The Last of the Mohicans
In James Fenimore Coopers' book, The Last of the Mohicans, we find a classic story set in the 1700's. During this time, the war between the French and English is raging, complicated by an additional contention between the Mohican Indians and the Huron Indians. The location is in the area of Lake George in the Hudson Valley,somewhere between New York and Canada. The theme of this book is a conflict between civilization and savagery, each being personified in both the whites, the Indians, and in nature itself.
The author seems to be showing the truth of human nature: that there is a fine line between acting in a civilized manner and giving in to the primitive urge to totally destroy other human beings. The ruggedness of the region provided a similar conflict with man. At times, it was beautiful, sheltering, protecting, and nourishing the characters with food and water.
At other times, it was obviously wild and untamed bringing danger and aiding in destruction.
There were many prominent characters in the book. These include
Chingachgook and his son, Uncas, who are the last remaining Mohicans and the protagonists of the story. Another was Hawk-eye, who is a white man raised from birth by Chingachgook. Major Duncan Hayward is an officer with the English military who is assigned to transport two sisters from Fort Edward to their father at Fort William Henry. The antagonist, or dominant enemy, of the story was
Magua, a Huron Indian who was a leader of his people and was driven by the traditional savagery of his tribe.
The story begins with Major Hayward preparing to carry out his orders to transport Alice and Cora Monroe to their father, General Monroe, at Fort William Henry. In order to make the journey safely he hired a guide familiar with the area to lead the party through the treacherous territory. Unknown to him, his guide, Mage, had a plan to entrap them by leading them to the Huron's where they would surely be killed. As they pressed on through thick forests and deep rivers, they came upon a psalmist named David Gumet sitting beside the path. Gumet was a pleasant person and a gifted singer who had lost his horse and his provisions. They encouraged him to join them for his own safety. Shortly down the path, the Mohicans ambushed them with th...
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...e bargained with Magua, Uncas tried to sneak up on him. Magua saw him and killed Cora. Uncas leaped on
Magua trying to pull him down, but Magua stabbed Uncas multiple times killing him. Hawk-eye took his gun and shot Magua, causing him to fall down the steep mountain cliff to his death. After joining back together for a ceremony, the story comes to an abrupt end as they all went their separate ways.
Overall, the book was enjoyable to read because there was constant adventure and it was full of surprises. Cooper seemed to highlight the strength of the friendships between the characters throughout the book and how they were able to overcome adversity. The only Christian character in the story was David Gumet, who played a minor part. The story portrayed a definite secular worldview, particularly with the constant violence and the spiritual practices of the Indians. The wording was, at times, difficult toread and the author had a tendency to jump back-and-forth between characters and situations. Nevertheless, I would recommend this book to others because it was adventurous and not boring. I found it difficult to put down once I started reading it.
...h and the French and Indians, but shows some of the ironic nature of this conflict: that due to kidnapping and tribal adoption, some Abenaki Indians were likely to have almost as many English ancestors as the frontiersmen they opposed. The English frontiersmen could be as "savage" as the Indians. Brumwell does very well dispelling the clichés and stereotypes that many have become accustomed to. He uses records of the Abenaki Indian oral tradition to give a voice to both sides. It is a great book from start to finish. This is a true history buffs companion and a great addition to any library. The book is as complex in its knowledge as it is simplistic and detailed in its imagery. As a result, this book can be read by both specialists and general readers alike and can be pared with almost any text giving light to the French and Indian War or the aftermath thereof.
It is crucial to have sub-characters that create tension along with comfort, so the readers are able to connect with them through simple experiences. I was very moved by Christian’s character, because his decisions were connected to real life events. He loved a beautiful woman, but he wasn’t able to truly make her love him because of his lack of intelligence. Stories like these happen in everyday life, making his character even more respected because we’re bound to go through similar experiences. I was very pleased with his character features, even when he was unintelligent; he was able to connect with me, and the story perfectly.
Debo, Angie. A History of the Indians of the United States. 6th ed. Norman: aaaaaUniversity of Oklahoma Press, 1979.
Early American History is not necessarily in my comfort zone in regards to the amount of knowledge I can share off the top of my head. Facing East was the best book for me to start with, I feel, because it affected my ideas about the ways in which Historians have written about conflict between Native Americans and European settlers. The only perspective I have ever read has been a westward-facing perspective. I was almost ashamed at how surprised I was that I had not considered the fact that conflict and distrust existed in North America long before non-natives arrived, rather than what I believe is often portrayed as this harmonious network of Native American tribes who slowly succumbed to encroachment by settlers. The rivalries and wars that exi...
him live. The monster didn’t know this until the end. He found out that to
Then the three men stay with the party and aide them in their journey to the British Fort. Once there, the two women’s father whom is the man in charge of the huge battle going on at that time. The French and English are at war. Colonists are urged to fight for Britain, and once they become part of the battle, they were not allowed to leave to defend their own homes.
Mass incarceration has caused the prison’s populations to increase dramatically. The reason for this increase in population is because of the sentencing policies that put a lot of men and women in prison for an unjust amount of time. The prison population has be caused by periods of high crime rates, by the medias assembly line approach to the production of news stories that bend the truth of the crimes, and by political figures preying on citizens fear. For example, this fear can be seen in “Richard Nixon’s famous campaign call for “law and order” spoke to those fears, hostilities, and racist underpinnings” (Mauer pg. 52). This causes law enforcement to focus on crimes that involve violent crimes/offenders. Such as, gang members, drive by shootings, drug dealers, and serial killers. Instead of our law agencies focusing their attention on the fundamental causes of crime. Such as, why these crimes are committed, the family, and preventive services. These agencies choose to fight crime by establishing a “War On Drugs” and with “Get Tough” sentencing policies. These policies include “three strikes laws, mandatory minimum sentences, and juvenile waives laws which allows kids to be trialed as adults.
Today, half of state prisoners are serving time for nonviolent crimes. Over half of federal prisoners are serving time for drug crimes. Mass incarceration seems to be extremely expensive and a waste of money. It is believed to be a massive failure. Increased punishments and jailing have been declining in effectiveness for more than thirty years. Violent crime rates fell by more than fifty percent between 1991 and 2013, while property crime declined by forty-six percent, according to FBI statistics. Yet between 1990 and 2009, the prison population in the U.S. more than doubled, jumping from 771,243 to over 1.6 million (Nadia Prupis, 2015). While jailing may have at first had a positive result on the crime rate, it has reached a point of being less and less worth all the effort. Income growth and an aging population each had a greater effect on the decline in national crime rates than jailing. Mass incarceration and tough-on-crime policies have had huge social and money-related consequences--from its eighty billion dollars per-year price tag to its many societal costs, including an increased risk of recidivism due to barbarous conditions in prison and a lack of after-release reintegration opportunities. The government needs to rethink their strategy and their policies that are bad
Overcrowding in our state and federal jails today has become a big issue. Back in the 20th century, prison rates in the U.S were fairly low. During the years later due to economic and political factors, that rate began to rise. According to the Bureau of justice statistics, the amount of people in prison went from 139 per 100,000 inmates to 502 per 100,000 inmates from 1980 to 2009. That is nearly 261%. Over 2.1 million Americans are incarcerated and 7.2 million are either incarcerated or under parole. According to these statistics, the U.S has 25% of the world’s prisoners. (Rick Wilson pg.1) Our prison systems simply have too many people. To try and help fix this problem, there needs to be shorter sentences for smaller crimes. Based on the many people in jail at the moment, funding for prison has dropped tremendously.
From the beginning of the Criminal Justice System, the obsession was with prison and punishment. In the last few years, this focus forced the jail and prison populations to skyrocket higher than any other place in the world. There is never a class we are not reminded there are currently 2.3 million people in United States prisons and jails. The criminal justice system or the correctional system has not changed yet remained its focus on deterrence and isolation not on the proactive ways of dealing with crime.
In Thomas King’s novel, The Inconvenient Indian, the story of North America’s history is discussed from his original viewpoint and perspective. In his first chapter, “Forgetting Columbus,” he voices his opinion about how he feel towards the way white people have told America’s history and portraying it as an adventurous tale of triumph, strength and freedom. King hunts down the evidence needed to reveal more facts on the controversial relationship between the whites and natives and how it has affected the culture of Americans. Mainly untangling the confusion between the idea of Native Americans being savages and whites constantly reigning in glory. He exposes the truth about how Native Americans were treated and how their actual stories were
... foolishness of her mother, the Queen Cassiopeia. He saves Andromeda by cutting off the serpents head. After this, he returns to the island and the evil king. He goes to the Kings court and raises Medusa’s head turning the King and his court into stone. Later at a sporting event he throws a discuss which heads into a crowd and strikes and kills the King Acrisius, his grandfather. Then he and Andromeda are able to live happily ever after.
...wants to save his people. He discovers that his real parents are King Laius, the man he killed, and Queen Jocasta, his wife. All along he was the man that put the curse on the city he loved and he sees that the Oracle that he was certain he got rid of actually came true.
Seat belt usage is a struggling problem today through out the United States. It is also lower then any other industrialized nation in the world. The best way to prevent a death in a motor vehicle accident is to wear a seat belt. Everybody has their opinions on safety belts and the laws that go with them, but until they prove them harmful, people recommend for occupants to wear it while in a vehicle. Still today people want it to be a national law for people to buckle up. Estimations from people all over the country prove that seat belts really help save lives. But also some safety belts have failed and have cause people to get trapped in the car. For instance, if someone happens to run off a bridge and go into the water, they would have to
It’s clear – as we come together today – that too many Americans go to too many prisons for far too long, and for no truly good law enforcement reason. It’s clear, at a basic level, that 20th-century criminal justice solutions are not adequate to overcome our 21st-century challenges. And it is well past time to implement common sense changes that will foster safer communities from coast to coast (The US Department of Justice, para. 8-9, 2013).