Week+2+--+James+Fenimore+Cooper

=Week 2 -- James Fenimore Cooper and //The Last of the Mohicans//=

First question, and one I plan on asking every week, is this work good? If so or not, why?

Cooper's //The Last of the Mohicans// (LOTM) has had something of a vexed history. When it first was published, it was popular and widely considered as an American competitor with Sir Walter Scott's historical novels. For generations after that, it was read by young men because of its appeal as a tale of adventure, revenge, and violence. Because of this continuing popularity, scholars were somewhat leery of taking Cooper's work completely seriously. How do you feel about Cooper's work? Does it seem like an adventure novel or more serious literature? What specific scenes/characters/structures influence you one way or the other?

LOTM has had much continuing influence; beyond direct adaptation, its characters and situations have been borrowed and taken up in many contexts. See how many examples of TV Shows/Movies/Books/Comics/etc. with similar plots, characters, or story elements you can come up with and give a brief analysis of how you feel each borrows from LOTM.

We will talk about this more in class, but if you feel like doing a bit of research, see what you can find on "captivity narratives". How does Cooper make use of an older popular form in his own narrative? How does he change the way the genre works? Is Cooper being more or less realistic in his portrayals of captivity?

In the world of LOTM, it seems as if most of the Indians have already died off and the rest soon will (with a few exceptions). What seems to be the cause of the Indians' decline? Cooper places his novel about 70 years before he was writing, what might that have to do with his decision to portray the Indians as disappearing? Had Indians already been completely annihilated by Cooper's lifetime (again a research question)?

And finally, the question I most love to ask, what's up with the bear?