The Deerslayer (Barnes & Noble Classics) - James Fenimore Cooper [314]
Chapter XII
1 (p. 187) hue scarcely less red than that of his Mohican companion: The “Mohicans” and the “Delawares” are tribes of the same nation and are essentially identical, as is made clear in the scene in The Last of the Mohicans where Natty, Chingachgook, and his son Uncas rally a village of friendly Delawares to defeat a tribe of French-allied Iroquois, led by the villainous Magua. At times in The Pioneers Cooper interchanges the Mohegans and the Mohicans, two different tribes. The Mohegans were a Connecticut tribe, while the Mohicans came from the Hudson River Valley.
2 (p. 188) “the difference atwixt that which is ra’al and that which is seeming”: Sometimes Deerslayer’s colloquial speech is difficult for the modern reader to disentangle. Cooper had a continuing problem with his compositors, who regularly sought to render Deerslayer’s English into a more standard format. Cooper became enraged at this presumption and corrected his proofs back to Natty’s mangling of grammar and pronunciation. Cooper strongly believed that the vernacular usages made his Leatherstocking novels more “realistic” and authentic, just as he insisted on verisimilitude in the details of such strange creations as the ark and the castle.
By contrast, Natty’s speech in the paragraph beginning “That’s justice!” (p. 189) and ending “the parch that are swimming around this hut” (p. 190) is uncharacteristic. The diction, syntax, complexity of expression, and relative paucity of colloquialisms are unlike Natty’s simple woodsman style of speech, and perhaps represent either a lapse on Cooper’s part or a triumph of one of his compositors.
3 (p. 199) “They’ll give up old Hutter and Harry, and Hetty too, at such a spectacle!”: This idea apparently germinates in Judith’s mind, and forms the basis for her later attempt to rescue Deerslayer from the Iroquois.
Chapter XIII
1 (p. 206) “owner shall fire his piece at a deer ... he makes it sartain death to a child, or a brother, or a fr‘ind!”: In addition to considering Cooper an early advocate of environmental protection and racial equality, we might sign him on to the cause of handgun control as well.
2 (p. 212) some knowledge of the symptoms of the master passion: It is a puzzle how Deerslayer, who is otherwise acute and sensitive, can be quite as naive as he is and obtuse about Judith’s feelings toward him.
3 (p. 217) the boy rowed slowly .. that lay less than half a mile distant: Muskrat Castle is located slightly closer to the western than to the eastern shore of the lake. The Indian boy probably paddled his raft due west or slightly southwest, landing considerably north of the Indian encampment.
Chapter XIV
1 (p. 233) “to own he can’t read; but such is my case, Judith”: Why didn’t Deerslayer’s missionary foster parents teach him to read, since Chingachgook has already said that the missionaries tried to teach him some printing? This seems to be a case of singular neglect. We may surmise that this is a case of Cooper having boxed himself in by virtue of having described Natty as unable to read or write in previous Leatherstocking novels.
Chapter XV
1 (p. 247) were encamped for the night abreast of the castle ... communications with Hurry: The warriors, or some portion of them, have thus moved considerably to the north. Since many huts were seen at the previous encampment and could not be quickly moved, Hurry and Hutter infer that their previous assessment is true this time. The narrator here, however, is summarizing the thought process of these two, not stating what he—the omniscient author—knows to be the case.
Chapter XVI
1 (p. 262) had been delayed by their preparations, which included lodging as well as food: It is late by now. We have already seen Hutter, Harry, and Chingachgook visit the vacated camp. Earlier in the evening, at sunset, Hutter and Harry were exchanged for the chess pieces, and Natty and his companions departed from the castle. The