James Fenimore Cooper

Analytical Essay # 6141

English > Analysis
Literature > American

A look at the life of this novelist and an analysis of his one work "The Last of the Mohicans."

2,300 words () | 5 sources | MLA | 1999 United States

Paper Summary:

This paper discusses the life and upbringing of Cooper and examines how this influences his writing genre of Western stories. The writer shows how through his book "The Last of the Mohicans" we can learn much about Cooper's life.

From the Paper:

"Does anyone ever wonder where the great "westerns" originated from? The wild frontier story of the cowboys and their constant conflict with the Native Americans had to start somewhere, and most likely this place was the stories written by James Fenimore Cooper. He wrote the original frontier stories of the settlers and the Indians, much of which took place in upstate New York, between the Finger Lakes and the Great Lakes. The modern "western" movies and novels all have roots in the stories originally told by James Fenimore Cooper. It was Cooper who found the audience that wanted to read about violent conflicts between the Indians and the settlers, but also stories that told of romance between the tow different cultures. By writing novels like this, which had violence, romance, tales of the struggle to survive in the wilderness, Cooper was able to appeal to both male and female readers, giving himself a very broad following."