Sheshe Giddens

The Development of "The Last of the Mohicans"
as a Representation of a Normative American Romance

In the 1820s, the Romantic Movement emerged in the United States as an embodiment of the American spirit after a second war with Britain. Although the Romantic Movement, or the American Renaissance, began to emerge decades after its European counterpart, elements of Romanticism can be traced to the chronicles of the first explorers who wrote about the beauty and mystery of the New World. Thematically, Romanticism is characterized by its longing for the past, and its idealization of nature. Romanticism has a tradition deeply rooted in the experience of the early settlers of the New England colonies. Forged by the conflicts faced early in its history, the American brand of Romanticism reflected its unique environment. Since the late 1400s, elements of Romanticism permeated the written accounts of the early explorers and settlers who came to the Americas. Their writings described the natural beauty and mystery of the New World and introduced the Old World to a civilization and culture native to the Americas that would have a major impact on American Romanticism. Nineteenth century was the time of manifest destiny and American writers were particularly aware of nature, and the vanishing American frontier. Writers<,> such as James Fenimore Cooper<,> were beginning to comprehend that what drew the Europeans to the Americas were being lost. After struggling to survive and form a new nation and conflicts with the Native Americans, the Romantic Movement emerged as Americans began to establish their own identity and traditions. Cooper’s historical fiction, "The Last of the Mohicans," emerges as a normative American romance by uniting America’s innately romantic elements — history and nature

In 1492, Christopher Columbus sailed the Atlantic Ocean in search of shorter trade route from Europe to Asia, what he found and later described in some of his writings would later shape American Romanticism. The image of Columbus’s voyage epitomizes the romance as an individual who sets out on an adventure to a far away land and braves the unknown to arrive in paradise. He encounters an environment unspoiled by human development and a culture that coexists with nature. The language of Columbus’ letter to Luis de Sanangel conveys romantic sentiments in its description of the majestic qualities of the Caribbean.

Although Columbus demonstrates in his writing the romantic appreciation for the natural aesthetic of the Caribbean landscape, he vaingloriously renames the islands and enslaves the natives. Essentially, his attitude toward nature is in direct opposition with Romanticism. Columbus dominates nature and appropriates the land for his patrons in Spain. The adoption of this philosophy by the European explorers and settlers that follow Columbus proves to a source of conflict that will later shape American Romanticism.

Columbus paved the way for colonization in the Americas. Another historical figure whose life and writings reflect various elements of Romanticism is John Smith. Smith personifies the romantic hero. He is a soldier, explorer, and adventurer. A century after Columbus’s exploits in the Caribbean and South America, Captain Smith, with a group of settlers, came to North America to establish the Virginia colony with only limited resources. The colonists had to learn to survive in their new environment and to coexist with their Native American neighbors. Knowing that the survival of the English was dependent on the natives, Smith set out on expeditions to establish trade relations. These expeditions into the wilderness proved valuable to colonists. Smith chronicled one such expedition in "The General History of Virginia, New England, and the Summer Isle." Included in this biographical, though perhaps embellished, narrative is a famous incident in which Pocahontas, daughter of the Chesapeake Bay Indian King Powhatan, saved Smith’s life after the natives capture him.

Smith and the colonist at Jamestown maintained a delicate balance between nature, and the natives and themselves. Starvation was an ever-looming threat as were the harsh winters. Smith’s prose reflects tense relationship between the colonists, the settlers and nature and is essentially a captivity narrative. The colonists invade nature by cultivating large areas of land for agriculture and building permanent structures and the natives defend their lands against the onslaught of these invaders. Smith’s experiences foreshadowed some of the harsh realities to be faced by the settlers as they attempted to master this harsh, new environment.

In the late 1600s, as colonies began to flourish, the Native Americans began to attack European settlements as a result of their continued expansion into their territory. It was common for colonists to be taken as captives during these raids. One of the most famous captives was Mary Rowlandson who chronicled her real-life experiences in "A Narrative of the Captivity and Restoration of Mrs. Mary Rowlandson." In 1675, Rowlandson was captured and enslaved when Wamponoags attacked the Lancaster settlement. Rowlandson spent eleven weeks in captivity during King Philip’s War. Thematically the captivity narrative epitomizes the romantic mingling of love and death. During this conflict she lost both family and friends.

In the same tradition as these earlier texts, Cooper’s novel utilizes the American wilderness as the setting of his tale of loss. Published in 1826, "The Last of the Mohicans" is set in the 1757 during the French and Indian War and utilizes familiar American lore by creating an archetype forged in the image of the early explorers. Cooper’s frontiersman, Hawk-eye, embodies the ideal American romantic hero. He is an individualist who rejects civilization, embraces nature, coexists with Native Americans. Hawk-eye serves as a guide into the American landscape for both the European characters in the novel and the reader. Cooper novel gives more than a Eurocentric perspective by giving a voice to its Native American characters. He creates a dialogue that between both sides and shows that a peaceful coexistence is obtainable. It is in hindsight that Cooper is able to create characters. In a poignant conversation Hawk-eye and his companion, Chingachgook, the last of the Mohican tribe, discusses the nature of the conflict between their two races.

When Cooper first published his novel, the United States was immersed in the conflict created by colonization. As America continued to expand westward, captivity and direct conflict with Native America was still a relevant issue. At the center of "The Last of the Mohicans" is the captivity and loss motif. In the novel, Hawk-eye and his two Indian companions, Chingachgook and Uncas, lead a soldier, psalmist and the two heroines, Cora and Alice, through the wilderness during a war involving the English, French and Indians while pursued by the Indian antagonist, Magua. At the end of the novel after two rounds of pursuit, capture and rescue, Uncas, Cora and Magua are dead.

Through fiction, Cooper is able to explore history and the inherited experiences of Columbus, Smith and Rowlandson that are ingrained in the American consciousness enabling him to formulate an American classic. The Romantic period in American literature utilized America’s uniqueness with the American wilderness as its setting and its history as the background. "The Last of the Mohicans," Cooper’s second novel of the Leather-Stocking Tales, explores prominent images in the American consciousness — captivity and Indian raids, the vanishing "noble savage" and the pathfinder as a romantic hero who explores the vast and beautiful yet harsh landscape of the American frontier. The Romantic Movement was conducive to the expression of the reality faced in the daily lives of nineteenth century Americans. < It is through the examination of the autobiographical narratives of Columbus, Smith and Rowlandson that one can understand these tenets of Romanticism as they converge in Cooper’s historical fiction, "The Last of the Mohicans," as it has emerged as a normative American romance. Cooper’s novel evokes the image of Columbus’ paradise, Smith as a romantic hero, Rowlandson as a captive. As demonstrated in the writing of Columbus, Smith and Rowlandson, America’s foundation was filled with conflict. The novel reflects Cooper’s examination of those conflicts and the resulting loss for both the settlers and the Native Americans. <

Christopher Columbus, "Letter to Luis de Santangel Regarding the First Voyage," The Norton Anthology of American Literature, Ed. Nina Baym. New York: W. W. Norton & Company, Inc., 1999.

James Fenimore Cooper, The Last of the Mohicans, New York, NY: Penguin Books USA, Inc.; 1986.

Mary Rowlandson, "A Narrative of the Captivity and Restoration of Mrs. Mary Rowlandson," The Norton Anthology of American Literature, Ed. Nina Baym. New York: W. W. Norton & Company, Inc., 1999.

Thomas Studley, "The General History of Virginia, New England, and the Summer Isle," The Norton Anthology of American Literature, Ed. Nina Baym. New York: W. W. Norton & Company, Inc., 1999.