LITR 4232: American
Renaissance
Online Student's Assignments
Valerie
Lawrence
LITR 4232
February 3, 2003
Last half of Last of the Mohicans
There is a lot of emphasis in the last half of the book on the differences between Cora and Alice. Cora is shown as a strong woman while Alice is pretty weak-willed. In the 2002 presentation by Brenda Upton, she states that,
Page 104 is one of the most important paragraphs when considering Cora’s character. Magua is asking Cora to swear she will become his wife, if she agrees; he will let the others go. He refers to her as “the dark-haired one”. This would more than likely mean Magua sees Cora as similar to him and his people because she is a different color than the white man and she is strong like his Indian women. But does he trust her because she looks like them? He asks for her word, meaning he would trust what she says, but why trust her now? This reflects to me discrimination and prejudice that has existed from long ago. Just like or society today, many people are trusted (or not trusted) because of the color of their skin.
There is so much emphasis on Cora being “the dark-haired one”. It is generally brought up when discussing her strength. Alice is blond and weak whereas Cora is dark and strong. It seems to also go along with the light and dark aspects of the book. The white men are ignorant of life in the forest and are weak while in the forest, whereas the non-white men are strong when faced with the forest. I agree that Magua seems to trust Cora more because she looks and acts more like an Indian woman than Alice does. Cora also is not as prejudiced towards the Indians as many people in her group are. She does not believe that people should be judged on the basis of skin color. Cora’s opinion in this matter could stem from prejudice faced in her own life. This could be another reason why Magua would trust her. Cora is also trustworthier than the other members of her group. She does not take his bargain and refuses to become his wife. She is honest about the situation and does not try to use the situation to her advantage. A contrast to this would be when they are captured initially and Duncan tries to bargain with Magua by offering him gunpowder and whisky. He is offering him some of the very things that destroyed Magua’s life and that of his people. Rather than saving them with this bargain, he merely insults Magua.
I agree with the statement that there is a lot of discrimination and prejudice that still exists today from long ago. There is a lot of discrimination in the story that shows that there are problems that existed in Cooper’s lifetime that still go on today concerning images of Native Americans. Cooper even demonstrates this in the story with his own writing. He depicts the Mohicans as “noble savages” while depicting the Hurons as merely savages. When Chingachgook kills the French soldier, the act is explained by saying that he is merely acting according to his nature. Whereas, when Duncan goes to see Montcalm, they act civilly towards each other as the rules of war dictate. Even though they are bitter enemies, they act according to the laws of the society in which they live, unlike the Indians who kill as they please. This shows prejudice on Cooper’s part. His writing also seems to be a little bit slanted since he shows a lot of savagery on the Indian’s part such as the Massacre at Fort Henry, but does not really show the savagery of the war that the white men are fighting. It is as if their war is much more noble since it is fought within the bounds of society even though it is just as bloody and brutal as anything the Indians are doing. Cooper seems to romanticize the Indians while putting them down at the same time.