Recreating The Past

Among all works of James Fenimore Cooper, The Last of the Mohicans is the mostfamous. Its portrayal of American Indians has influenced generations of readers fornearly two hundred years. In the light of “Historicity of text” in New Historicism thisthesis attempts to explore the influences of the historical context of the author upon thisliterary text. The research method applied in this thesis is qualitative research.This thesis introduces the true American Indians in history and the “Massacre ofFort William Henry”. By comparing them to Cooper’s descriptions in the novel, thethesis concludes that the American Indian images in Cooper’s novel is romanticized, theyfall into the stereotypes of the “noble Red Men” and the “blood-thirsty savage”. InCooper’s description of the event the “Massacre of Fort William Henry”, the Indian tribethe Hurons is the symbol of savage, while the whites represent civilization. This divisionis allegorical and foreshadows Cooper’s prediction that American Indians’ fate in thefuture is extinction.Cooper’s depictions reflect the anthropological knowledge, literary tradition, Indianpolicies and theories on “civilized warfare” in his time. They also show that in the whiteelite’s opinion, white civilization is definitely superior compared to Indian cultures.Those factors form the historical context which provides a white-centered perspective forCooper. In The Last of the Mohicans he is inevitably limited by his age, and recreates thehistory of colonial America from the point of view of the white. Explicating thelimitations of Cooper’s recreating of the past may help to get a deeper understanding ofthe historical novel The Last of the Mohicans.