In this paper I will explore two historical contexts of The Last of the Mohicans: its setting during the French and Indian War, and the mid-1820s when it was written. In my reading, the title, The Last of the Mohicans, is a metaphor for the future fate of Native America and the tragic death of the Indian romantic hero, Uncas, and the part white, part black heroine, Cora, speaks to a racial dilemma that had haunted American history and confounded even the most thoughtful Americans in Cooper’s day. In The Last of the Mohicans and his other historical fiction, Cooper looked to the past in order to understand his present and the future. Return to SUNY Seminars Articles & Papers 17), The State University of New York College at Oneonta. Originally published in James Fenimore Cooper: His Country and His Art, Papers from the 2009 Cooper Seminar (No. ©2011, James Fenimore Cooper Society and the College at Oneonta Placed on line August 2011 Presented at the 17th Cooper Seminar, James Fenimore Cooper: His Country and His Art at the State University of New York College at Oneonta, July, 2009 The French and Indian War, and Mid-1820s America Allan M. Historical Contexts of The Last of the Mohicans: Historical Contexts of The Last of the Mohicans: The French and Indian War, and Mid-1820s America
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |