"The Deerslayer" and Morality

Paper Summary:

The paper attempts to show how the morality of the main character in James Fenimore Cooper's "The Deerslayer", Natty Bumppo, is an extreme morality that involves spiritual communion with nature, a firm opposition to discrimination and hatred and an exaggerated state of divine morality. The paper discusses how Natty represents the embodiment of Cooper's morality in his battles against racism, hatred and killing while at the same time gleaning all the lessons and communion from and with nature that he can. The paper posits that this morality is worthy of aspiration, and the closer we come to achieving it, the closer we come to communing with nature and the Divine.

Outline:
Thesis Statement
Natty's Morality is Guided by Nature
Natty's Morality Derives from the Pure Morality of Nature
Natty's Morality is Exaggerated

From the Paper:

"As much as any American writer, James Fenimore Cooper's work, is representative of the American frontier and the struggles of Native Americans and pioneers who took the advice of Horace Greeley and "went West." While many criticize the writing style and syntax of Cooper, almost no one denied the value of his work as being representative of "the self-actualized individual. . . . provided a calling for many new Americans who chose the West as a new frontier, a place to prove their individuality and self-worth" (Eberle 2). The Deerslayer is the fifth and final novel in the Leatherstocking Tales, a series of works devoted to the story of Natty Bumppo, who, in this novel, is labeled the "Deerslayer" or "Hawkeye." "The [sic] Deerslayer [sic] deals with racism, hatred, Manifest Destiny, technology/progress, and was the first environmentalist" ("True" 4)."

Sample of Sources Used:

• Allibone, Samuel Austin. "Cooper, James Fenimore, (1798-1851)." A Critical Dictionary of Literature and British American Authors. Philadelphia: J.B. Lippincott, 1900: 1-7.
• Online. Internet. 19 June 1998. Available http://etext. lib.virginia.edu/eaf/authors/allibone/jfcAl.html.
• Cooper, James Fenimore. The Deerslayer. New York: Dodd, Mead and Company, Inc., 1979.
• Eberle, Nathaniel. "James Fenimore Cooper." Rollins College, 1998: 1-3. Online. Internet. 19 June 1998. Available http://fox.rollins.edu/~jcjones/cooper.htm.
• Federici, Richard & Elaine. "James Fenimore Cooper." Mohican Press, 1998: 1-5. Online. Internet. 19 June 1998. Available http://www.mohicanpress.com/mo08002.html.

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