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Untitled Essay, Research Paper

James Fenimore Cooper was born on September 15, 1789 in Burlington, New Jersey.

He was the son of William and Elizabeth (Fenimore) Cooper, the twelfth of

thirteen children (Long, p. 9). Cooper is known as one of the first great

American novelists, in many ways because he was the first American writer

to gain international followers of his writing. In addition, he was perhaps

the first novelist to “demonstrate…that native materials could inspire

significant imaginative writing” (p. 13). In addition his writing, specifically

The Deerslayer, present a unique view of the Native American’s experiences

and situation. Many critics, for example, argue that The Deerslayer presents

a moral opinion about what occurred in the lives of the American Indians.

Marius Bewley has said that the book shows moral values

throughout the context of it. He says that from the very beginning, this

is symbolically made clear. The plot is a platform for the development of

moral themes. The first contact the reader has with people in the book is

in the passage in which the two hunters find each other. “The calls were

in different tones, evidently proceeding from two men who had lost their

way, and were searching in different directions for their path” (Cooper,

p. 5). Bewley states that this meeting is symbolic of losing one’s way morally,

and then attempting to find it again through different paths. Says Bewley,

“when the two men emerge from the forest into the little clearing we are

face to face with… two opposing moral visions of life which are embodied

in these two woodsmen” (cited in Long, p. 121).

Critic Donald Davie, however, disagrees. His contention

is that the plot is poorly developed. “It does not hang together; has no

internal logic; one incident does not rise out of another” (cited in Long,

p. 121). But according to Robert Long, Bewley has a better grasp of the meaning

and presentation of ideas throughout the book. According to Long, although

the plot development may not be “strictly linear,” it is still certainly

coherent and makes sense. In addition, Long feels that, as Bewley states,

the novel is a way in and through which Cooper presents moral ideas about

the plight of the Native Americans (p. 121).

The story of The Deerslayer is simple. It is novel which

tells the events which occur in the travels of a frontiersman. His name is

Natty, and he is a young man at only twenty years old. Coming from New York

of the eighteenth century, he is unprepared in many ways for what he encounters

in the frontier. But he survives, escapes, and learns many things over the

course of his adventures.

The two characters of Natty and Hurry are contrasted in

such as way that Cooper presents his view of the Native Americans through

them. As earlier indicated, they symbolize two men with differing moral

aptitudes. Throughout the novel, the differences between the two show Cooper’s

feelings about morality as it relates to the American Indians. As Long states,

“The voices of the two men calling to one another at the beginning introduces

the idea of a world that has lost its coherence, is already reduced to

disjunction and fragmentation. Natty and Hurry search for a point of contact

yet move in different directions” (p. 122).

Cooper’s descriptions of Natty and Hurry early in the

novel make it obvious that they stand for opposite moral values. Hurry, for

example, is described by Cooper as having “a dashing, reckless, off-hand

manner, and physical restlessness” (Cooper, p. 6). In fact, it is these

characteristics of him that gave him his nickname by which he is called -

Hurry Scurry, although his real name is Henry March. He is described as tall

and muscular, the “grandeur that pervaded such a noble physique” being the

only thing that kept him from looking “altogether vulgar” (p. 6). The

Deerslayer’s appearance, on the other hand, contrasts with Hurry’s significantly.

Cooper indicates that not only were the two men different in appearance,

but also “in character” (p. 6). A little shorter than Hurry, he was also

leaner. In addition, he was not handsome like Hurry and, says Cooper, he

would not have anything exceptional about his looks had it not been for “an

expression that seldom failed to win upon those who had leisure to examine

it, and to yield to the feelings of confidence it created. This expression

was simply that of guileless truth, sustained by an earnestness of purpose,

and a sincerity of feeling” (p. 6).

Cooper contrasts these two characters early in the story

so that it is evident that they will provide examples of contrasting behavior

as well. It is made clear early on that the later actions of both Hurry and

the Deerslayer will contrast in such a way that the moral issues with which

Cooper was concerned would come to light.

Glimmerglass as the setting of the novel allows the contrast

between the two men to be seen even more strongly. As William P. Kelly (1983)

states, the setting created by Cooper allows the story to have a certain

myth-like quality, a quality which makes the teaching of a lesson by Cooper

all that much more acceptable. “Cooper does not locate his narrative within

the flux of history, but evokes a sense of timelessness consistent with the

world

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