LITR 4232:
American Renaissance
Reader: Claire
Garza
Recorder: Robert
Andresakis
Presentation: The
Last of the Mohicans
Chapters 1-13
Discussion:
Focusing on objective 2, relating to the gothic elements in the novel.
Focusing on objective 3, to
use literature as a basis for discussing
representative problems and subjects of American culture such as equality,
race, gender and tradition.
Objective
2
For instance, in the
beginning of the book on pg. 19 there is a description of Magua, the Huron
warrior which emphasizes the dark and light relating to the gothic.
"His body, which was nearly naked, presented a terrific emblem of
death, drawn in intermingled colors of white and black.
Magua is described as an emblem of death, and the word death has a gothic
feeling also. Further down the passage, again his body is described in full
detail and there is mention of his manhood being still at its fullest in
strength. "The expanded chest, full-formed limbs, and grave
countenance of this warrior would denote that he had reached the vigour of his
days, though no symptoms of decay appeared to have yet weakened his manhood. The
word decay comes across as dark and gothic, and the feeling of this passage
seems to point out that Magua is a strong, threatening man.
On page 54, another passage
came across as very gothic. "The young native had already descended to the
water to comply, when a long howl was raised on the edge of the river, and was
borne swiftly off into the depths of the forest, as though the beasts, of their
own accord, were abandoning their prey in sudden terror. Uncas, with instinctive
quickness, receded, and the three foresters held another of their low, earnest
conferences. This passage is very
dark. The fact that the beasts of the forest are running away in fear themselves
would put an even scarier feeling in the air. The howl is much like the screams
of Icobod in the forest and this scene does take place in the depths of the
forest so it comes across as very gothic.
Objective
3
The first issue of
objective 3 is gender reference and equality.
Gender comes up numerous times throughout the novel.
The gender of the women is taken into consideration during times of long
exertion. The women are seen as weak and must be given moments to rest.
They are unequal to the men in endurance and are never given the chance
to make the long haul without resting. On
page 32, Duncan says to Magua, "We have a few moments to spare; let us not
waste them in talk like wrangling women, When the ladies are refreshed we will
proceed. The palefaces make
themselves dogs to their women, muttered the Indian, in his native language; and
when they want to eat, their warriors must lay aside the tomahawk to feed their
laziness". This statement
relates to tradition and race. It
is traditional for the women to ride on horseback the whole trip and to receive
occasional resting breaks that the men do not require.
Race is brought up when Magua refers to the British officers as
palefaces. The Indians have come up
with a term to describe a race that is very different from their own.
Another reference to gender
includes the idea that man has a swift strong hand and that woman has a soft,
dainty wrist. On page 110, Hawk-eye explains, "But go sideling or go
straight, Uncas had seen the movement, and their trail led us on to the broken
bush. The outer branch, near the prints of one of the horses, was bent upward,
as a lady breaks a flower from its stem; but all the rest were ragged and broken
down, as if the strong hand of a man had been tearing them".
Again race is mentioned in
the text. Hawk-eye talks of the
Hurons with a slang term the Whites may not understand. This term is Mingo and
he uses it in a discriminating way. On page 29, Hawk-eye says, "A Mingo is
a Mingo, and God having made him so, neither the Mohawks nor any other tribe can
alter him." Which to me means,
Hawk-eye would never trust any Huron. Angie
Rau from last semester also mentions discrimination in reference to Magua not
fully trusting Cora because she does not have the full appearance of an Indian
and takes on some characteristics of the whites.
Question 1:
If the Indians did not even trust their own native peoples who they
likely shared some sort of ancestry or basic culture with, then did they ever
really have hopes of living amongst the whites in peace without fully enveloping
new ways of living, learning, and thinking, in accordance with the white
culture?
2. How could we relate this
to a possible modern day threat of war?
3. If the current trend
back then was to make the world England, are we in danger now of trying to make
the world the United States?
Claire
states that she will be referring back to objective 2 and objective 3 of the
course syllabus. Section 2 relates to the gothic elements in Last of The
Mohicans and section 3 relates to the discussion of representative problems in
the story and how it relates to the problems of today.
Objective 2 -description
of Magua emphasizes the gothic with the playing of light and black
imagery. Reads from the passage The
body is described as… Reading from the
passage Presence of a Gothic Feeling. On page 54
Student
A What page?
Claire: 3 pages into
chapter 7 in the middle.
Doctor
White: Around page 64
Claire:
Reads from a passage. So
that passage is pretty dark, The fact of the beasts running away… The Howl is
equated to the screams from Ichabod ( Reference to legend of sleepy hollow)
Objective 3 as it relates
to gender… Comes up numerous tomes especial during the long exertion… not
equal to man…
Page 32 at end of Chapter 4
Duncan says to Magua…Reading from
book… Statement relates to tradition and race where women ride on horse
back … race.. pale faces.. another reference to gender. On page 110 end of the
chapter 12 4 paragraphs down, Hawkeye is explaining … Reading
from book… So that is basically how you attract woman… gender
reference…
… discriminating of the
.. page 129 I guess middle of chapter 4 hallways down. Reading from book. Which basically says that Hawkeye will never
trust anyone.
Question 1:
If the Indians did not even trust their own native peoples who they
likely shared some sort of ancestry or basic culture with, then did they ever
really have hopes of living amongst the whites in peace without fully enveloping
new ways of living, learning, and thinking, in accordance with the white
culture?
Student
1: It is kind of two fold you are
saying that … because they have problems with themselves. {The student was
asking for a clarification of the question and presented his reasonings}
Claire:
Native
Americans versus today {Claire responded by narrowing down her argument.}
Student
2: Comparing to England?
Claire:
Now
we are here at the brink of war. {Responding to Student 1 I believe}
.
. .
Doctor
White: French?
Student
2: Europe
in general
Claire:
If you re to be attacked?
Student
2: Conflict
is different.
Claire:
{Makes
a comment about the underdogs and that we are under attack making it underdog
vs. allies.}
Student
3: The
United States was built on the great design of diversity. …Principles of
Dignity = higher ideal and the constitution interpretation has non- racial
implication. What is American culture? Here is the question. I think … {He
goes on to explain that the American culture has been introduced world wide via
the media)… our culture is exported.
Claire:
Right.
Student
4: 911 is a good example of race
unity. Everyone hung flags and united after 911. {States principle of country
unity during 911)
Claire:
I
was thinking of something a little smaller like east vs. west.
. . . The thing is we would come together.
Dr.
White: One
way it relates in the book …{Explains that Cooper relates Hawkeye as an old
idea or concept. He was the pure blood the man with “no cross in his blood.”
He represents old ideas and then comes along Cora who is mixed blood and because
of it is better for who she is. She is the center of all attention and she is
mixed blood.}
Student
1: On
the larger scale, Europeans where intrusive and are we the same? Yes, we do
bully but does it makes us like the Indians? No.
…
in relation to your other questions,
these people are wanting… we can say that we are… {Idea is that these people
(Iraq) are not innocent either, nor are they week. The have been fighting
between themselves for ever}
Claire:
Even here in America there are weak people.
Student
5: I
do not know the history of the American Indians… Country first state second…
{Makes a reference towards the Indian nation being a whole entity and not
separated.}
Student
1: We brought that up in the other
class… (missed the rest)
Student
5: We
are the United States … Individuals.
Claire:
Everyone
has general [unity]. {Missed the last part}
Student
3: I
think that in terms off…{refers to the 9/11 incident and to a movie
documentary, shows that even in a city that is unified by a hate crime there is
still an “underlying division that still exists.”} to an hall discussion…
interesting… dynamic due to the hate crime…. Underlying division that still
exists.
Student
6: I
think it takes a larger scale, huge large scale attack that bring together the
people.
The discussion bounced a
lot during the 20 minutes or so of conversation. The gist of the unity of people
as a whole and whether or not we are unified participants in today’s time.
This theme of unity was being compared to the unity presented by the factions in
the Coopers’ Last of The Mohicans”.
The beginning of the conversation was more of a refinement of the 3 part
question that Claire originally asked. The question took off on a tangent of
unity during 9/11 and the impending war that some people agree and others
disagree too. Ironically this showed the division and lack of ideological unity
among the classroom. Claire brought the conversation back to bare with the
stating that “we would come together “in times of crisis. This prompted
other conversation on the division of race even though the issue of race was
never a factor in the interpretation of the founding documents. This tangent
lead to the discussion of the war some more and the question posed about the
Indian tribal nature and whether or not they where a unified race. The
conversation was ended by a student saying that if the conflict was large enough
and true enough then we would all come together as a unified country.