The Last of the Mohicans: 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.

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