Posted by Gayle on January 05, 2000 at 17:13:56:
In Reply to: Re: Natty Bumppo, calling Natty Bumppo! posted by Jo on January 05, 2000 at 10:40:02:
: : :
: : : : NightSky writes:
: : : : : I'm convinced the biggest difference between this site and DDL sites is the obsession with the character rather than the actor. We live in a world where courage is rarely rewarded, and conformity is encouraged. Hawkeye represents a freedom and independence long lost and sorely missed. He's also a symbol of the truely romantic: that one man who can save us and fall forever in love with us at the same time! I've learned to be truely thankful my husband can't read my mind.
: : : : ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
: : : : Ain't it the truth, NightSky, ain't it the truth. :) If you think Hawkeye is romantic, try reading 'Deerslayer' sometime...
: : : : Dana S.
: : :
: : : _____
: : : Hey Dana, you said it: TRY to read "Deerslayer" ANYTIME....
: : : I've known some taciturn gentlemen friends in my day; and some motor mouths (get that watermelon!); but if any had pontificated like Hawkeye....what can I say???
: : : (Maybe Judith was lucky not to get him, as I understand?)
: : : Up to Chapter 17 at this point and sitting in the backyard to keep away from any walls....
: : : Jo
: : : (Gayle, did reach the page, actually several repeats of trying to get scalps for money; must have thought I had a really stupid question as they've mentioned it at least 18 times now; and the two H's still want to go back and do it again!)
: :
: : Jo: I read it when I was around 12 (for pleasure !?!) and then again in a graduate course in American Lit in college. I can pass on ever reading Cooper again.....if I want a sermon, I'll go to church. I'm just grateful that along the way, so many people have felt the material was worthy of putting on film. As a book I have a hard time even remembering what it's about, but as a movie, even the bad versions are memorable. Wait till you get to LOTM! No romance for Hawkeye there.
: ________
: Nightsky,
: Well, that's the joke; I read LOTM up to the last few pages, and in frustration, threw it against the wall and let it "stay as they (it) lay"....(still never read the last 5 pages...)
: However, as Gaylee is so into Cooper, I am going to finish this book. I guess it is a sort of a view as to the ideas of the times, or at least Cooper's, and it is a different type of writing style; but I will get through it no matter how long it takes me, .....Gaylee is a great resource on Cooper input...
: Gee, I thought I read a lot as a young age, I think "Little Women" was as far as I got. Good on you!
: Jo
To all you diehards who are still hanging in there with the Cooper books - - I wonder if some of the frustration isn't that Cooper does not seem to have any concept of a happy ending. The best and bravest characters all end up either dead or destitute, while the most insipid and least loveable characters always get the rewards and are classed as the heros and heroines. This is my main problem with all of his novels - I keep BELIEVING that somehow, at the end of the story, his most wonderful characters will come out the winners, and it never happens. Of course, a lot of writers went that route - Dickens being one of the most morbid in terms of killing off his best characters - but at least Dickens managed to come up with some pretty appropriate and satisfying denouements for his villains ( the end of Daniel Quilp in "The Old Curiosity Shop" being my favorite example of lip-licking, purely satisfying justice). Maybe we get frustrated because we are unable to control the turns of fate in Cooper's books.
Gayle