Thursday, 2 February: James Fenimore Cooper, The Last of the Mohicans (Midterms)

Web-highlighter: Sarah Hardwick

Introduction:  I found selections from posted midterms that highlighted the range in the forms of gothic and sublime from The Last of the Mohicans.

Midterm Sample Answer 2004

James Fenimore Cooper, also used the forest as a place of both sublime and gothic elements.  This was best displayed in The Last of the Mohicans.  In it, the forest can be a place of haven and one of gloom.  An example would be when Hawk-eye led his group into his secret hiding place.  This area was surrounded by dark and mysterious areas.  However, all of this darkness led to a sanctuary for them during that time.  Cooper masterfully led his reader through the fear of where Hawkeye was taking them to the pleasure of knowing that they have reached a haven. Cooper also uses the gothic element by his use of color, which he used by his inclusion of the three major races during that time.  The whites portrayed (Hawkeye, Alice, etc.) were seen as pure and good, the bulk of Indians portrayed (Excluding Chingacook and Uncas) were displayed as passionate, almost blood-thirsty people.  Finally, the only African-American portrayed (Cora) was not seen as evil, but was very headstrong and the total opposite of the white people she was surrounded with.  Cooper maintained a sense of gothic styling through the dark forest and his mixing of races, but also had some moments were the nature surrounding his characters became sublime.

Midterm Sample Answer 2004

Cooper is one to use wilderness gothic. Racial warfare is occurring in the wilderness, so Cooper really darkens the descriptions of the forest. He describes the wilderness with images of darkness, seclusion, shadows of trees, rippling streams and silence (15). Personification is frequently used to personify the forest such as “the forest…appeared to swallow up the living  mass”  (15). Cooper also describes Magua with racial phrases such as the “dark hand of the savage” with dark symbolizing evil and mystery. The descriptions of the wilderness seems to be parallel to or a metaphor for the racial warfare.

Midterm Sample Answer 2004

Although, in class we have associated the union of “joy” and “pain” as an element of the sublime these elements often overlap elements of the gothic and are closely associated with “light” and “dark.” The two mysterious noises (that from the horse and that from the Indians) are treated remarkably similar by Cooper. In both cases the first sounds we hear are not the horrible noise but instead the soothing sounds of the water fall and the beautiful song either sung by Major Heyward himself or the chorus of the group as a whole. The songs are so moving they bring multiple characters to tears. The language Cooper uses to describe the songs, exalts them into a higher realm; its beauty is as if an angels are singing it. “The melody, which no weakness could destroy, gradually wrought its sweet influence on the senses of those who heard it.” Even the “miserable travesties” were temporarily forgotten and the emotion in the cave experienced by everyone can most simply be described as “joy.”

Then the horrible yell is heard, through out the cave. One should point out how closely together these two contrary states are aligned by Cooper. Cooper does not even wait until the song is over, no the horrible noise interrupts it, placing the darkness directly in contact with the light. In the second noise passage, Alice yells, “We are lost,” and the story moves from and exalted realm of everlasting life, drastically to the fear of death. It is the unification of these two opposite emotions (Joy and Pain) that gives this passage an undoubtedly gothic feel, more than if Cooper had simply inserted mysterious noise at random. [BP]

Midterm Sample Answer 2004

In a particular passage from The Last of the Mohicans by Cooper, it employed gothic and sublime almost simultaneously, a prevalent usage in the novel. I chose this passage not only because it contains romantic element studied in our American Renaisance course, but because these elements are interesting and emphasize the dark and strange moments in history. In this scene, Heyward, Hawkeye, Chingagook, Uncas, Munro, are taking a break as they “light their fire” after having searched for Alice and Cora. What’s gothic in this scene is seclusion and especially the contrast and use of light, dark, and red in that the clouds are “gathering in black masses while the lighter scud still hurried above the water” and the men are surrounded by an “impenetrable darkness” in a deserted area (190). In the scene “a red and fiery star struggled through the drifting vapour,” which produced a “lurid gleam of brightness to the dull aspect of the heaven”  (190). In addition, the fiery star is personified with a human feature, struggling. The effect of the gothic makes the audience a little uneasy producing some anxiety and fear. What’s sublime in this passage is that a beautiful bright glowing star is present but it’s redness signifies anger and possibly blood.

Midterm Sample Answer 2003

In Last of the Mohicans this purity can be found directly with Alice. She is the white grace, the innocence and pure blood, amongst a dark dreary gothic forest and travel companions that have mixed blood. She is the driving force behind the plot as her companions keep trying to return her to her father.

Midterm Sample Answer 2003

Cooper also uses the elements of the gothic in “The Last of the Mohicans” by also moving the haunted house story to the forest.  The natural landscape becomes gothic in that it is full of secret places such as the cave and it also takes on a ghostly atmosphere because the characters are often in places where battles have taken place and blood has been spilled.  Throughout the book there are also references to light and dark in relation to the skin colors of the characters.  Hawkeye continually refers to himself as being a man with “no cross” in his blood.  In Magua’s speech about the differences in the races, Cooper clearly identifies the gothic elements of black, white, and red.

Midterm Sample Answer 2002

The cave is Leatherstocking’s haunted house with its shadows, secret passageways and concealed exits.  Not only does this show up in the cave that Leatherstocking and company hide in, but we also see this again in the cave that Alice is rescued from.  Perhaps, more use of the gothic is seen with Cooper’s use of the symbolically gothic colors of red, black and white.  The main characters in his novel were representative of the red, black and white races. 

Conclusion:  The passages I have highlighted show the range in examples that can be demonstrated for both the gothic and sublime forms.  The examples of the obvious setting of the forest to the unspoken racial topic and many other smaller elements in the novel demonstrate the ways that Cooper has brought the sublime and gothic forms together.