Analysis of Cooper's The Last of the Mohicans. cooper

Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine
Sevastopol City State Administration
Sevastopol city humanitarian university
Faculty of Philology

Department of Russian Language and Foreign Literature

The theme of the development of the continent in the novel by F. Cooper "The Last of the Mohicans"

Course work By
discipline ISL 19th century.
students of the AR-2 group
Zatsepina Anna

Scientific director
Ph.D. Associate Professor Dashko E.L.

Sevastopol 2009
CONTENT
INTRODUCTION………………………………………………………… ..…..….3
CHAPTER I THE PLACE OF F. COOPER'S CREATIVITY IN THE AMERICAN ROMANTIC LITERATURE OF THE XIX CENTURY……………...….…..…..4
1.1 General characteristics of the romantic era in the United States ...... 4
F.Cooper…………………………………………………………8

CHAPTER II THE THEME OF THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE CONTINENT IN F. COOPER’S NOVEL “THE LAST OF THE MOHICANS”…………………………………………...... 14
1.1 Reflection of frontier problems in the work………………14
1.2 Images of the British and French in the novel………………………16
CONCLUSION…………………………………………………………..….19
BIBLIOGRAPHY…………………………………………………. ..20

INTRODUCTION

This work is devoted to the theme of the development of the American continent, presented in the novel by F. Cooper "The Last of the Mohicans". This problem is quite relevant in our time, because in connection with various world political contradictions and problems, society needs a reliable history of its people. It must be remembered that all the benefits were given to mankind through hardships and bloody battles. And we see now that the situation in modern world little different from the not-so-distant past. Many states go to war for profit. Entire nations die, often as innocent victims of brutal aggressors who have lost their humanity in search of their well-being.
The purpose of the work is to explore the problems associated with the colonization of Europeans in America on the example of Cooper's novel "The Last of the Mohicans".
The subject of the study is the conflict between the colonizers and local residents mainland.
The object of research is complicated relationship Europeans and natives, the influence of "whites" on the redskins.
Research objectives:
- characterize American romantic literature of the 19th century;
- to indicate the significance of F. Cooper's work in the literature of the era of romanticism in the USA;
- consider the images of the British and French in the novel;
The term paper consists of an introduction, two chapters (“The place of F. Cooper’s work in American romantic literature of the 19th century”, “The theme of the development of the continent in the novel “The Last of the Mohicans”), a conclusion and a list of used literature with a total of 20 pages.

CHAPTER I
THE PLACE OF F. COOPER'S CREATIVITY IN THE AMERICAN ROMANTIC LITERATURE OF THE XIX CENTURY
1.1 General characteristics of the romantic era in the United States
Romantic era in history American Literature covers almost half a century: its beginning falls on the second decade XIX century, the end is illuminated by the flames of the Civil War of the 60s.
Romanticism is one of the most complex, internally contradictory and turbulent periods in American history. literary history. However, it is difficult to overestimate its importance. Enduring traditions developed here. national literature. But the process of its formation was full of dramatic conflicts, fierce controversy, large and small literary wars.
The foundation of the romantic ideology was the rapid socio-economic development of the country at the beginning of the 19th century, which raised it to the level of the most developed European powers and provided a springboard for subsequent capitalist progress. Not a single country in the world knew such rates in the 19th century. In a matter of decades, the United States turned from a conglomerate of disparate agrarian colonies into a powerful power with a highly developed industry, trade, finance, communications network and a huge fleet. It was in this process that the ugly moral sense pragmatic ethics of bourgeois America.
Energetic transformations in the economic and social structure of the United States in the 20-30s of the XIX century. They explain not only the very fact of the emergence of romantic ideology, but also some of its specific features, in particular, a kind of dualism - a combination of patriotic pride in the young fatherland and the bitterness of disappointment caused by the rebirth of the democratic ideals of the revolution.
At further development romantic ideology in the United States, the initial balance of these elements quickly broke down. The first steadily decreased, the second increased.
The era of romanticism in the history of American literature is more or less distinctly divided into three stages. Early (20-30s) - this is the period of "nativism" - the romantic development of national reality, nature, history, attempts artistic research American bourgeois civilization, its delusions, errors and anomalies. It is significant, however, that this study proceeds as a whole from the belief in a sound basis of American democracy, capable of coping with "external" negative influences.
The immediate predecessor of the early stage was pre-romanticism, which developed as early as within the framework of enlightenment literature. The largest writers of early romanticism - V. Irving, D.F. Cooper, W.K. Bryant, D.P. Kennedy and others. With the advent of their works, American literature for the first time receives international recognition. There is a process of interaction between American and European romanticism. An intensive search for national artistic traditions, the main themes and problems are outlined (the war for independence, the development of the continent, the life of the Indians). The worldview of the leading writers of this period is painted in optimistic tones associated with the heroic time of the war for independence and the grandiose prospects that opened before the young republic. There is a close continuity with the ideology of the American Enlightenment. At the same time, critical tendencies are maturing in early romanticism, which are a reaction to Negative consequences strengthening capitalism in all spheres of life American society. They are looking for an alternative to the bourgeois way of life and find it in the romantically idealized life of the American West, the heroism of the War of Independence, the free sea, the country's patriarchal past, and so on.

Mature stage (late 30s - mid 50s), the onset of which is associated with economic shocks the end of the 30s, the powerful rise of radical democratic movements, the serious internal and foreign political conflicts of the 40s, is characterized by a number of tragic discoveries made by the romantics, and first of all by the discovery that social evil does not act from the outside on the supposedly ideal social structure, but heels in the very nature of American bourgeois democracy. In mature American romanticism, dramatic, even tragic tones predominate, a sense of the imperfection of the world and man (N. Hawthorne), moods of sorrow, longing (E. Poe), consciousness of tragedy human being(G. Melville). A hero with a split psyche appears, bearing the stamp of doom in his soul. At this stage, American romanticism is moving from the artistic development of national reality to the study of the universal problems of man and the world on the basis of national material, and acquires philosophical depth. IN artistic language Mature American Romanticism is pervaded by symbolism rarely found among romantics of the previous generation. Poe, Melville, Hawthorne in their works created symbolic images of great depth and generalizing power. Supernatural forces begin to play a noticeable role in their creations, mystical motifs intensify.
The final stage (from the mid-1950s to the beginning civil war) - the era of the crisis of romantic consciousness and romantic aesthetics in the United States, as a result of which American writers and thinkers gradually came to understand that the romantic consciousness was no longer able to cope with the material public life, cannot give the keys to explaining its riddles and pointing out ways to resolve its contradictions. Through a period of severe spiritual crisis, which sometimes entailed a complete rejection of creative activity, many writers of this time passed, including W. Irving, G. Longfellow, D. Kennedy, and others. Romantic ideology and romantic literature in the United States arose much later than in the advanced countries of Europe. By the early 1920s, when the American Romantics first attracted the attention of their fellow citizens, the Romantic movement in European thought and literature had already accumulated a wealth of experience. American thinkers and poets made extensive use of the conquests of European—especially English—Romanticism. It's about not only about imitations and borrowings, of which there were plenty, but also about creative use experience of European romantic philosophy, aesthetics and literature.
At all stages of development, American romanticism is characterized by a close connection with the socio-political life of the country. This is what makes Romantic literature specifically American in content and form. In addition, there are some other differences from European romanticism. American romantics express their dissatisfaction with the country's bourgeois development and do not accept the new values ​​of modern America. The Indian theme becomes a cross-cutting theme in their work: American romantics show sincere interest and deep respect for the Indian people.
American romanticism, to a greater extent than European romanticism, reveals a deep and close connection with the ideology and aesthetics of the Enlightenment. This applies to political theories, sociological ideas, methodology of thinking, genre aesthetics. In other words, American romanticism acts not only as a destroyer of the Enlightenment ideology, but also as its direct heir.
American romantics are the creators of the national literature of the United States. This, above all, distinguishes them from their European counterparts. While in Europe at the beginning of the XIX century. national literatures have secured for themselves the qualities that have evolved over almost a whole millennium and have become their specific national traits, American literature, like the nation, was still being defined. The American Romantics were entrusted with a rather serious task, in addition to the formation of national literature, they had to create the entire complex ethical and philosophical code of the young nation - to help it form.
In addition, it should be noted that for its time, romanticism was the most effective method artistic exploration of reality; without it the process aesthetic development nation would be incomplete.
Thus, tracing the history of the development of the American romantic literature, we find that the search romantic ideal, which opposes the inhumane reality, is provoked by disappointment with the results of the post-revolutionary development of the country. Poets and prose writers focused on the needs of the growing national consciousness Americans. And Fenimore Cooper was one of the first literary figures to grasp these needs. His work was an important new stage, Cooper contributed to the establishment of the historical novel genre in American literature.

1.2 Features of the historical novel

James Fenimore Cooper (1789 - 1851) with with good reason is considered the creator of the American historical novel, the founder of the "marine novel" in world literature, and, finally, the creator of that special type of romantic narrative in which national themes"borders", the historical fate of the Indian tribes, American nature, and which has not yet received a clear terminological designation.
The son of a landowner who became rich during the years of the struggle for independence, who managed to become a judge, and then a congressman, James Fenimore Cooper grew up on the shores of Lake Otsego, a hundred miles northwest of New York, where at that time the "frontier" - the concept in The New World is not only geographical, but to a large extent socio-psychological - between the already developed territories and the wild, pristine lands of the natives. Thus, from an early age, he became a living witness to the dramatic, if not bloody, growth of American civilization, cutting its way further and further west. The heroes of his future books - pioneer squatters, Indians, farmers who suddenly became large planters, he knew firsthand.
In 1803, at the age of 14, Cooper entered Yale University, from where, however, he was expelled for some disciplinary offenses. This was followed by a seven-year service in the navy - first merchant, then military. Cooper and further, having already made a big name for himself as a writer, did not leave practical activity. In the years 1826-1833 he served as the American consul in Lyon, however, rather nominally. In any case, during these years he traveled a considerable part of Europe, settling for a long time, in addition to France, in England, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, and Belgium. In the summer of 1828 he was going to Russia, but this plan was never to be realized. All this colorful life experience, one way or another, was reflected in his work, however, with a different degree of artistic persuasiveness.
In 1811, Cooper married a Frenchwoman, Delaney, who came from a family that sympathized with England during the Revolutionary War; its influence explains those relatively mild reviews of the British and the English government that are found in early novels Cooper. Chance made him a writer. One day, reading aloud to his wife a novel, Cooper remarked that it was not difficult to write better. His wife took him at his word: in order not to seem like a braggart, he wrote his first novel, Precaution, in a few weeks. Assuming that, in view of the already begun competition between English and American authors, English criticism would react unfavorably to his work, Cooper did not sign his name and transferred the action of his novel to England. The latter circumstance could only damage the book, which revealed the author's poor acquaintance with English life and caused very unfavorable reviews of English criticism.
Cooper's creative biography can be conditionally divided into two periods: early (1820 - 1832) and late (1840 - 1851). Between them is a chronological strip of seven years, which is a kind of "journalistic interlude". The few works he created during these years of the "war with compatriots" have an openly polemical tone.
Cooper turned to literary activity as a mature person, whose convictions, including socio-political ones, were largely established. He was a 100% Republican, supporter of Jeffersonian democracy.
Fenimore Cooper realized that the historical novel is a genre that can satisfy readers' interest in America's heroic past and at the same time give expression to a patriotic sense of pride in a young fatherland, which, as contemporaries thought, opened up by its example new page in the history of mankind. These considerations prompted Cooper's literary experiment, which brought him instant fame.
One of Cooper's first novels, The Spy (1821), established the tradition of the American historical novel. Before Cooper, the very fundamental possibility of writing a historical novel based on the material of the history of the United States remained unclear. Its main events were in everyone's memory. The writer who undertook to portray historical figures and the course of the War of Independence was obliged to observe complete accuracy and completely suppress impulses of the imagination. In other words, he had to turn into a historiographer.
Cooper found new method blending history and fiction without sacrificing either imagination or historical accuracy. This foreshadowed the success of the experiment, and following The Spy, the American book market was flooded with historical novels and stories about the Revolutionary War. Obviously, the type of historical novel created by Cooper answered the moral task facing American literature: to establish the moral superiority of the New World over the Old, the republic over the monarchy, state independence over the colonial regime.
Another direction of Cooper's experiments is connected with an attempt historical research some critical processes and phenomena of modern reality, bearing a specifically national American character. This is primarily about territorial expansion and the accompanying special social phenomenon, which is traditionally referred to as "pioneerism", about the tragic fate of the indigenous inhabitants of the continent - the Indians, and ultimately about the future of the American people. It is this range of questions that forms the problematic of the Leather Stocking novels, which are the most valuable part of the artistic heritage of Fenimore Cooper.
He created more than 30 novels, of which five of the most famous and significant stand out, forming a whole series, a pentalogy about the Leather Stocking: "Pioneers", "The Last of the Mohicans", "Prairie", "Pathfinder", "St. John's Wort". This is a kind of "American epic", covering the 1740-1790s, the history of the development of the North American continent, the offensive of "civilization" on the pristine nature, the destruction of the way of life of the indigenous people - the Indians.
The novel The Pioneers (1823) was originally conceived as a historical account of the mores of the "frontier". Here formed social relations, philosophical, economic and legal principles, social skills and moral laws- in other words, special variety a civilization that Cooper, not without reason, considered very important for the future of America. The action of the novel is set back, but not far - less than thirty years. There are no historical characters or historical events in the novel. The duration of the action is only one year. Events develop slowly, interrupted by digressions, detailed descriptions, sketchy details. Key in ideological content novel is a problem of a philosophical and social nature, arising from a complex system of interaction in the "triangle": nature - man - civilization.
In the novel The Prairie (1827), the problem of squatterism is brought to the forefront, which is comprehensively explored by Cooper. Squatterism, as it is presented in Prairie, is not just the seizure of uncultivated lands, but a life position, a moral principle, an aggressive psychological attitude.
At the heart of the plot of "St. In this deadly struggle, Natty's friendship with a young Mohican, Chingachgook, arises and grows stronger, a friendship that both of them will carry through the rest of their lives. The situation in the novel is complicated by the fact that Deerslayer's white allies - "Floating" Tom Hutter and Harry March - are cruel and unfair towards the Indians and provoke violence and bloodshed themselves. Dramatic adventures - ambushes, battles, captivity, escape - unfold in the background picturesque nature- the mirror surface of the Glimmering Lake and its wooded shores.
Pathfinder depicts scenes from the Anglo-French War of 1750-1760. In this war, both the British and the French, by bribery or deceit, attracted Indian tribes. Bumpo with his well-aimed carbine and Chingachgook participate in the battles on Lake Ontario and in Once again help their comrades to win. However, Natty, and with him the author, sharply condemn the war unleashed by the colonialists, leading to the senseless death of both whites and Indians. A significant place in the novel is occupied by the love story of Bumpo for Mabel Dunham. Appreciating the courage and nobility of the scout, the girl, however, prefers Jasper, who is closer to her in age and character. Bumpo generously refuses the marriage (although Mabel was willing to keep her promise to dead father, and marry the Pathfinder) and moves further to the West.
Thus, the five novels are permeated with the theme of the tragedy of the American pioneers, which was the result of a discord between the noble goals of the pioneers and territorial expansion under capitalism.
Let's trace this theme in more detail in Cooper's novel "The Last of the Mohicans"

CHAPTER II
THE THEME OF THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE CONTINENT IN F. COOPER'S NOVEL "THE LAST OF THE MOHICANS"
1.1 Reflection of the problems of the frontier in the work
In The Last of the Mohicans, Cooper reproduces the events of the Anglo-French colonial war in the second half of the 1950s. XVIII century, i.e. refers to the more distant past of the country. Events unfold in the dense, almost impenetrable forests of America:
“A distinctive feature of the colonial wars in North America was that before they could meet in a bloody battle, both sides had to endure the hardships and dangers of wandering through the wild land. The possessions of France and England, which were at war with each other, were separated from each other by a wide strip of almost impenetrable forests.
Only the brave scouts Hawkeye, Chingachgook and Uncas know the secret forest paths. They lead the British along them, having entered the service in their army.
The theme of the development of the continent is presented in the form of a conflict between civilization and nature. Namely, the clash of the "unnatural" civilization of aliens with the natural skills and customs of the red-skinned aborigines is clearly visible, and tragic fate becomes one of the leitmotifs of the story.
Cooper managed to reveal the topic of land development, using only reliable historical facts. To see how subtly and deeply Cooper covered this topic in his novel, let's turn to historical background.
History of development and conquest North America proceeded as follows. Here, the indigenous people and newcomers from across the ocean from the very beginning did not find a common language, could not work out the principles of coexistence, did not recognize each other's rights. True, the tribes of New England, for example, greeted the first pilgrim colonists very hospitably and even helped them survive the famine. The response of the Christians was not long in coming. As soon as the English colonies got a little stronger, they began the unmotivated physical destruction of the "red-skinned pagans" and the seizure of their lands. Within a few decades of the start of the colonization of the east coast of North America, many tribes of New England and Virginia were simply exterminated. The colonies moved irresistibly westward, and their barbaric policy towards the native population remained unchanged.
The Indian policy of the colonialists is striking in its cruelty, cynicism and uncompromisingness. Unlike other continents, where white colonists more or less put up with the neighborhood of the local population, the English, and then the American settlers in the New World, with a truly maniacal persistence, sought to clear the occupied or acquired territories from the Indians. Whites absolutely could not stand the presence of redskins nearby. It was in North America that the phenomenon of the border (the famous "frontier") arose: on one side - whites, on the other - Indians.
Yes, indeed, Cooper devotes his novel to this problem. We observe on the pages of the novel, with what cruelty she asserted herself European civilization in new lands. Capturing the spaces on which they hunted for thousands of years, fished, engaged in agriculture, the original inhabitants of America - the Indians - the British and French colonialists mercilessly exterminated them. The natives fiercely resisted this invasion; but by inciting some Indian tribes against others, involving them in wars, soldering them, deceiving them, the Europeans broke the resistance of a courageous and proud people. For example, Magua from the Huron tribe complains about the colonialists:
“Is it the Fox’s fault that his head is not made of stone? Who gave him fire water? Who made him a rascal? Pale people"

Cooper shows the cruelty of the colonizers who exterminate the Indians, truthfully portrays the savagery and "bloodthirstiness" of individual Indian tribes. However, the process of colonization is reproduced and evaluated in this novel by Cooper, as if from the position of an English colonist who contributed to the creation of the United States. Cooper sympathizes with the British and opposes them to the French colonialists, condemning the unjustified cruelty of their policy of conquest. And it is precisely those Indian tribes that are on the side of the French against the British that are shown as inhumanly cruel (the Iroquois tribe).
Cooper is a supporter of the penetration of civilization not with the help of fire and senseless murders of innocent Indians, but in more humane ways.

1.2 The images of the English and French in the novel

The images of the English are clearly idealized in the novel. This manifested the limitations of the writer, which entailed a violation of the truth of life. However, at times the writer overcomes his inherent limitations and in a number of scenes truthfully portrays the cruelty of the treatment of the British and Indians and the hatred of the Indians for the enslavers, regardless of whether they are English or French:
“Are the Hurons dogs to endure all this? Who will tell the wife of Minaugua that his scalp went to the fish, and native tribe did not avenge his death?<….>What will we say to old people when they ask us about scalps, and we don't even have a pale-faced hair? Women will point their fingers at us. There is a stain of shame on the name of the Hurons, and we must wash it away with blood!
Cooper feared that the aborigines would face complete extermination and that in the eyes of posterity it would be an eternal disgrace for the cut of the white conquerors. In the position of the writer, it was not condescending pity for the vanquished that prevailed, but bitter regret about the irretrievable loss, about the perishing values ​​​​of the culture of the Indians, which could enrich the European settlers with the moral virtues of the ideal of man inherent in it: selfless courage, contempt for death and physical suffering, fidelity to duty, high feeling dignity, invincible love of freedom, which prefers death to slavery. This ideal is depicted as doomed to perish, like the whole people, whose fate is symbolized by the last two representatives of the Mohican tribe: Chingachguk and his son Uncas. The Great Serpent (Chingachgook) recalls how his ancestors died in the fight against white people:
“The whites gave my forefathers fiery water; they began to drink it, drank it greedily, drank until it seemed to them that the earth merged with the sky.
Cooper's own ideal was most fully embodied in the image of Nathaniel Bumpo. This is the son of a settler who grew up among the inhabitants of the "border" and the Indians. He reaches out to people, quickly converges with them, selflessly helps them. The author draws him as an original philosopher, faithful to his word, the duty of friendship and justice. The writer motivates the originality of his character with unusual conditions of formation. He learned the best of Indian customs and skills, but at the same time remained faithful to the humane aspects of European culture. His views bear the imprint of an enlightening cult of reason, liberation from racial, national and religious prejudices; he firmly believes that the Indians are the true masters of the forests.
Along with the scout Bumpo, the central place in the novel is occupied by the Indians from the Mohican tribe - Chingachgook and Uncas, who embody the best character traits of the Indian people. Chingachgook's harsh demands on his son are combined with deep, restrained love and pride. The Indians in Cooper's image are not only in no way inferior to the Europeans, but also surpass them in the depth and wisdom of their judgments, the immediacy of perception of the environment.
Thus, Fenimore Cooper, revealing the controversial struggle of the colonizers-Europeans and aborigines, highlights the theme of the development of the American continent. With sympathy and sadness, he writes about the extinction and extermination of the Indians. A sad note is already heard in the very title of The Last of the Mohicans, announcing, in the words of the writer, "the inevitable, apparently, the fate of all these peoples, disappearing under the pressure of ... civilization, as the leaves of their native forests fall under a breath of frost." The death of the brave young Uncas and his beloved Cora, as it were, symbolizes in the image of Cooper this historical tragedy of an entire nation. Cooper was able to show that ordinary Americans (whose personification is Natty Bumpo) do not want the destruction of the Redskins, they easily find with them mutual language live with them in peace and friendship.

CONCLUSION
Thus, following the development of American romantic literature and, in particular, the work of Fenimore Cooper, we can conclude that the theme he raised in the novel The Last of the Mohicans fully corresponds to the mentality of the Americans of the 19th century. However, the writer did not set himself the goal of depicting history with realistic accuracy. He was a writer of a romantic direction, therefore he used both exaggerations and sometimes embellished reality with fictions. But in his best novels, and in particular in The Last of the Mohicans, he managed to reproduce more expressively and brighter than any other of his contemporaries, very important events from the history of his country and his people: the colonization of the North American mainland and the death of the Indian tribes that make up its indigenous population. In The Last of the Mohicans, Cooper creates a complex that unites American nature and the indigenous population of America, a complex that embodies the idea of ​​a national heritage so dear to the heart of the romantics, which the Americans had yet to master when building a new “civilization”.
After the release of Cooper's historical novels, European criticism was forced to abandon the arrogant view of America as a "land of epigones" and recognize that the United States has its own original national writers.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

1. Anastasiev N.A. Cooper/ Big Encyclopedia Cyril and Methodius. - M., 2002
2. Elizarova M. E. History of foreign literature of the XIX century. - M.: Enlightenment, 1972
3. Foreign literature of the XIX century. Romanticism. Reader: Textbook for students philologist. specialties ped. in-tov / Ed. prof. Ya. N. Zasursky. - M.: Enlightenment, 1976
4. History world literature. In 9 volumes. T. 6. - M .: Nauka, 1989
5. History of foreign literature of the XIX century. Part 1 / Ed. prof. A.S. Dmitriev. – M. 1979
6. History of foreign literature of the XIX century / Ed. N. A. Solovieva. - M.: Higher School, 1991. - 637p.
7. Cooper F. The Last of the Mohicans, or the Narrative of 1757. Roman/Trans. from English. P. Melkova. – M.: Artist. lit., 1990. - 303p.
8. Main works of foreign fiction: Lit-bibliogr. directory / Rep. ed. L.A. Gvishiani-Kosygin. – 5th ed. - M .: Book, 1983
9. http://feb-web.ru
10. http://articles.excelion.ru/science/literature/other...
11. http://www.mesoamerica.ru/indians/north/victims.htlm
etc.................

In 1826 Fenimore Cooper wrote his novel The Last of the Mohicans. A summary of it is presented in this article. In his book, the author was one of the first to describe the uniqueness of customs and spiritual world American Indians. The genre of historical novel is The Last of the Mohicans. Its summary, like the work itself, unfolds in the middle of the 18th century. So let's get down to the story of this book.

Author of "The Last of the Mohicans" summary which we are describing, tells that in the wars that unfolded between the French and the British for the possession of the lands of America (1755-1763), the warring parties more than once used the civil strife of local Indian tribes for their own purposes. It was a very cruel and difficult time. It is not surprising that the girls, traveling to their father, the commander of the besieged fort, accompanied by Duncan Hayward, a major, were worried. The Indian Magua, nicknamed the Sly Fox, was especially worried about Cora and Alice (that was the name of the sisters). This man volunteered to guide them along a safe forest path. Hayward reassured his companions, although he began to worry: maybe they got lost? By continuing to read the summary of the novel "The Last of the Mohicans", you will find out if this is so.

Meeting with Hawkeye, exposure and escape of Magua

In the evening, fortunately, the travelers met Hawkeye (a nickname firmly attached to St. John's wort). Besides, he was not alone, but with Uncas and Chingachgook. An Indian who got lost in the woods during the day?! Far more alarmed than Duncan was Hawkeye. He suggested that he grab the guide, but he managed to escape. No one else doubts that the Magua Indian is a traitor. With the help of Chingachgook, as well as Uncas, his son, Hawkeye ferries the arrivals to a small rocky island.

Chingachgook and Hawkeye go for help

Further, the summary of the book "The Last of the Mohicans" describes a modest dinner, during which Uncas provides Alice and Kora with all kinds of services. It is noticeable that he pays more attention to the latter than to her sister. The Indians, attracted by the wheezing of the horses, frightened by the wolves, find their refuge. A shootout followed, followed by hand-to-hand combat. The first onslaught of the Hurons is repulsed, but the besieged have no more ammunition left. It remains only to run, which, alas, is unbearable for girls. You need to swim at night along a cold and rapid mountain river. Cora suggests that Hawkeye go with Chingachgook to bring help. She has to convince Uncas longer than other hunters: the sisters and the major end up in the hands of Magua, the villain created by Fenimore Cooper ("The Last of the Mohicans").

The captives and kidnappers stop to rest on a hill. The sly Fox tells Kora why they were kidnapped. Colonel Munro, her father, as it turned out, once insulted him very much, ordering him to be whipped for drunkenness. In retaliation, he is going to take his daughter as his wife. Cora resolutely refuses. Magua decides to brutally deal with his prisoners. The major and the sisters are tied to trees, near which brushwood is laid out to light a fire. The Indian advises Kora to agree, if only for the sake of her young sister, still practically a child. However, having learned about what Magua demands from Cora in return for their lives, the brave heroine of The Last of the Mohicans prefers to die painfully. The chapter summary does not describe in detail all the misadventures of the girls. Let's move on to the story of their salvation.

Save the girls

The Indian throws the tomohawk. An ax plunges into the tree, pinning Cora's blond hair. The major breaks free of his bonds and pounces on the Indian. Duncan is almost defeated, but a shot is heard, the Indian falls. It was Hawkeye who arrived with his friends. The enemies are defeated after a short battle. Playing dead, Magua seizes the moment to run again.

Travelers arrive at the fort

Dangerous wanderings end happily - the travelers finally reach the fort. Despite the French besieging it, they manage to get inside under the cover of fog. Finally, the father sees his daughters. The defenders of the fort are forced to accept defeat, however, on conditions that are honorable for the British: the defeated retain their weapons and banners and can retreat unhindered to their own.

New Kidnapping of Cora and Alice

However, the misadventures of the main characters of the work "The Last of the Mohicans" do not end there. A summary of the further misfortunes that befell them is as follows. Burdened with wounded women and children, the garrison leaves the fort at dawn. In a close wooded gorge, located nearby, the Indians attack the wagon train. Once again, Magua kidnaps Cora and Alice.

Colonel Munro, Major Duncan, Uncas, Chingachgook and Hawkeye on the 3rd day after the tragedy inspect the battle site. Uncas concludes from barely noticeable traces that the girls are alive and that they are in captivity. Continuing to inspect this place, the Mohican even establishes that they were kidnapped by Magua! Friends, having consulted, go on a very dangerous journey. They decide to make their way to the homeland of the Sly Fox, to the lands inhabited mainly by the Hurons. Losing and finding traces again, experiencing many adventures, the pursuers finally find themselves near the village.

Saving Uncas, cunning reincarnation

Here they meet David, the psalmist, who, using his reputation as an imbecile, voluntarily followed the girls. From him, the colonel learns about what happened to his daughters: Magua left Alice with him, and sent Cora to the Delawares living on the lands of the Hurons in the neighborhood. Duncan, in love with Alice, wants to get into the village by all means. He decides to pretend to be a fool by changing his appearance with the help of Chingachgook and Hawkeye. In this form, Duncan goes on reconnaissance.

You are probably curious to know how the work "The Last of the Mohicans" continues? Reading the summary, of course, is not as interesting as the novel itself. Nevertheless, its plot, you see, is exciting.

Having reached the Huron camp, Duncan pretends to be a doctor from France. Just like David, he is allowed to go everywhere by the Hurons. To Duncan's dismay, the captive Uncas is brought to the village. At first he is mistaken for a simple prisoner, but Magua recognizes him as the Swift Deer. This name, hated by the Hurons, causes such anger that if the Sly Fox had not stood up for him, Uncas would have been immediately torn to pieces. However, Magua convinces his fellow tribesmen to postpone the execution until morning. Uncas is taken to a hut.

Duncan, as a doctor, is asked for help by the father of an Indian woman who is sick. He comes to the cave in which the patient lies, accompanied by a tame bear and the girl's father. Duncan asks to be left alone with the patient. The Indians obey this demand and leave, leaving the bear in the cave. He is transformed - it turns out that Hawkeye is hiding under an animal skin! Duncan, with the help of a hunter, discovers Alice hidden in a cave, but Magua appears. The Sly Fox triumphs. However, not for long. What then tells the reader Cooper ("The Last of the Mohicans")? The summary describes in general terms the further fate of the heroes.

Escape from captivity

The "bear" pounces on the Indian and squeezes him in his arms, and the major ties the hands of the villain. Alice from the experienced stress cannot take a single step. The girl is wrapped in Indian clothes and Duncan carries her out, accompanied by a "bear". The self-styled "healer" orders the patient's father to stay in order to guard the exit from the cave, referring to the power of the Evil Spirit. This trick succeeds - the fugitives reach the forest safely. Hawkeye at the edge of the forest shows the path to Duncan, which leads to the Delawares. He then returns to free Uncas. With the help of David, he deceives the warriors guarding the Swift Deer, and then hides in the forest with the Mohican. Magua is furious. He is discovered in a cave and released, he calls on his fellow tribesmen to take revenge.

Necessary sacrifice

At the head of a military detachment, Sly Fox decides to go to the Delawares. Magua, having hidden a detachment in the forest, enters the village and turns to the leaders with a demand to hand over the captives to him. The leaders, deceived by Magua's eloquence, at first agree, but Cora intervenes, who says that in reality only she is the captive of the Cunning Fox - the others have freed themselves. Colonel Munro promises a rich ransom for Cora, but the Indian refuses. Suddenly, Uncas, who has become the supreme leader, must release the Cunning Fox along with his captive. At parting, Magua is warned that after the time necessary for flight, the Delawares will go on the warpath.

dramatic ending

We turn to the description of the finale of the novel, the author of which is Cooper ("The Last of the Mohicans"). The summary does not convey, unfortunately, all of its drama. The hostilities soon bring a decisive victory for the tribe, thanks to Uncas' leadership. The Hurons are broken. After capturing Cora, Magua flees. The enemy is being chased by the Swift Deer. Realizing that it will not be possible to leave, the last of Magua's companions, who survived, raises a knife over the girl. Seeing that he might be late, Uncas throws himself off a cliff between an Indian and a girl, but falls and loses consciousness. Cora is killed. Swift Deer, however, manages to strike down her killer. Having seized the moment, Magua plunges a knife into the young man's back, after which he takes off running. A shot is heard - this is Hawkeye is dealt with the villain.

Thus the fathers were orphaned, the whole nation was orphaned. The Delawares had just lost their newfound leader, who was the last of the Mohicans. However, one leader can be replaced by another. The youngest daughter remained with the colonel. And Chingachgook lost everything. Only Hawkeye finds words of comfort. He turns to the Great Serpent and says that the sagamore is not alone. They may have different skin colors, but they are destined to follow the same path.

So ends his work F. Cooper ("The Last of the Mohicans"). We have described its summary only in general terms, since the work itself is quite large in volume, like all novels. The plot, as you can see, is very interesting. Readers are never bored by F. Cooper. "The Last of the Mohicans", a summary of which we have just described, is just one of the many works of this author. Familiarity with the work of Fenimore Cooper is a pleasure to many readers.

Ticket 26.

Heroes, conflict and plot in "The Last of the Mohicans" by J. Cooper or Heroes, plot, images in "The Song of Hiawatha" by G. Longfellow.

J. Cooper "The Last of the Mohicans" 1826

Plot:

The action takes place in North America in 1757. Information has been received that an enemy army is marching towards Fort William Henry. Reinforcements are moving into this fort. Major Hayward Duncan is given the task of delivering his daughters to Fort Commander William Henry. He decides not to take the main road, but a shorter one. An Indian walker is taken to accompany them.

On the way they were joined by David Gamut. Soon they got lost and went to the lake. On the shore they were met by two Indians (Uncas and Chingachgook) and a white hunter (Hawkeye). After talking with them, he finds out that the Indian escorting them is leading them into a trap. They decide to catch the Indian, but the Indian slips away into the woods. Afterwards, they take refuge in a cave for the night, in order to slip past the ambush by morning. But in the morning they are attacked by the Hurons, and after a brief skirmish, the Mohicans and the scout sail away down the river to call for reinforcements at Fort William Henry. The rest are hiding in a cave. But soon they are found and taken to the Huron camp. Along the way, they stop on a mountain, where they are overtaken by the Mohicans and a scout. It turned out that they did not go to the fort, but chased the captives and their captors.

Among the abductors was an Indian who had accompanied them before. It was Magua, but he slipped away again. They then proceeded to Fort William Henry. The fort was surrounded by significant enemy forces. There were a lot of Mings in the forests. Travelers broke through the encirclement to the fort and entered it.

A few days later, a temporary truce was declared. Negotiations were held, in which the commander-in-chief of the French army gave the British an intercepted letter stating that there would be no reinforcements, and the besieged decided to surrender. On the morning of the next day, the besieged moved out of the fort on their way. But in the gorge they were attacked by the Mings and swept away the English army. Alice grabbed Magua and ran from the battlefield, knowing that Cora would run after him. David ran after Kora, singing a song to calm the attackers. The Hurons thought he was crazy and therefore did not touch him. Thus, it also served as a shield for Cora. They mounted their horses and rode away. A few days later, Uncas, Chingachgook, a scout, Hayward and Munro arrived at the battlefield. They were looking for the girls' bodies. Then they saw their footprints and decided to start searching the next day.

The travelers decided that Duncan would infiltrate the Ming camp under the guise of a messenger from the white chief of Canada and try to kidnap Alice. Duncan came to the Huron camp and pretended to be a healer. But during the conversation, a captured warrior was brought in. It was Uncas. After the test that Uncas passed in order not to be killed, he was led to a hut where Magua went. He recognized Uncas and decided that he would be executed at dawn. Meanwhile, one of the leaders of the Hurons took Hayward to the cave where his sick daughter lay. On the way, one of the bears tamed by the Hurons followed them. They entered the cave, the chief showed his daughter and left. The bear approached Hayward, his head fell to one side and it turned out that it was not a bear, but Hawkeye in a bearskin.

In the cave they found Alice. But suddenly Magua appeared. He propped up the door from which he emerged from with a log, but then a scout in a bear's skin grabbed him, and they tied him up. Hayward carried Alice to the Delaware camp, while Hawkeye went to rescue Uncas. After that, they also went to this camp. They were held captive in the Delaware camp. Soon the deception was exposed. Magua took twenty warriors and went to the camp of the Delawares. From there he took Cora and went back.

In the camp of the Delawares, it turned out that Uncas was the leader of the Delawares. The captives were released, and they went with the Delaware army to the camp of the Mings. Twenty men, led by Hawkeye, went to the rear of the Huron army. But they were spotted, and an unequal battle began. Soon the main forces arrived in time, and in a heavy battle the Delawares won. Only Magua and two of his warriors remained. They began to run away. Uncas, Hayward, and the scout ran after them. They went through the cave and out the other side. In the cave, Magua took Cora and they ran on. But after leaving the cave, she refused to go, and one ming killed her. At the same time, Uncas jumped from above and killed the Ming. At that moment, Magua plunged the knife into Uncas's chest three times. Magua jumped onto another rock, could not resist, slipped and hung above the ground. The scout shot him with a gun.

Uncas and Cora were buried, and Hayward took Alice back to her homeland. This is where the piece ends.

Heroes:

Uncas, aka Swift Deer.

Chingachgook, aka the Great Serpent.

Scout Natty Bumpo aka Hawkeye

Eye and Long Carbine.

Major Hayward Duncan aka Generous Hand.

Girls Cora and Alice.

Their father is Colonel Munro.

Magua, aka Sly Fox.

Psalmist David Gamut.

Uncas and Chingachgook are Mohicans. These are strong strong Indians, who see well in the dark, are able to find any traces, orient themselves well in the forests and hear any, even the quietest sound.

The main character of the novel is the hunter and tracker Natty Bumpo. Severe and fair, brave and noble, Bumpo is one of Cooper's most beloved heroes.

Magua is an evil, treacherous, cunning Indian, a leader from the Huron (Ming) tribe. He, like Uncas, loves the girl Cora and is constantly trying to kidnap her.

Major Hayward Duncan is a brave, brave Englishman who escorts the girls Cora and Alice to Fort William Henry. He was in love with Alice.

Cora is a brave, beautiful, noble girl, the daughter of Munro and a black woman from the West Indian Islands.

Alice is a kind, beautiful, gentle girl, sister of Cora, daughter of Munro and Alice Graham.

Their father, Colonel Munro, is an elderly man who loves his daughters very much and is the commander-in-chief of Fort William Henry.

The psalmist David Gamut is a teacher of singing, who reveres songs sacredly; he always carried with him a book of holy songs.

Conflict:

The conflict between civilization and nature is transformed into a clash between the “unnatural” alien civilization and the natural skills and customs of the red-skinned natives, and the tragic fate of the Indians itself becomes one of the leitmotifs of the story.

"Song of Hiawatha" G. Longfellow

Plot : The story was based on the folklore of the American Indians. In the introduction, the author recalls the musician Navadaga, who once in ancient times sang a song about Hiawatha: "On his wondrous birth, / On his great life: / How he fasted and prayed, / How Hiawatha labored, / So that his people were happy, / So that he went to goodness and truth." The supreme deity of the Indians, Gitch Manito - the Lord of Life, - "who created all nations", traced the riverbeds along the valleys with his finger, molded a pipe from clay and lit it. Seeing the smoke of the Pipe of Peace rising to the sky, the leaders of all the tribes gathered: "The Choctos and Comanches walked, / The Shoshones and Omogs walked, / The Hurons and Mandens walked, / The Delawares and Mogoks, / The Blackfoots and Pones, / The Ojibways and Dakotas." Gitch Manito calls on the warring tribes to reconcile and live "like brothers", and predicts the appearance of a prophet who will show them the way to salvation. Obeying the Lord of Life, the Indians plunge into the waters of the river, wash off the war paints, light their pipes and set off on their return journey. Having defeated the huge bear Mishe-Mokva, Medzhekivis becomes the Lord of the Western Wind, while he gives the other winds to his children: the East - to Vebon, the South - to Shavondazi, the North - to the evil Kabibonokka. "In the immemorial years, / In the immemorial time" right from the moon, the beautiful Nokomis, the daughter of the night luminaries, fell on the flowering valley. There, in the valley, Nokomis gave birth to a daughter and named her Venona. When her daughter grew up, Nokomis warned her more than once against the spells of Majekivis, but Venona did not listen to her mother. "And the son of sorrow was born, / Of tender passion and sorrow, / Of wondrous mystery - Hiawatha." The insidious Majekivis soon left Venona, and she died of grief. Hiawatha was raised and raised by a grandmother. As an adult, Hiawatha puts on magical moccasins, takes magical gloves, goes in search of his father, eager to avenge his mother's death. Hiawatha starts a fight with Majekivis and forces him to retreat. After a three-day battle, the father asks Hiawatha to stop the fight. Majekivis is immortal and cannot be defeated. He calls on his son to return to his people, clear the rivers, make the land fruitful, kill the monsters, and promises to make him the lord of the Northwest wind after death. Hiawatha fasts in the wilderness for seven nights and days. He turns to Gitch Manito with prayers for the good and happiness of all tribes and peoples, and, as if in response, a young man Mondamin appears at his wigwam, with golden curls and in green-yellow robes. For three days Hiawatha struggles with the messenger of the Lord of Life. On the third day, he defeats Mondamin, buries him, and then does not stop visiting his grave. Green stalks grow one after another over the grave, this is another incarnation of Mondamin - corn, food sent to the people of Gitch Manito. Hiawatha builds a pirogue from birch bark, fastening it with the roots of temrak - larch, making a frame from cedar branches, decorating with hedgehog needles, staining with berry juice. Then, together with his friend Quasind, Hiawatha, a strongman, sailed along the Takwamino River and cleared it of snags and shoals. In the bay of Gitchi-Gyumi, Hiawatha casts his line three times to catch the Great Sturgeon - Mishe-Namu. Mishe-Nama swallows the pirogue along with Hiawatha, and he, being in the belly of the fish, squeezes the heart of the huge king of fish with all his might until he dies. Hiawatha then defeats the evil wizard Majisogwon, the Pearl Feather, who is guarded by terrible snakes. Hiawatha finds himself a wife, the beautiful Minnehaga of the Dakota tribe. At the wedding feast in honor of the bride and groom, the handsome and mocking Po-Pok-Kivis dances, the musician Chaibayabos sings a tender song, and old Yagu tells the amazing legend of the magician Osseo, who descended from the Evening Star. To protect the crops from spoilage, Hiawatha tells Minnehaga to go around the fields naked in the darkness of the night, and she obediently, "without embarrassment and without fear" obeys. Hiawatha catches the Raven King, Kagagi, who dared to bring a flock of birds to the crops, and, for a warning, ties him to the roof of his wigwam. Hiawatha invents letters "so that future generations / It would be possible to distinguish them." Fearing the noble aspirations of Hiawatha, the evil spirits make an alliance against him and drown his closest friend, the musician Chaibayabos, in the waters of the Gitai-Gyumi. Hiawatha falls ill from grief and is healed with spells and magical dances. The daring handsome Po-Pok-Kivis teaches the men of his tribe to play dice and beats them ruthlessly. Then, getting excited and knowing, moreover, that Hiawatha is absent, Po-Pok-Kivis destroys his wigwam. Back at home, Hiawatha sets off in pursuit of Po-Pok-Kiwis. and he, running away, finds himself on a beaver dam and asks the beavers to turn him into one of them, only bigger and taller than all the others. The beavers agree and even choose him as their leader. Here Hiawatha appears on the dam. The water breaks through the dam, and the beavers hastily hide. Po-Pok-Kivis cannot follow them due to its size. But Hiawatha only manages to catch him, not kill him. The spirit of Po-Pok-Kiwis escapes and takes on the form of a human again. On the run from Hiawatha, Po-Pok-Kiwis turns into a goose, only bigger and stronger than everyone else. This is what destroys him - he cannot cope with the wind and falls to the ground, but runs again, and Hiawatha manages to cope with his enemy, only by calling for help lightning and thunder. Hiawatha loses another of his friends - the strongman Quasinda, who was killed by the pygmies, who fell into his crown with a "blue spruce cone", while he was floating in a pirogue along the river. A harsh winter comes, and ghosts appear in Hiawatha's wigwam - two women. They sit gloomily in the corner of the wigwam, not saying a word, only grabbing the best pieces of food. So many days pass, and then one day Hiawatha wakes up in the middle of the night from their sighs and weeping. Women say they are souls of the dead and came from the islands Afterlife to instruct the living: no need to torment the dead with fruitless grief and calls to return back, no need to put furs, no jewelry, no clay bowls in the graves - just a little food and fire for the road. For four days, while the soul reaches the country of the Afterlife, it is necessary to burn bonfires, illuminating its path. The ghosts then say goodbye to Hiawatha and disappear. Famine begins in the villages of the Indians. Hiawatha goes hunting but fails, while Minnehaga grows weaker day by day and dies. Hiawatha, filled with sorrow, buries his wife and burns the funeral pyre for four nights. Saying goodbye to Minnehaga, Hiawatha promises to meet her soon "in the realm of bright Ponim, / Infinite, eternal life." Yagu returns to the village from a distant campaign and says that he saw the Big Sea and a winged pirogue "larger than a whole grove of pines." In this boat, Yagu saw a hundred warriors, whose faces were painted white, and their chins were covered with hair. The Indians laugh, considering Yagu's story another fable. Only Hiawatha does not laugh. He reports that he had a vision - a winged boat and bearded, pale-faced strangers. They should be met with kindness and greetings - Gitchie Manito said so. Hiawatha tells that the Lord of Life revealed the future to him: he saw "thick hosts" of peoples moving to the West. "Their dialects were different, / But one heart beat in them, / And seethed tirelessly / Their cheerful work: / Axes rang in the forests, / Cities in the meadows smoked, / On rivers and lakes / Sailed with lightning and thunder / Inspired pies ". But the future that has opened up to Hiawatha is not always radiant: he also sees Indian tribes dying in the struggle with each other. Hiawatha, and after him the rest of the Indians, affably meet the pale-faced people who sailed on the boat and join the truths proclaimed by the mentor of the pale-faced people, "their prophet in black clothes" - to the beginnings of the Christian religion, the stories "about St. Mary the Virgin, / About her eternal Son." The guests of Hiawatha fall asleep in his wigwam, exhausted by the heat, and he himself, having said goodbye to Nokomis and his people and bequeathed to listen to the wise instructions of the guests sent from the kingdom of light, sails away in his pie to Sunset, to the Land of Ponym, "to the Isles of the Blessed - to the kingdom / Endless, eternal life!"

Heroes and skins:

Hiawatha is a historical face. He lived in the XV century, came out of the Iroquois tribe, became one of the leaders of the Indian people. In folklore, Hiawatha is endowed with the features of a fairy-tale hero. And in Longfellow's interpretation, the story of Hiawatha becomes a poetic legend, a fairy tale in which fantastic fiction is intertwined with folk wisdom. The hero of the poem is an extraordinary creature, endowed with fabulous strength, extraordinary intelligence and courage. He gives all his strength for the benefit of people. This is the image of a real folk hero. Hiawatha teaches the Indians the skill of hunting and farming, he invents writing, reveals the secret of the art of healing.

He learns the secrets of nature, understands the voices of animals and birds, knows how to listen to the sound of the wind, the splashing of the river. The poem creates beautiful pictures of the nature of North America, describes the life of Indian tribes. The authenticity of the description of clothes, weapons, jewelry is combined with a bold flight of fancy. The images of the heroes are poetic: the brave and gentle Chaibayabos, the simple-hearted and bold Kvazind, the slender and flexible Venona, the beautiful Nokomis. All of them are energetic and courageous people who care about happiness and actively pursue it. In the final part of the poem, Hiawatha encourages fellow tribesmen to live in friendship with the whites and heed their wise advice. The finale of the poem is permeated with the spirit of forgiveness.

The American researcher of Iroquois folklore X. Hale, commenting on the image of Hiawatha created by Longfellow, notes its “components”: it combines the features of the legendary leader of the Iroquois Hayonwata, Taronhayavagon (the deity of the Seneca Indians) and the mythological hero of the Ojibwe Indians Manaboso. There is a judgment that among the numerous "prototypes" that influenced the creation of the image of Hiawatha, there was Longfellow's acquaintance, George Copeway (1818-1863), the leader of the Ojibwe Indians, and then a preacher and writer.

Hiawatha is not only mythological - he is also a romantic hero, embodying the ideal of American romantics, their dream of a hero who is most fully merged with nature (Emerson). Hiawatha learns from childhood to understand nature, to freely communicate with everything living and inanimate in it, to know its language. His mind is able to perceive and comprehend nature. The relationship between Hiawatha and his wife, and between Hiawatha and his friends are romanticized. Hiawatha combines the features of a poet and a warrior - he is called to free the world from monsters, he is an example of kindness and nobility. In the image of Hiawatha, Longfellow, as it were, compresses together three times: the mythological time of the first ancestors (the time of the birth of rituals and customs, the birth of writing and poetry), the historical time (the unification of the Iroquois tribes) and the ideal time (in which Hiawatha acts as a hospitable host who prepared his people to a meeting with white Christians, as if transferring their lands and their inhabitants new era settlement of the Americas by Europeans). Thus, Hiawatha turns into a grandiose image of a folk hero, connecting the past, present and future.

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ConflictcolonizersAndlocalresidentsmainlandVnovelF. Cooper" LastfromMohican"

WITHcontent

Introduction

1. The place of F. Cooper's work in American romantic literature of the 19th century

1.1.General characteristics of the romantic era in the United States

1.2 Features of the historical novel by F. Cooper

2. The theme of the development of the continent in the novel by F. Cooper "The Last of the Mohicans"

2.1 Reflection of the problems of the frontier in the work

2.2 The images of the English and French in the novel

Conclusion

Bibliography

INconducting

This work is devoted to the theme of the development of the American continent, presented in the novel by F. Cooper "The Last of the Mohicans". This problem is quite relevant in our time, because in connection with various world political contradictions and problems, society needs a reliable history of its people. It must be remembered that all the benefits were given to mankind through hardships and bloody battles. And we see now that the situation in the modern world is not much different from the not so distant past. Many states go to war for profit. Entire nations die, often as innocent victims of brutal aggressors who have lost their humanity in search of their well-being.

Targetwork-explore the problems associated with European colonization in America on the example of Cooper's novel "The Last of the Mohicans". Subjectresearch is the conflict of the colonialists and the local inhabitants of the mainland.

objectresearch the complex relations between Europeans and aborigines, the influence of "whites" on the redskins, act.

Tasksresearch:

Describe American romantic literature of the 19th century;

Designate the significance of F. Cooper's work in the literature of the era of romanticism in the USA;

Consider the images of the British and French in the novel;

The term paper consists of an introduction, two chapters (“The place of F. Cooper’s work in American romantic literature of the 19th century”, “The theme of the development of the continent in the novel “The Last of the Mohicans”), a conclusion and a list of used literature with a total of 20 pages.

1. The place of F. Cooper's creativity in American romantic literatureXIXcentury

1.1 General characteristics of the romantic era in the United States

The Romantic era in the history of American literature spans almost half a century: it began in the second decade of the 19th century and ended in the flames of the Civil War of the 1960s.

Romanticism is one of the most complex, self-contradictory, and turbulent periods in American literary history. However, it is difficult to overestimate its importance. Here the enduring traditions of national literature were formed. But the process of its formation was full of dramatic conflicts, fierce controversy, large and small literary wars.

The foundation of the romantic ideology was the rapid socio-economic development of the country at the beginning of the 19th century, which raised it to the level of the most developed European powers and provided a springboard for subsequent capitalist progress. Not a single country in the world knew such rates in the 19th century. In a matter of decades, the United States turned from a conglomerate of disparate agrarian colonies into a powerful power with a highly developed industry, trade, finance, communications network and a huge fleet. It was in this process that the ugly moral meaning of the pragmatic ethics of bourgeois America gradually began to emerge.

Vigorous transformations in the economic and social structure of the United States in the 20-30s of the XIX century. They explain not only the very fact of the emergence of romantic ideology, but also some of its specific features, in particular, a peculiar dualism - a combination of patriotic pride in the young fatherland and bitterness of disappointment caused by the rebirth of the democratic ideals of the revolution.

With the further development of romantic ideology in the United States, the initial balance of these elements was quickly disturbed. The first steadily decreased, the second increased.

The era of romanticism in the history of American literature is more or less distinctly divided into three stages. Early (20-30s) is the period of "nativism" - a romantic exploration of national reality, nature, history, an attempt at an artistic study of American bourgeois civilization, its delusions, mistakes and anomalies. It is significant, however, that this study proceeds as a whole from the belief in a sound basis of American democracy, capable of coping with "external" negative influences.

The immediate predecessor of the early stage was pre-romanticism, which developed as early as within the framework of enlightenment literature. The largest writers of early romanticism - V. Irving, D.F. Cooper, W.K. Bryant, D.P. Kennedy and others. With the advent of their works, American literature for the first time receives international recognition. There is a process of interaction between American and European romanticism. An intensive search for national artistic traditions is underway, the main themes and problems are outlined (the war for independence, the development of the continent, the life of the Indians). The worldview of the leading writers of this period is painted in optimistic tones associated with the heroic time of the war for independence and the grandiose prospects that opened before the young republic. There is a close continuity with the ideology of the American Enlightenment. At the same time, critical tendencies are ripening in early romanticism, which are a reaction to the negative consequences of the strengthening of capitalism in all spheres of life in American society. They are looking for an alternative to the bourgeois way of life and find it in the romantically idealized life of the American West, the heroism of the War of Independence, the free sea, the country's patriarchal past, and so on.

The mature stage (late 30s - mid 50s), the onset of which is associated with economic upheavals of the late 30s, a powerful upsurge of radical democratic movements, serious domestic and foreign political conflicts of the 40s, is characterized by a number of tragic discoveries, made by the Romantics, and above all by the discovery that social evil does not act from the outside on the supposedly ideal social structure, but leans in the very nature of American bourgeois democracy. Mature American romanticism is dominated by dramatic, even tragic tones, a sense of the imperfection of the world and man (N. Hawthorne), moods of sorrow, longing (E. Poe), consciousness of the tragedy of human existence (G. Melville). A hero with a split psyche appears, bearing the stamp of doom in his soul. At this stage, American romanticism is moving from the artistic development of national reality to the study of the universal problems of man and the world on the basis of national material, and acquires philosophical depth. In the artistic language of mature American romanticism, symbolism penetrates, rarely found among the romantics of the previous generation. Poe, Melville, Hawthorne in their works created symbolic images of great depth and generalizing power. Supernatural forces begin to play a noticeable role in their creations, mystical motifs intensify.

The final stage (from the mid-1950s to the beginning of the Civil War) is the era of the crisis of romantic consciousness and romantic aesthetics in the United States, as a result of which American writers and thinkers gradually came to understand that the romantic consciousness was no longer able to cope with the material of social life. , cannot give the keys to explaining its riddles and pointing out ways to resolve its contradictions. Many writers of that time, including W. Irving, G. Longfellow, D. Kennedy and others, went through a period of severe spiritual crisis, which sometimes entailed a complete rejection of creative activity. Romantic ideology and romantic literature in the United States arose much later, than in the advanced countries of Europe. By the early 1920s, when the American Romantics first attracted the attention of their fellow citizens, the Romantic movement in European thought and literature had already accumulated a wealth of experience. American thinkers and poets made extensive use of the conquests of European - especially English - romanticism. We are talking not only about imitations and borrowings, of which there were plenty, but also about the creative use of the experience of European romantic philosophy, aesthetics and literature.

At all stages of development, American romanticism is characterized by a close connection with the socio-political life of the country. This is what makes Romantic literature specifically American in content and form. In addition, there are some other differences from European romanticism. American romantics express their dissatisfaction with the country's bourgeois development and do not accept the new values ​​of modern America. The Indian theme becomes a cross-cutting theme in their work: American romantics show sincere interest and deep respect for the Indian people.

American romanticism, to a greater extent than European romanticism, reveals a deep and close connection with the ideology and aesthetics of the Enlightenment. This applies to political theories, sociological ideas, methodology of thinking, genre aesthetics. In other words, American romanticism acts not only as a destroyer of the Enlightenment ideology, but also as its direct heir.

American romantics are the creators of the US national literature. This, above all, distinguishes them from their European counterparts. While in Europe at the beginning of the XIX century. national literatures have secured for themselves qualities that have developed over almost a whole millennium and have become their specific national features, American literature, like the nation, was still being defined. A rather serious task was entrusted to the American Romantics, in addition to the formation of national literature, they had to create the entire complex ethical and philosophical code of the young nation - to help it form.

In addition, it should be noted that for its time, romanticism was the most effective method of artistic exploration of reality; without it, the process of the nation's aesthetic development would be incomplete.

Thus, tracing the history of the development of American romantic literature, we find that the search for a romantic ideal that opposes inhumane reality is provoked by disappointment with the results of the country's post-revolutionary development. Poets and prose writers focused on the needs of the growing national consciousness of Americans. And Fenimore Cooper was one of the first literary figures to grasp these needs. His work was an important new stage, Cooper contributed to the establishment of the historical novel genre in American literature.

cooper roman frontiermohicans

1.2 Peculiaritieshistoricalnovel

James Fenimore Cooper (1789 - 1851) is rightfully considered the creator of the American historical novel, the founder of the "marine novel" in world literature, and, finally, the creator of that special type of romantic narrative in which the national themes of the "border" and the historical fate of the Indian tribes were comprehensively developed. , of American nature and which has not yet received a clear terminological designation.

The son of a landowner who became rich during the years of the struggle for independence, who managed to become a judge, and then a congressman, James Fenimore Cooper grew up on the shores of Lake Otsego, a hundred miles northwest of New York, where at that time the "frontier" - the concept in The New World is not only geographical, but to a large extent socio-psychological - between the already developed territories and the wild, pristine lands of the natives. Thus, from an early age, he became a living witness to the dramatic, if not bloody, growth of American civilization, cutting its way further and further west. The heroes of his future books - pioneer squatters, Indians, farmers who suddenly became large planters, he knew firsthand.

In 1803, at the age of 14, Cooper entered Yale University, from where, however, he was expelled for some disciplinary offenses. This was followed by a seven-year service in the navy - first merchant, then military. Cooper and further, having already made a big name for himself as a writer, did not leave practical activity. In the years 1826-1833 he served as the American consul in Lyon, however, rather nominally. In any case, during these years he traveled a considerable part of Europe, settling for a long time, in addition to France, in England, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, and Belgium. In the summer of 1828 he was going to Russia, but this plan was never to be realized. All this colorful life experience, one way or another, was reflected in his work, however, with a different degree of artistic persuasiveness.

In 1811, Cooper married a Frenchwoman, Delaney, who came from a family that sympathized with England during the Revolutionary War; her influence explains the relatively mild comments about the British and the English government that are found in Cooper's early novels. Chance made him a writer. One day, reading aloud to his wife a novel, Cooper remarked that it was not difficult to write better. His wife took him at his word: in order not to seem like a braggart, he wrote his first novel, Precaution, in a few weeks. Assuming that, in view of the already begun competition between English and American authors, English criticism would react unfavorably to his work, Cooper did not sign his name and transferred the action of his novel to England. The latter circumstance could only damage the book, which revealed the author's poor knowledge of English life and caused very unfavorable reviews of English criticism.

Cooper's creative biography can be conditionally divided into two periods: early (1820 - 1832) and late (1840 - 1851). Between them is a chronological strip of seven years, which is a kind of "journalistic interlude". The few works he created during these years of the "war with compatriots" have an openly polemical tone.

Cooper turned to literary activity as a mature person, whose convictions, including socio-political ones, were largely established. He was a 100% Republican, supporter of Jeffersonian democracy.

Fenimore Cooper realized that the historical novel is a genre that can satisfy readers' interest in America's heroic past and at the same time give expression to a patriotic sense of pride in a young fatherland, which, as contemporaries imagined, opened a new page in the history of mankind by its example. These considerations prompted Cooper's literary experiment, which brought him instant fame.

One of Cooper's first novels, The Spy (1821), established the tradition of the American historical novel. Before Cooper, the very fundamental possibility of writing a historical novel based on the material of the history of the United States remained unclear. Its main events were in everyone's memory. The writer who undertook to portray historical figures and the course of the War of Independence was obliged to observe complete accuracy and completely suppress impulses of the imagination. In other words, he had to turn into a historiographer.

Cooper found a new way to connect history and fiction without sacrificing either imagination or historical accuracy. This foreshadowed the success of the experiment, and following The Spy, the American book market was flooded with historical novels and stories about the Revolutionary War. Obviously, the type of historical novel created by Cooper answered the moral task facing American literature: to establish the moral superiority of the New World over the Old, the republic over the monarchy, state independence over the colonial regime.

Another direction of Cooper's experiments is connected with an attempt to historically study some of the most important processes and phenomena of modern reality, which have a specifically national American character. First of all, we are talking about territorial expansion and the special social phenomenon accompanying it, which is traditionally called "pioneerism", about the tragic fate of the indigenous inhabitants of the continent - the Indians, and ultimately about the future of the American people. It is this range of questions that forms the problematic of the Leather Stocking novels, which are the most valuable part of the artistic heritage of Fenimore Cooper.

He created more than 30 novels, of which five of the most famous and significant stand out, forming a whole series, a pentalogy about the Leather Stocking: "Pioneers", "The Last of the Mohicans", "Prairie", "Pathfinder", "St. John's Wort". This is a kind of "American epic", covering the 1740-1790s, the history of the development of the North American continent, the offensive of "civilization" on the pristine nature, the destruction of the way of life of the indigenous people - the Indians.

The novel The Pioneers (1823) was originally conceived as a historical account of the mores of the "frontier". Here social relations, philosophical, economic and legal principles, social skills and moral laws were formed - in other words, a special kind of civilization that Cooper, not without reason, considered very important for the future of America. The action of the novel is set back, but not far - less than thirty years. There are no historical characters or historical events in the novel. The duration of the action is only one year. Events develop slowly, interrupted by digressions, detailed descriptions, sketchy details. The key to the ideological content of the novel is the problem of a philosophical and social nature, arising from a complex system of interaction in the "triangle": nature - man - civilization.

In the novel The Prairie (1827), the problem of squatterism is brought to the forefront, which is comprehensively explored by Cooper. Squatterism, as it is presented in Prairie, is not just a seizure of uncultivated lands, but a life position, a moral principle, an aggressive psychological attitude.

At the heart of the plot of "St. In this deadly struggle, Natty's friendship with a young Mohican, Chingachgook, arises and grows stronger, a friendship that both of them will carry through the rest of their lives. The situation in the novel is complicated by the fact that Deerslayer's white allies - "Floating" Tom Hutter and Harry March - are cruel and unfair towards the Indians and provoke violence and bloodshed themselves. Dramatic adventures - ambushes, battles, captivity, escape - unfold against the backdrop of picturesque nature - the mirror surface of the Glimmering Lake and its wooded shores.

Pathfinder depicts scenes from the Anglo-French War of 1750-1760. In this war, both the British and the French, by bribery or deceit, attracted Indian tribes to their side. Bumpo with his well-aimed carbine and Chingachgook participate in the battles on Lake Ontario and once again help their comrades to win. However, Natty, and with him the author, sharply condemn the war unleashed by the colonialists, leading to the senseless death of both whites and Indians. A significant place in the novel is occupied by the love story of Bumpo for Mabel Dunham. Appreciating the courage and nobility of the scout, the girl, however, prefers Jasper, who is closer to her in age and character. Bumpo generously renounces the marriage (although Mabel was willing to keep her dead father's promise to marry Pathfinder) and moves further west.

Thus, the five novels are permeated with the theme of the tragedy of the American pioneers, which was the result of a discord between the noble goals of the pioneers and territorial expansion under capitalism.

Let's trace this theme in more detail in Cooper's novel "The Last of the Mohicans"

2. The theme of the development of the continent in the novel by F. Cooper "The Last of the Mohicans"

2.1 Reflection of the problems of the frontier in the work

In The Last of the Mohicans, Cooper reproduces the events of the Anglo-French colonial war in the second half of the 1850s, i.e. refers to the more distant past of the country. Events unfold in the dense, almost impenetrable forests of America:

“A distinctive feature of the colonial wars in North America was that before they could meet in a bloody battle, both sides had to endure the hardships and dangers of wandering through the wild land. The possessions of France and England, which were at war with each other, were separated from each other by a wide strip of almost impenetrable forests.

Only the brave scouts Hawkeye, Chingachgook and Uncas know the secret forest paths. They lead the British along them, having entered the service in their army.

The theme of the development of the continent is presented in the form of a conflict between civilization and nature. Namely, the clash of the "unnatural" alien civilization with the natural skills and customs of the red-skinned natives is clearly traced, and the tragic fate itself becomes one of the leitmotifs of the story.

Cooper managed to reveal the topic of land development, using only reliable historical facts. To see how subtly and deeply Cooper covered this topic in his novel, let's turn to historical background.

The history of the development and conquest of North America proceeded as follows. Here, the indigenous people and newcomers from across the ocean from the very beginning did not find a common language, could not work out the principles of coexistence, did not recognize each other's rights. True, the tribes of New England, for example, greeted the first pilgrim colonists very hospitably and even helped them survive the famine. The response of the Christians was not long in coming. As soon as the English colonies got a little stronger, they began the unmotivated physical destruction of the "red-skinned pagans" and the seizure of their lands. Within a few decades of the start of the colonization of the east coast of North America, many tribes of New England and Virginia were simply exterminated. The colonies moved irresistibly westward, and their barbaric policy towards the native population remained unchanged.

The Indian policy of the colonialists is striking in its cruelty, cynicism and uncompromisingness. Unlike other continents, where white colonists more or less put up with the neighborhood of the local population, the English, and then the American settlers in the New World, with a truly maniacal persistence, sought to clear the occupied or acquired territories from the Indians. Whites absolutely could not stand the presence of redskins nearby. It was in North America that the phenomenon of the border (the famous "frontier") arose: on one side - whites, on the other - Indians.

Yes, indeed, Cooper devotes his novel to this problem. We observe on the pages of the novel with what cruelty European civilization asserted itself in new lands. Capturing the spaces on which they hunted for thousands of years, fished, engaged in agriculture, the original inhabitants of America - the Indians - the British and French colonialists mercilessly exterminated them. The natives fiercely resisted this invasion; but by inciting some Indian tribes against others, involving them in wars, soldering them, deceiving them, the Europeans broke the resistance of a courageous and proud people. For example, Magua from the Huron tribe complains about the colonialists:

“Is it the Fox’s fault that his head is not made of stone? Who gave him fire water? Who made him a rascal? Pale people"

Cooper shows the cruelty of the colonizers who exterminate the Indians, truthfully portrays the savagery and "bloodthirstiness" of individual Indian tribes. However, the process of colonization is reproduced and evaluated in this novel by Cooper, as if from the position of an English colonist who contributed to the creation of the United States. Cooper sympathizes with the British and opposes them to the French colonialists, condemning the unjustified cruelty of their policy of conquest. And it is precisely those Indian tribes that are on the side of the French against the British that are shown as inhumanly cruel (the Iroquois tribe).

Cooper is a supporter of the penetration of civilization not with the help of fire and senseless murders of innocent Indians, but in more humane ways.

2 .2 imagesEnglishAndFrenchVnovel

The images of the English are clearly idealized in the novel. This manifested the limitations of the writer, which entailed a violation of the truth of life. However, at times the writer overcomes his inherent limitations and in a number of scenes truthfully portrays the cruelty of the treatment of the British and Indians and the hatred of the Indians for the enslavers, regardless of whether they are English or French:

“Are the Hurons dogs to endure all this? Who will tell Minaugua's wife that his scalp went to the fish, and his native tribe did not avenge his death?<….>What will we say to old people when they ask us about scalps, and we don't even have a pale-faced hair? Women will point their fingers at us. There is a stain of shame on the name of the Hurons, and we must wash it away with blood!

Cooper feared that the aborigines would face complete extermination and that in the eyes of posterity it would be an eternal disgrace for the cut of the white conquerors. In the position of the writer, it was not condescending pity for the vanquished that prevailed, but bitter regret about the irretrievable loss, about the perishing values ​​​​of the culture of the Indians, which could enrich the European settlers with the moral virtues of the ideal of man inherent in it: selfless courage, contempt for death and physical suffering, fidelity to duty, high self-esteem, invincible love of freedom, which prefers death to slavery. This ideal is depicted as doomed to perish, like the whole people, whose fate is symbolized by the last two representatives of the Mohican tribe: Chingachguk and his son Uncas. The Great Serpent (Chingachgook) recalls how his ancestors died in the fight against white people:

“The whites gave my forefathers fiery water; they began to drink it, drank it greedily, drank until it seemed to them that the earth merged with the sky.

Cooper's own ideal was most fully embodied in the image of Nathaniel Bumpo. This is the son of a settler who grew up among the inhabitants of the "border" and the Indians. He reaches out to people, quickly converges with them, selflessly helps them. The author draws him as an original philosopher, faithful to his word, the duty of friendship and justice. The writer motivates the originality of his character with unusual conditions of formation. He learned the best of Indian customs and skills, but at the same time remained faithful to the humane aspects of European culture. His views bear the imprint of an enlightening cult of reason, liberation from racial, national and religious prejudices; he firmly believes that the Indians are the true masters of the forests.

Along with the scout Bumpo, the central place in the novel is occupied by the Indians from the Mohican tribe - Chingachgook and Uncas, who embody the best character traits of the Indian people. Chingachgook's harsh demands on his son are combined with deep, restrained love and pride. The Indians in Cooper's image are not only in no way inferior to the Europeans, but also surpass them in the depth and wisdom of their judgments, the immediacy of perception of the environment.

Thus, Fenimore Cooper, revealing the controversial struggle of the colonizers-Europeans and aborigines, highlights the theme of the development of the American continent. With sympathy and sadness, he writes about the extinction and extermination of the Indians. A sad note is already heard in the very title of The Last of the Mohicans, announcing, in the words of the writer, "the inevitable, apparently, the fate of all these peoples, disappearing under the pressure of ... civilization, as the leaves of their native forests fall under a breath of frost." The death of the brave young Uncas and his beloved Cora, as it were, symbolizes in the image of Cooper this historical tragedy of an entire nation. Cooper was able to show that ordinary Americans (whose personification is Natty Bumpo) do not want the destruction of the Redskins, they easily find a common language with them, live in peace and friendship with them.

Zconclusion

Thus, following the development of American romantic literature and, in particular, the work of Fenimore Cooper, we can conclude that the theme he raised in the novel The Last of the Mohicans fully corresponds to the mentality of the Americans of the 19th century. However, the writer did not set himself the goal of depicting history with realistic accuracy. He was a writer of a romantic direction, therefore he used both exaggerations and sometimes embellished reality with fictions. But in his best novels, and in particular in The Last of the Mohicans, he managed to reproduce more expressively and brighter than any other of his contemporaries, very important events from the history of his country and his people: the colonization of the North American mainland and the death of Indian tribes that make up its indigenous population. In The Last of the Mohicans, Cooper creates a complex that unites American nature and the indigenous population of America, a complex that embodies the idea of ​​a national heritage so dear to the heart of the romantics, which the Americans had yet to master when building a new “civilization”.

After the release of Cooper's historical novels, European criticism was forced to abandon the arrogant view of America as a "land of epigones" and recognize that the United States has its own original national writers.

WITHlist of used literature

1. Anastasiev N.A. Cooper / Great Encyclopedia of Cyril and Methodius. - M., 2002

2. Elizarova M. E. History of foreign literature of the XIX century. - M.: Enlightenment, 1972

3. Foreign literature of the XIX century. Romanticism. Reader: Textbook for students philologist. specialties ped. in-tov / Ed. prof. Ya. N. Zasursky. - M.: Enlightenment, 1976

4. History of world literature. In 9 volumes. T. 6. - M.: Nauka, 1989 5. History of foreign literature of the XIX century. Part 1 / Ed. prof. A.S. Dmitriev. - M. 1979

6. History of foreign literature of the XIX century / Ed. N. A. Solovieva. - M.: Higher School, 1991. - 637p.

7. Cooper F. The Last of the Mohicans, or the Narrative of 1757. Roman/Trans. from English. P. Melkova. - M.: Artist. lit., 1990. - 303s.

8. The main works of foreign fiction: Lit-bibliogr. directory / Rep. ed. L.A. Gvishiani-Kosygin. - 5th ed. - M.: Book, 1983

9. http://feb-web.ru 10. http://articles.excelion.ru/science/literature/other... 11. http://www.mesoamerica.ru/indians/north/victims.htlm

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"- the most popular novel by the American writer Fenimore Cooper, which brought him world fame. Novel "Last of the Mohicans"- the book is truly legendary, and equally interesting for children and adults. "Last of the Mohicans" is a novel about brave, stern and noble people; this is the story of the struggle and death of the Indians of North America under the onslaught of the bourgeois "civilization". Novel "Last of the Mohicans" tells the story of the struggle and death of the Indians of North America under the onslaught modern civilization. The main character of the novel is the hunter and tracker Natty Bumpo. Severe and fair, brave and noble, Bumpo is one of Cooper's most beloved heroes.

In the wars between the British and French for the possession of American lands (1755-1763), opponents more than once used the civil strife of the Indian tribes. The times described in the novel "Last of the Mohicans", it was difficult and cruel, dangers lay in wait for the heroes at every step. And it is not surprising that the girls who were traveling, accompanied by Major Duncan Hayward to the commander of the besieged fort, were worried. Alice and Cora were especially worried - that was the name of the sisters - the Magua Indian, nicknamed the Sly Fox. He volunteered to lead them along a supposedly safe forest path. Duncan calmed the girls, although he himself began to worry: are they really lost?

The action of the novel "Last of the Mohicans" takes place in the British colony of New York in August 1757, at the height of the French and Indian War. part of a novel "Last of the Mohicans" is dedicated to the events after the attack on Fort William Henry, when tacit consent the French, their Indian allies massacred several hundred surrendered Anglo-American soldiers and settlers. The hunter and tracker Natty Bumpo, introduced to the reader in the first (in order of development of the action) novel Deerslayer, together with his Mohican Indian friends - Chingachgook and his son Uncas - participate in the rescue of two sisters, daughters of a British commander. Dangerous wanderings end happily - the travelers reach the fort. Under the cover of fog, despite the French besieging the fort, they manage to get inside. The father finally saw his daughters, but the joy of the meeting was overshadowed by the fact that the defenders of the fort were forced to surrender, however, on honorable conditions for the British: the defeated retain their banners, weapons and can freely retreat to their own. As a result, the Delawares set foot on the warpath, and thanks to the skillful leadership of Uncas, the Delawares win a decisive victory - the Hurons are defeated. Magua, having captured Cora, flees, but Hawkeye pays off with the villain. Orphaned people, orphaned fathers, solemn farewell. The Delaware have just lost their newly acquired leader - the last of the Mohicans (sagamore), but one leader will be replaced by another; the colonel had a younger daughter; Chingachgook lost everything.

Historical novel "Last of the Mohicans" American writer James Fenimore Cooper novel, tells about life on the American frontier and one of the first depicts the originality of the spiritual world and the customs of the American Indians.