Posted by Jeri on September 25, 2000 at 06:39:55:
In Reply to: Re: Uncas' Fate posted by Powder Burner on September 25, 2000 at 04:27:13:
: : : Forgive me if this has been covered before but it's been awhile since I've been here...
: : : I've learned to accept Heyward's unlikely character reverse in sacrificing himself so Cora and Nathaniel could be together but I've never been able to figure why Uncas was allowed to chase after Alice himself. Chingachook should have been right on his heels - all they had to do was wait another 2 minutes for Nathaniel to catch up, put poor Duncan out of his misery and then all three of them could have taken out Magua's gang together. Uncas was too good to die! Okay, so then the title would be "The Last 2 of the Mohicans" but I would have liked the ending better!
: : Hi, Joy!
: : No matter if it's been discussed before or not; I'm surprised no one else has yet replied to this!
: : Heyward's actions were not so much a reversal, I think, as they were evidence of his long needed adaptation to a new, strange world and his final acceptance of the reality of that world. Probably for the first time since he'd come to America, he was reconciling the virtues of his British military training (self discipline, honor, sacrifice) with a pragmatic 'coming to terms.'
: : He had lost Cora, of THAT, he was certain. A maturing, perhaps?
: : Uncas; I don't think he was 'allowed' to take off alone but was determined to do so without waiting for Hawkeye to join them. He was young, poor of judgment, & rash. Chingachgook, being older & wiser stayed until Hawkeye was ready because it was the smart thing to do. No doubt, as Ching raced off in Uncas' footsteps he must've been in a bit of a panic, knowing Uncas would meet Magua.
: :
: : Endings ... the 'what if's of tales we can imagine.
: : Elaine
: Elaine,
: Speaking of "what ifs"...so what do you think would have happened after the last scene? It would appear that Cora would be the only heir to the Munro estate. I cant see Hawkeye moving to an urban area. I cant see him going to England with Cora by any means. By the same token I dont see Cora wanting to roam the woodlands with Hawkeye the rest of her life either.
: I had assummed that the two would live in some type of frontier settlement/farm type of homestead. This Im sure would be a happy medium. Of course there would be Col. Munro's estate to see that this was done rather nicely.
: A frontiersman and and an upper echelon lady...were there gigaloos in the 18th Century? I guess I can think of worse fates than to be stuck with Cora in a log cabin on a cold winters night...especially when shes got a nice fat checkbook.
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Hey P.B.!
LOL..that's certainly one way of looking at it! Come to think of it, I can't remember anyone ever mentioning that Cora would have been the sole beneficiary to the Munro estate and what that would have meant to her and Hawkeye. As you said, it certainly would have made things a little easier for them, but it's hard to imagine rugged outdoorsman Hawkey taking life easy. (Or for that matter, Ching sitting on the front porch, smoking a pipe and letting life pass him by!)
As for why Uncas went after Alice alone, I agree with Elaine. He was young and headstrong. I also think his protective instincts kicked into overdrive, impelling him to take off after Alice. Also, I assumed that Ching would have wanted to make sure that Hawkeye and Cora returned safely from the Huron village first. Perhaps he felt he could catch up with his fleet-footed son before he got himself into trouble. Like Elaine said, the 'what ifs' are endless!
..Jeri