James Fenimore Cooper Last of the Mohicans Rhetorical Analysis

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Mrs.Mello Period 1 1 October 2012 James Cooper Analysis James Fenimore Cooper was a year old when his father, a U.S. Congressman, moved his family to the frontier settlement (now Cooperstown) he had founded in upstate New York. It was here in the Hudson River region that James became acquainted with the Indians of central New York state, the art of wilderness survival, the game-bearing Hawkeye prototype who, along with his long rifle and canine companions, visited the Cooper home It was here, during his innocence, the future author developed his sentiments regarding the very things that would later serve as central themes of The Last of the Mohicans. ("James Fenimore Cooper" 1). Cooper uses his many hardships he endured in his young adulthood as themes of his novels. He perhaps uses the loss of his sister Hannah, along with the events surrounding the capture and murder of Jane McRae (which was a nationally known conflict at the time) as an influence for Cora and Alice in The Last of the Mohicans. He presents these characters as delicate and vulnerable as were Jane, and Hannah (Taylor 314-315). Cooper being so emotionally attached to his sister possibly uses the tragic death of Cora as an ode to the tragic death of his own sister. This is a reoccurring theme in many of Coopers works, including “The Pioneers” which one could say center on Elizabeth Temple as thinly disguised reworkings of Cooper's sister's untimely death. According to Taylor, “the main difference between his life and his art was that in the latter James was able to manufacture a timely rescue for Elizabeth-the precise thing he could not do (and for which he could not forgive himself) -- for Hannah” (Taylor 326). Many people consider Cooper as “America’s first Author” (Reuben 1). Whilst being very celebrated, Cooper is known to be widely criticized. His unorthodox style has drawn many

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