The Last of
The Mohicans
Progressing
Report by Madison Nef
This report
is going to be a little different than some of the other reports I have done. I
am going to do this report as I read the book, describing my thoughts on the
book.
The author
of this book is James Fenimore Cooper. While he doesn’t go into depth about
characters, he has very good dialogue. Here are the characters in the book.
Hawkeye (The
Scout)
Hawkeye is a
white Indian. During the book, he is referred to as “the scout” more often than
he is by his true name. Though he is white, he was raised by Indians. He has
learned to accept both the Indians and the British. His name means “Long
Rifle”, which is suiting since he is very good with a rifle.
Uncas (The
Young Indian)
Uncas is a
young Indian archer who is very able with the bow and arrow. He is a Mohican
Indian. He is called “the young Indian”. His character in the book was named
after a well-known Mohegan sachem, or head chief. He is the son of
Chingachgook, and he is the last of the Mohicans, meaning the last pure-blood
Mohican born. His name means “Bounding Elk”.
Chingachgook
(The Indian)
Chingachgook
is the strong, brave father of Uncas. He is the last Mohican Indian chief. His
name means “Big Snake”, because he can comprehend even the slightest movement
very well.
Colonel
Monro
Colonel
Monro is a war officer for the British who is posted at Fort William
Henry. He is the father of Cora and
Alice. He is the reason that the girls are traveling. He is very caring and
gets worried about his girls very easily.
Duncan
Heyward
Duncan is
the escort to the two girls, Cora and Alice. He is very easily worried. He is
known to have a strong attraction to Alice.
Alice Monro
Alice is the
younger sister of Cora and the daughter of Colonel Monro. She is described as
very beautiful, and more delicate than her sister. She is also more easily
frightened and is very timid. She looks up to Cora a lot, at one point calling
her “mother”.
Cora Monro
Cora is a
dark haired, beautiful girl. She is the older sister of Alice, and the first
daughter of Colonel Monro. She is more spunky and courageous than her sister,
and she is like a mother figure to Alice. Magua, the enemy, has a liking for
her and kidnaps her to take her for his wife. In the end, she dies with Uncas
while trying to protect herself.
Magua (Sly
Fox)
Magua, or
Sly Fox, is the main antagonist in the book. He is a cunning former Indian who
was humiliated by his tribe. He had been caught drunk, and was whipped in front
of his tribe. Since it was Colonel Monro who introduced him to alcohol, he
swore vengeance. However, he has a strong attraction to Cora, and kidnaps her
to take for his wife. In the end, when Cora and Uncas die, it is said that they
will be married in the afterlife.
The only
character that I think Cooper really developed was Magua. He gave him a back-story
and everything. He gave him a love interest, a good motive, and the perfect
bad-guy spirit. Also, Magua is the only character in the book that I really
understand. The rest of the characters are not ever developed.
Here is the
plot:
The story
starts out with the author describing the characters a little, mainly the
sisters and Heyward. The story tells us that they are going to Fort William
Henry with reinforcements because their father needs help- he asked for more
troops and none are coming, and the fort might be taken over. Heyward is the
girls’ escort.
However, Magua
claims to know a shorter trail to the fort, and leads them away from the
reinforcements and right into a trap, where they are ambushed by Huron Indians.
Now, at the same time, Uncas, Hawkeye, and Chingachgook are also out in the
woods, walking to the same fort to offer help. They see the other party getting
ambushed, and run to help. They manage to save the troop, and offer to go with
them to the fort, as they suspect that the Indians will be back with
reinforcements.
As they walk
through the woods, Chingachgook hears a noise and claims that it is a “four
footed beast”. The “beast” turns out to be a horse and rider, whom they mistake
for a foe and shoot down. The horse is killed, and the rider gets spooked.
After drinking some water and regaining his senses, he introduces himself as
David, a psalmist and music teacher. He admires the smart thinking of the
Indians as they throw his dead horse into the river, saying that “water leaves
no traces”.
David
proceeds to join the group as they go forth. Soon, they come upon a waterfall
with a cave behind it, and as it turns to nightfall, decide to sleep in it while
the Mohican Indians stand guard. During the night, the Hurons return and
capture Cora, Alice, and Heyward. They are brought to Magua, the head of the
Huron tribe, and questioned. Magua proposes to Cora, but she declines and asks
why he is so intent on killing her family.
Magua then
goes on to say that he was introduced to “firewater” (alcohol) by Colonel Monro
and that Indians are not supposed to be drunk.
He is caught misbehaving while drunk, and is humiliated in front of his
former tribe by being called up in front of them and whipped harshly. He says
that Indians are usually proud to show scars of war, but these marks are
shameful and he must hide them under the dyed cloth of the white-faces.
The
Mohicans, upon finding their company gone, run to the woods to find them being
held. Uncas and Hawkeye are quick to kill 2 of the Huron tribe, and in shock,
they leave their prisoners and run off. After regaining the members of their
troop, they continue to Fort William Henry.
Upon
arriving at Fort William Henry, they discover that Frenchman Montcalm is there
giving bad news: The British will send no more reinforcements. Distraught but
happy to finally see his daughters, Monro orders everyone to leave the fort. Displeased
that Montcalm allows the people to walk away so freely, the Hurons massacre
them as they leave and take Cora and Alice as prisoners. David, unbeknownst to
the others, follows the girls and their captors.
When Colonel
Monro realizes his daughters are gone, he immediately tells the Mohicans to
hunt for clues to her whereabouts. When Uncas searches, he finds small and
large boot prints that he says belong to Magua and Cora. He says that there is
no trace of Alice. Monro insists that they search for Cora. As they move
through the woods, Uncas finds a musical object, along with some more boot
prints. He recognizes that David followed the Indians.
They follow
the trail all the way to the outskirts of a Huron village, where they find
David. He tells them that the Hurons consider him mad for all of his singing
and won’t kill him. He also tells them that Alice is being held in this
village, and that Cora was brought to a Lenape one. Together, they all devise a
plan to save the girls.
Disguised as
French medicine men, David and Heyward enter the village with intentions of
saving Alice. Uncas and Hawkeye are sent off to rescue Cora, and Chingachgook
stays with Monro, who, as a result of the events, is deranged. David and
Heyward are barely into the village when Uncas is brought in by Indians, having
been caught.
Magua comes
into the village and demands that Uncas be put to death, but does not recognize
Heyward in all of the chaos. Hawkeye “borrows” a bear skin from the Hurons and
sneaks in with Heyward to help save Alice. They find her in a cave, wrap her in
cloth and bring her out as a person that the “medicine men” have to heal.
While
Heyward carries Alice off towards the Lenape village to wait for the others,
David and Hawkeye, still disguised in the bearskin, sneak back in to save
Uncas. The guards recognize the bearskin and let the two in. Uncas, once found,
puts on the bearskin and leaves, while Hawkeye pretends to be David and starts
singing. David stays behind in Uncas’ place.
Discovering
David, the Hurons realize that Uncas has escaped. They find Magua, bound and
gagged, in the cave. Seeing they have been deceived, the warriors become enraged
and swear vengeance. Meanwhile, Magua ventures off to the Lenape village, where
he demands the return of his prisoners, and warns the Lenape of Long Rifle’s
reputation. A chief asks the prisoners who is the "long rifle". Heyward, mistaking Hawkeye's wishes, claims
he is the man. Hawkeye also claims the title, and the chief makes them do a
shooting match, which Hawkeye wins.
Tamenund,
the Lenape chief, at first grants Magua's wish to keep his prisoners, but Cora
begs him to reconsider. She eventually begs him to hear from a Delaware
warrior, referring to Uncas. When first taken to the tribe, Uncas offends the
Delaware. They tear off his clothing and see a turtle tattoo on his chest, the
symbol of his clan. Tamenund accedes to all Uncas
asks and frees the prisoners, except for Cora, as she belongs to Magua. Magua
reluctantly agrees to Uncas's demands but says he will keep Cora. Hawkeye had
offered himself as sacrifice, but Magua refuses. Uncas and Heyward both vow to
hunt down and kill Magua and rescue Cora.
According to
custom, Tamenund has agreed to give Magua a three-hour head start before
permitting the Delaware to pursue to try to rescue Cora. As the Delaware
prepare for battle, David arrives. He said he saw Magua and Cora at the Huron
village, and she was hidden in the cave where they earlier found Alice. The Mohicans
go back to the village to take back Cora.
The Delaware
are in three parties: one led by Hawkeye and Heyward, one by Uncas, and one by
Chingachgook and Munro. They force the Huron back to their village and finally
take the village over. Magua escapes with Cora and two of his warriors and
Uncas, Hawkeye, and Heyward pursue them through the mountains. Cora stops on a
rocky ledge, refusing to continue because she has had enough. When Uncas
attacks the Huron guarding Cora, both he and she are killed. Hawkeye arrives to
see Uncas and Cora die, and enraged, shoots Magua.
The book
ends with the accounts about Uncas’ and Cora’s funerals. It says that Cora and
Uncas will be married in the afterlife.
