Reader: Sherry Mann

Presentation: The Last of the Mohicans, Chapters 4-13

The presentation summary will cover the following:

·        Objective 2: To study the contemporaneous movement of “Romanticism,” the narrative genre of “romance,” and the related styles of the “gothic” and “the sublime.” The focus will be on the “gothic” style.

·        Objective 3: To use literature as a basis for discussing representative problems and subjects of American culture (new historicism), such as equality; race, gender, class; modernization and tradition; the family; the individual and the community; nature; the writer’s conflicted presence in an anti-intellectual society. The focus will be on gender.

Objective 2:

The gothic style of writing is present throughout “The Last of the Mohicans.” For instance, after Hawk-eye saves the captives’ lives, they all are moving on in their journey. Hawk-eye leads the others as he “turned short to his right, and entering the thicket, he crossed a babbling brook, and halted in a narrow dell, under the shade of a few water elms” (119). The brook is personified, typical of the gothic style.  A narrow dell sort of represents a threatening situation. Hawk-eye and his companions entered a dark and shaded area symbolizing a place of terror and fear.

A more obvious example is the description of the blockhouse in chapter 13. Some descriptions are “. . . decayed. . . rude and neglected. . . abandoned . . . crumbling in the solitude of the forest. . .  nearly forgotten. . . associated with the recollections of colonial history. . . gloomy. . . ”  (125). This is the traditional gothic language. What other descriptions do you remember as gothic-like about the blockhouse?

In addition to the gothic style, at different points in the story, David Gamut plays his pitch-pipe. While Heyward, Gamut, Cora, and Alice hid in the cave, they all enjoyed Gamut’s melody until a sudden noise interrupted the harmonious moment:

Exerting his renovated powers to their utmost, he was yet filling the arches of the cave with long and full tones, when a yell burst into the air, that instantly stilled his pious strains, choking his voice suddenly, as though his heart had literally bounded into the passage of his throat. (84)

A startling noise such as a yell is also typical of the gothic style of writing. Whether or not Gamut’s playing of the music caused the Hurons to find them is uncertain, but Cora seemed to be the only concerned individual about whether or not Gamut’s playing of his pitch-pipe would give their position. On page 83, she stated to Heyward, “May not this prove dangerous?” On the other hand, Heyward sort of blows off her idea saying that Gamut’s “voice is too feeble to be heard.” What do you think this says about Cora? The answer to this question may overlap with objective 3.

Summary: Several romantic conventions of the gothic style appear in this novel. Gothic descriptions include haunted buildings, interplay of light, dark, and sometimes red, startling noises, and a memory of a past crime or sin.

Objective 3:

Here are some examples that characterize Cora:

·        The scout states to Cora, “Wisdom is sometimes given to the young, as well as to the old . . . and what you have spoken is wise, not to call it by a better word” (79).

·        [. . .]“ ‘Go, generous [Uncas],’  Cora continued, lowering her eyes under the gaze of the Mohican, and, perhaps, with an intuitive consciousness of her power; ‘go to my father, as I have said, and be the most confidential of my messengers. Tell him to trust you with the means to buy the freedom of his daughters. Go; ‘tis my wish, ‘tis my prayer, that you will go!’ ” (79).

·        The scout states “There is reason in her words” (78).

Would you call Cora a woman of her time or a woman of our time? Why?

Why do you think Cora is allowed to do have so much power, wisdom, intuition, freedom, etc as a woman of her time? Even Alice gets to demand the men and often speaks her opinions. Why do they get away with it?

Summary: According to Claire Garza in a Spring 2003 presentation, “Gender comes up numerous times throughout the novel. [. . .] Women are unequal to the men in endurance and are seen as weak and must be given moments to rest.” Although the women may seem weak in strength physically, they do not seem weak intellectually. Cora is a cautious character. She is not passive and is demanding at times. She even has a sense of power and persuasion. She also seems to employ common sense such as the previous example in which she feels concerned that the sound of the pitch pipe could reveal their location. All of these descriptions of her character seem conflicted with the idealized or traditional gender role of her time.