

representative of the Indian tribe of Mohicans. In this scene the

author presents his most important ideas about the vices of the new

settlers, hypocrisy of Christianity, and the tragedy of the native

inhabitants of the American lands. C! ooper actually makes the death

of the Mohican sound as a final chord in the calamitous history of the

Indian people, who under the onslaught of European civilization are

doomed to disappear. He makes the dying Indian chief a symbol for his

perishing nation, presenting him at the last minutes of his life in his

national costume and believing in the Indian morals and gods. Moreover,

by misspelling his name on the gravestone, Cooper redoubles the tragic

implication that after the death of Chingachgook his culture is

forgotten and lost, and a meaningful Indian name loses its importance

for the white people who come to live in the formally Indian forests.

Towards the end of The Pioneers the tragic story about the

Indians who were expelled from their lands by the white

Europeans, reaches its apogee. The scene of the Chingachgook^s

dying is full of sadness, pain, and hopelessness. In a very

meaningful way Cooper presents his Indian hero on the threshold

of death, sitting "on a trunk of a fallen oak" (p.381). Thus he

hints at the identity between the old chief and the tree,

implying that once young and strong they both are now old and

lifeless. Moreover, as the fallen tree is now disconnected from

the company of the strong young forest mates, thus also

Chingachgook with his "tawny visage" (p.381) is lonely among

the liveliness of the newly established colonies. So Cooper

writes that in place of the once virgin forests where the

Open Document