Hope Leslie, by Catherine Maria Sedgwick, is praised as being a more truthful, faithful, or positive depiction, when compared to James Fenimore Cooper’s The Last of the Mohican’s. However, both novels perpetrate the same majority views on cultural interactions. The respective narrators of Hope Leslie and The Last of the Mohicans apply a similar spin in their descriptions of violence, character abilities, and wrong doing in a way that favors the White characters over the Indian characters.
One example of this spin is in how descriptions of violence perpetrated by White characters compare to descriptions of violence perpetrated by Indian characters. A major example of this is in the Last of the Mohicans. The white character, Hawkeye has killed …show more content…
In the first section, Everell Fletcher is held captive by a group of Indians. Sedgwick describes the village he is being held in as composed of huts which “were the simplest structures of human art; but as in no natural condition of society a perfect equality obtains” (Sedgwick 89). The description of the Indians is carefully worded, linking them with nature and identifying them as a primitive unintellectual group of people. Everell’s capture, eventually culminates in an attempted execution at the end of Chapter 7, which has been decided on by a single person. This compares to Magawisca’s capture by a White town, in the second section of the novel. In this passage, the presiding Governor seems to be debating with the other townspeople, whether they should keep her in captivity. This discussion takes up almost the entire 8th Chapter, of the second volume, giving the appearance of a democratic, more civilized system. This capture also never reaches the point of an execution, portraying the white town as being comparatively less violent than the Indian tribe. The descriptions of these two groups of people illustrates a similar spin that Cooper used. Even though both groups capture a member of the other, Sedgwick makes sure that the White group appears democratic, intellectual, and nonviolent, while the Indian group is labeled as being simplistic, …show more content…
It is revealed that Munroe whipped Magua for insulting him while drunk (Cooper 92). Cooper makes sure the reader knows that Magua is in the wrong, even though Magua is following the traditional Old Testament rule of an eye for an eye, demanding a reduction of Munroe’s dignity and reputation as payment for his own reduction. In this description of the event, Cooper makes the Indians exceedingly impertinent, as the other Indians follow Magua on blind trust. He also connects them with having base motives for actions, only vengeance, nothing more complicated. Cooper also neglects to mention that Munroe’s army are probably the ones supplied the alcohol to Magua and the other Indians, refusing any responsibility and role in initial conflict. In, both of these examples, neither of the white characters have to admit to any wrongdoing, even though they definitely played a major role the conflict, Hope insulting Magawisca and Munro supplying alcohol to the Indians. Instead, the Indians are depicted as unreasonable, both depicted as having a demanding and unreasonable
One example of this spin is in how descriptions of violence perpetrated by White characters compare to descriptions of violence perpetrated by Indian characters. A major example of this is in the Last of the Mohicans. The white character, Hawkeye has killed …show more content…
In the first section, Everell Fletcher is held captive by a group of Indians. Sedgwick describes the village he is being held in as composed of huts which “were the simplest structures of human art; but as in no natural condition of society a perfect equality obtains” (Sedgwick 89). The description of the Indians is carefully worded, linking them with nature and identifying them as a primitive unintellectual group of people. Everell’s capture, eventually culminates in an attempted execution at the end of Chapter 7, which has been decided on by a single person. This compares to Magawisca’s capture by a White town, in the second section of the novel. In this passage, the presiding Governor seems to be debating with the other townspeople, whether they should keep her in captivity. This discussion takes up almost the entire 8th Chapter, of the second volume, giving the appearance of a democratic, more civilized system. This capture also never reaches the point of an execution, portraying the white town as being comparatively less violent than the Indian tribe. The descriptions of these two groups of people illustrates a similar spin that Cooper used. Even though both groups capture a member of the other, Sedgwick makes sure that the White group appears democratic, intellectual, and nonviolent, while the Indian group is labeled as being simplistic, …show more content…
It is revealed that Munroe whipped Magua for insulting him while drunk (Cooper 92). Cooper makes sure the reader knows that Magua is in the wrong, even though Magua is following the traditional Old Testament rule of an eye for an eye, demanding a reduction of Munroe’s dignity and reputation as payment for his own reduction. In this description of the event, Cooper makes the Indians exceedingly impertinent, as the other Indians follow Magua on blind trust. He also connects them with having base motives for actions, only vengeance, nothing more complicated. Cooper also neglects to mention that Munroe’s army are probably the ones supplied the alcohol to Magua and the other Indians, refusing any responsibility and role in initial conflict. In, both of these examples, neither of the white characters have to admit to any wrongdoing, even though they definitely played a major role the conflict, Hope insulting Magawisca and Munro supplying alcohol to the Indians. Instead, the Indians are depicted as unreasonable, both depicted as having a demanding and unreasonable