Coopers Chingachgook :: essays papers

makes ChingachgookThe Death of Chingachgook as the Apogee of the tragedy of the IndianNation in coopers The PioneersThe Pioneers, written by James Fenimore Cooper in 1823 opens thepopular series of books about the adventures of an inhabitant of theNew England forests Natty Bampo a white man, a scout, and a hunter.However, the novelist does not merely narrate the life invoice of Natty, hismain aim is to present the whole situation on the east Coast ofAmerica in the seventeenth century. In The Pioneers, in particular,Cooper writes about the new settlers in America, about their conquestof the lands, and about the tragicalal extinction of the Indian lot,who had been proud owners of the lands of America. One of the mostimportant moments in this book, and even in the whole cycle, is thescene of the death of Natty Bampos best friend Chingachgook, the lastrepresentative of the Indian tribe of Mohicans. In this scene theauthor presents his most important ideas about the vices of th e newsettlers, falsehood of Christianity, and the tragedy of the nativeinhabitants of the American lands. C ooper actually makes the deathof the Mohican phonate as a final chord in the calamitous history of theIndian people, who under the onslaught of European civilization are blasted to disappear. He makes the last Indian chief a symbol for hisperishing nation, presenting him at the last minutes of his life in hisnational costume and believe in the Indian morals and gods. Moreover,by misspelling his name on the gravestone, Cooper redoubles the tragicimplication that after the death of Chingachgook his culture is bury and lost, and a meaningful Indian name loses its importancefor the white people who come to live in the formally Indian forests.Towards the end of The Pioneers the tragic story about theIndians who were expelled from their lands by the whiteEuropeans, reaches its apogee. The scene of the Chingachgooksdying is full of sadness, pain, and hopelessness. In a verymean ingful way Cooper presents his Indian hero on the thresholdof death, sitting on a trunk of a fallen oak (p.381). Thus hehints at the identity between the old chief and the channelise,implying that once young and warm they both are now old andlifeless. Moreover, as the fallen tree is now disconnected fromthe company of the strong young forest mates, therefrom alsoChingachgook with his tawny visage (p.381) is lonely amongthe liveliness of the newly formal colonies. So Cooperwrites that in place of the once virgin forests where the