Key Facts
full title · The Last of the Mohicans
author · James Fenimore Cooper
type of work · Novel
genre · Sentimental novel, adventure novel, frontier romance
language · English
time and place written · 1826, Europe
date of first publication · 1826
publisher · Carey & Lea of Philadelphia
narrator · Anonymous
point of view · Third person. The narrator follows the actions of several characters
at once, especially during combat scenes. He describes characters
objectively but periodically makes reference to his own writing.
tone · Ornate, solemn, sentimental, occasionally poetic
tense · Past
setting (time) · Several days from late July to mid-August 1757,
during the French and Indian War
setting (place) · The American wilderness frontier in what will become
New York State .
protagonist · Hawkeye
major conflict · The English battle the French and their Indian allies;
Uncas helps his English friends resist Magua and the Hurons.
rising action · Magua captures Cora and Alice, beginning a series of
adventures for the English characters, who try to rescue
the women.
climax · Uncas triumphs over Magua in the Delaware council of Tamenund
in Chapter XXX.
falling action · Magua dies; Cora and Uncas are torn apart.
themes · The consequences of interracial love and friendship;
literal and metaphorical nature; the role of religion in the wilderness;
the changing idea of family
motifs · Hybridity; disguise; inheritance
symbols · Hawkeye; “the last of the Mohicans”
foreshadowing · Cora's unexpected attraction to Magua in Chapter I;
Magua's deceit in Chapter I; Chingachgook's reference to Uncas as
the “last of the Mohicans” in Chapter II.
