Tuesday, 24 January: conclude Irving, begin James Fenimore Cooper, The Last of the Mohicans, chapters 1-3 (pages 1-35 in Penguin Classics edition.)

Reader: Becky Mobley

Goal: To demonstrate class objectives 2 & 3 within the work of Washington Irving and James Fenimore Cooper, as well as to correlate the similarities between the two authors within those objectives.

Objective 2: To study the movement of “Romanticism,” the narrative genre of “romance,” and the related styles of the “gothic” and “the sublime.”

Washington Irving and James Fenimore Cooper used the romantic narrative of the “gothic” and “the sublime” through haunted forests, mountains, nature and other natural objects, as well as interplaying light and dark in those settings and with people.

In Washington Irving’s “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow,” Irving uses descriptive words like “drowsy,” “dreamy,” and “bewitched” to describe the town of Sleepy Hollow.  These romantic and gothic words help to enhance the gothic story line of the headless horseman.  The Hessian Trooper “haunts” the countryside of Sleepy Hollow, as well the main protagonist, Ichabod Crane, who happens to be extremely superstitious.  Irving uses gothic descriptions of nature and ordinary objects, as well as interplaying light and dark to enhance the story’s ghostly appeal (pp 11-12):

“The night grew darker and darker; the stars seemed to sink deeper in the sky, and driving clouds occasionally hid them from his sight.  He had never felt so lonely and dismal. …In the centre of the road stood an enormous tulip-tree, which towered like a giant above all the other trees of the neighborhood, and formed a kind of landmark.  Its limbs were gnarled and fantastic, large enough to form trunks for ordinary trees, twisting down almost to the earth, and rising again into the air. …He passed the tree in safety, but new perils lay before him.”

In Irving’s story, “Rip Van Winkle,” the Kaatskill Mountains are the scene of romantic enchantment and gothic lore.  He uses romantic words like “lordly,” “majestic,” “wild,” “lonely,” and “shagged” to describe the mountainside.  He plays light and dark to give these majestic mountains a gothic ambiance (pp 3-4):

“For some time Rip lay musing on this scene; evening was gradually advancing; the mountains began to throw their long blue shadows over the valleys; he saw that it would be dark long before he could reach the village, and he heaved a heavy sigh when he thought of encountering the terrors of Dame Van Winkle. …Passing through the ravine, they came to a hollow, like a small amphitheatre, surrounded by perpendicular precipices, over the brinks of which impending trees shot their branches, so that you only caught glimpses of the azure sky and the bright evening cloud. …for though the former marvelled greatly what could be the object of carrying a keg of liquor up this wild mountain, yet there was something strange and incomprehensible about the unknown, that inspired awe and checked familiarity.”

In James Fenimore Cooper’s The Last of the Mohicans, Cooper uses a dangerous forest to give the book its gothic lure (p 14):

“The alarmed colonists believed that the yells of the savages mingled with every fitful gust of wind that issued from the interminable forests of the west.”

The forest becomes the embodiment of evil through the colonists’ fears of “savages:”

“Numberless recent massacres were still vivid in their recollections; nor was there any ear in the provinces so deaf as not to have drunk in with avidity the narrative of some fearful tale of midnight murder, in which the natives of the forests were the principal and barbarous actors.  As the credulous and excited traveler related the hazardous chances of the wilderness, the blood of the timid curdled with terror…”

“For many minutes the intricacy of the route admitted of no further dialogue; after which they emerged from the broad border of underbrush which grew along the line of the highway, and entered under the high but dark arches of the forest” (p 24).

Irving also interplays light and dark with his description of the Indian runner (p 20):

“The colors of the war paint had blended in dark confusion about his fierce countenance, and rendered his swarthy lineaments still more savage and repulsive than if art had attempted an effect, which had been thus produced by chance.  His eye alone, which glistened like a fiery star amid lowering clouds, was to be seen in its state of native wildness.”

His vivid descriptions enhanced the novel’s gothic effect, and gave the Indian runner an almost mythical appearance.

Questions:

What other examples of the gothic and the sublime do these two authors have in common within their stories?  How are they different?  What other influences did you notice that Irving had on Cooper?

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.

Irving and Cooper address race in their stories through various characters.  The main racial issue seen in both authors’ works is that of Native Americans.

In Irving’s “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow,” he mentions the superstition “…that an old Indian chief, the prophet or wizard of his tribe, held his powwows there before the country was discovered by Master Hendrick Hudson” (p1).  The Indian is perceived as someone with mystical powers.

In Cooper’s The Last of the Mohicans, Native Americans are the source of malcontent and unparallel evil.  Indians are repeatedly referred to as “savage” within the novel.  Claire Garza, from Spring 2003, mentions race with Hawk-eye talking 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].”

When Hawk-eye and Chingachgook are debating their heritage, Hawk-eye is proud of his white heritage, even though he associates with the “Red Man” (p 35):

“’I am not a prejudiced man, nor one who vaunts himself on his natural privileges, though the worst enemy I have on earth, and he is an Iroquois, daren’t deny that I am genuine white,’ the scout replied, surveying with secret satisfaction the faded color of his bony and sinewy hand…”

Hawk-eye admits to the privilege of being white; furthermore, he mentions an Indian race as his enemy.  During their conversation, the two men debate whose heritage is better.  This is no different than the current on going debates of our time between black and whites.

Questions:

What other social issues are addressed within the authors’ works?  How are these issues presented (i.e.: positive, negative, etc)?  How are they relevant to the social issues of our current society?

Other Observations:

Irving’s character of Ichabod Crane, from “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, is seen as an influence on the character of the Stranger in Cooper’s The Last of the Mohicans.  These similarities can be seen on pages 18,28 & 29 of Mohicans and pages 2, 3 & 8 of “Sleepy Hollow.”  Both characters are tall, lanky and “masters of psalmody.”  What other similarities did you discover between the two authors?

Summary:

Both Washington Irving and James Fenimore Cooper use the gothic and the sublime narrative genres of the “Romanticism” movement within their works.  Irving is seen as an influence on Cooper, since Irving wrote both stories (which are found in The Sketch Book of Geoffrey Crayon, Gent.) between 1819-20, and Cooper wrote The Leather-Stocking Tales, which includes The Last of the Mohicans, between 1821-41.  The gothic and the sublime of the American Renaissance within these stories contain haunted forests and enchanted mountains.  Vivid descriptions that play upon light and dark enhanced the ghostly effects that this genre has upon its readers in these stories.  Not only do theses authors incite ghostly fear in their readers, they also address social and political issues of their times.  Both “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow” and The Last of the Mohicans address issues of race within their tales.  Though it was not discussed, it is important to note that issues of gender are also addressed in all three stories, and the issue of modernization plays an important role in “Rip Van Winkle.”  Both authors can be considered pioneers in the “Romantic Movement,” helping to pave the way for future narratives of the gothic and the sublime.