The Last of the Mohicans; A narrative of 1757 by James Fenimore Cooper
The Last of the Mohicans is told from a limited point of view in the third person. The narration of the story explains the events and actions of the novel but does not give an idea of the thoughts or motivations of the characters. The only way to obtain this information is by interpreting what the dramatis personae do and say. This perspective is further limited by Hawkeye's centrality in the narrative. With very few exceptions, Cooper limits the scope of the narrative to events that directly involve Hawkeye.
At the beginning of the story, the narrative and point of view follow first David Gamut, then the Munro sisters and Major Heyward. Cooper changes the story to introduce Hawkeye, Chingachgook, and Uncas, only to bring them to the group consisting of Heyward, the Munro sisters, Gamut, and Magua. From that point on, there are minimal interruptions to the point of view that directly involves Hawkeye.
The point of view changes to sisters Munro and Heyward when they are captured by the Huron Indians, and follows them until their captors kill them. Once Hawkeye and the Mohicans affect their rescue, the narrative follows them once again, until Fort Henry's capitulation to the French. At that point, during the ensuing battle between the Ferrets and the English, Cooper once again focuses on the sisters Munro and Gamut as Magua leads them. The story then passes to Hawkeye, Colonel Munro, and Heyward as they follow the sisters and their abductor. There are only a few scene changes to keep the reader informed of his fate, while Cooper primarily delivers the story to the events and actions of Hawkeye and his group.
The historical romance
Set in the third year of the war between France and India, The Last of the Mohicans is a historical novel, but it does not attempt to provide a direct account of the recorded events of the time. Cooper, like one of the other popular authors of his day, Sir Walter Scott places more importance on narrative than on the historical context in which it takes place. However, the book is not completely fictional. It refers to the Fort William Henry massacre, and some of the characters in the novel are based, at least in part, on real figures: Colonel Munro, of the English army, and the Marquis de Montcalm, of the French. The names of the Indian tribes, Delaware, Huron, and Mohawk are of course real, and "Mohican" is a corruption of "Mohegan".
There are some deviations from the facts. Despite the book's title and events, there were still members of the Mohawk tribe in the area when Cooper wrote his novel. In fact, the Mohicans, or Mohegans, as they are more commonly known now, were not wiped out by the French and Indian War. Members of the tribe still exist today, and they still live in the upper New York state area. The novel takes place within the area in which Cooper himself lived. At the time it was written, the rural areas of New York State were no longer the wild forests of Cooper's novel, and the frontier had long since moved west. By basing his story on the area around him, Cooper was able to draw on local memories and stories for himself.
Historical romance was one of the two best-selling and most popular fiction genres of the time. After taking English parlor comedy as a model for his first novel, Cooper turned to...
