LITR 4232: American Renaissance
University of Houston-Clear Lake
Student Presentation, spring 2001

Presenter: Keely Coufal

Recorder: Pam Buhler

January 30, 2001

The Last of the Mohicans

            The selected reading in The Last of the Mohicans is found in Chapter 18 (p.181) concerning James Fenimore Cooper's style of writing as seen from the eyes of an artist.  Some difficulty may be found in working through Cooper's extensive descriptions of nature and the environment. Honore de Balzac describes Cooper's style as a literary landscape painter (Nevius viii).

            In the presentation Cooper is described as a writer who uses the technique of painting to enhance his settings.  His ability to apply several meanings to a particular scene in much the same way a painter will add sentiment, emotion, commentary and symbolism to his picture. Cooper injects artistic adjectives to his landscapes enhancing the story to a fable like quality. Cooper uses elements of descriptive art and grafts them into literary form. He uses description that gives emotion to the picturesque.

            The passage on p.181 describes the aftermath of the massacre of William Henry. It describes how there is a blanket of mist that hangs in the sky obstructing the heavens enveloping the scene in utter clarity. It is the sublime that takes place when a place which would normally be described as beautiful on a sunny day is transformed into a scene of grotesque raw death. That is what makes the scene rather fascinating.

            Using adjectives such as bold, barren, shadows, harsh and true colors helps the reader to mentally picture a scene much like a painting, not actually realistic. During  the class discussion Kellie commented how these descriptions were similar to a painting by Thomas Kincaid. Cleo observed how Cooper writes of the grass growing from the blood of humans and how such a scene is disgusting yet ironic that nature is feeding off death. Valerie added that nature cannot hide the blood until growth takes place. Also Sheila noticed that Cooper describes a contrast of actions in the way he says, "The wind blew unequally." Finally Sonja mentioned how Cooper's writing through this style helps to build up anticipation of fear, building up to climax.

            All of these observations add to the idea of Cooper using extensive environmental description rather that extensive dialogue to create a range of emotions. He approaches his stories with the same surreal and illusionary qualities of a complex landscape painting.