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

Reader: Kellie Keener

Recorder: Sheila Newell

My presentation from The Last of the Mohicans focused on Objective #2: To study the contemporaneous movement of "Romanticism," the narrative genre of "romance," and the related styles of the "gothic" and the "sublime." In order to illustrate this objective, I chose to discuss the scene depicting the night spent at Glenn’s Falls.

I began by observing that Cooper starts Chapter 4 with a quote from Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream that speaks of revenge. "Well, go thy way; thou shalt not from this grove, Till I torment thee for this injury." This sets the mood of the gothic by suggesting that something sinister lurks in the forest and by referring to literature of the past.

Keeping with the theme of the enchanted woodland, I went on to say that the path that the party followed to reach Glenn’s Falls is a mystical Indian trail that can only be found by an extraordinary guide. Even the reliable and experienced Hawkeye states firmly that "I wouldn’t walk a mile in these woods after night gets into them."

The exhausted party takes shelter in a secret cave that exists in a fantastic place. It is hidden beneath a tumbling waterfall, perfectly concealed. At this point, I read Cooper’s vivid description from the bottom of page 48 and the top of page 49. Cooper continues with the gothic theme by surrounding his heroes’ shelter with dangerous, demonic enemies in the form of Huron warriors.

I continued my discussion of Cooper’s gothic atmosphere by calling attention to Chingachgook, a gothic style hero with a noble nature hidden behind his savage dress and war paint. Chingachgook acts as the loyal guardian of Cooper’s little party, though they are somewhat frightened of this friend in wolf’s clothing. I read a passage from the middle of page 54, which shows Alice’s initial fear of Chingachgook, and I also read a quote from the bottom of page 56 that illustrated Chingachgook’s gothic demeanor and appearance.

Finally, I closed my portion of the presentation with a discussion of the unearthly cries in the dead of night that echo around Glenn’s Falls. I talked about the very gothic implications of this scene, and I read the passage on page 59 that describes these seemingly supernatural cries in the night.

The class discussion segment of my presentation was lackluster. I asked if there were any other observations of the gothic in this section of the book or had we, as a class, "done gothic to death." Cleo responded by noting Cora’s heroism on page 78 of the text, as she assumes command in the tradition of the gothic heroine. Dr. White added that it is Cora who goes into the cave. At this point, some observations were made about Alice’s passivity contrasted with Cora’s noble nature.