Posted by Miss Gaylee on October 05, 1998 at 15:30:00:
In Reply to: Re: Cooper and Mohican/Lenape/Inuit Beliefs & Perfectly Good Hawkeyes! posted by MMMarcia on October 05, 1998 at 14:45:06:
Marcia wrote:
: Hi, Miss Gaylee! No, we are never told, but in MY version of MANN's version of LOTM, Cora follows Hawkeye. Period. Whither he goest and whatevereth he doest!! He is simply too strong a man & too comfortable with his life to adopt the ways of the Yengeese! And even though Cora was a strong and reasonably independent woman, I think she would have felt her place was with her man. After all, she chose Hawkeye over Duncan, who would have provided her with the life of an English gentlewoman, and followed him over the river and through the woods, without a backwards glance at what she had left behind. Yep. I'm certain of it. She and Hawkeye build a life for themselves in Can-tuck-ee, and she bears him many children. After their long and happy lives come to an end, they are buried side by side, BOTH with the rising sun in their faces, as the Mohicans would have it! There! Now isn't that satisfying? *happy sigh*
: MMMMarcia
Yep. I'm certain of it too. There certainly was no indication that Hawkeye was planning to have himself measured for ruffled shirts and spats. If you think of Cora in context of the book character, I think it fits too. Cora was ever conscious of the fact that she could not expect to find a place in English Society, no matter what her father's rank or position. When Munro told Duncan of Cora's heritage, mistakenly thinking that Duncan was passing Cora over because of her blood lines, Duncan was shocked, because he truly hadn't known that Cora was of mixed blood. Duncan had the fortunate recourse to truth in that it was not Cora, but Alice, he was in love with anyway, so he didn't have to admit his prejudice. However, Cooper made it plain that Duncan was very prejudiced, and that if he actually had been considering Cora, the information would have changed his mind in a hurry. It was a short but very revealing passage that pretty well disqualified Duncan from any hero-pretensions for the remainder of the book and relegated him to being about suitable for Alice, who also had no principles to speak of. To back up that little nasty comment . . .
When (again we're talking book here) Cora, Duncan and Alice were captured at the Falls and taken south to the Huron camp, Cooper again used a short but pithy passage to characterize Alice. Magua had convinced the tribe that their honor depended on taking white scalps back to Canada, and so far they had none. So Cora, Duncan and Alice were tree-trussed accordingly for torture and scalping. Magua gave Cora one more chance agree to become his wife in exchange for Alice and Duncan being freed and returned to Munro. Cora appealed to Duncan for his decision. Duncan instantly said it were better the three died together than sacrifice Cora to such a horrible future. Then Cora put the same question to Alice, and Alice had to THINK ABOUT IT! She was perfectly willing to gain her freedom at Cora's expense. But having heard Duncan's reply, and having her sights fixed on marrying him, she figured it might sully her saintliness in his eyes if she made it obvious that she couldn't care less what happened to Cora as long as she made it back safely herself. So after first mulling it over for a while, she finally mumbled agreement, and Cooper actually gave her credit for "firmness". What a hoot!
Gayle