There are many themes in James Fenimore Cooper’s The Pioneers, and one that has stood out
to me throughout the novel is the theme of frontier capitalism in the novel. As
we discussed in class, there are many characters which are all complex and
uniquely symbolic, and represent either one side of the spectrum or another. From
the very beginning of the novel, Cooper creates a society that is struggling
between social obligation and honor versus self-interest and wealthy
prosperity.
We are immediately introduced to
Judge Temple at the beginning of the novel when he encounters Natty Bumppo and
Oliver Edwards. Temple is a representative of the bourgeois, or wealthy members
of society. During their encounter, it is obvious that Temple believes he has
power over the town when he claims that he had a hand in the killing of the
buck. When Natty and Oliver deny his story, Temple offers to buy it from them.
I think this is an interesting part of the novel because it shows that even
then, the wealthy used money for personal gain. It’s interesting to me that
Cooper rewards Temple with prosperity and authority when his ideals overshadow
the idea that honor and social obligation are the most important thing.
On the other end of the spectrum,
we have characters such as Natty, Indian John, and Major Effingham who
represent the style of living where Nature is important and social obligation
and honor matter. I think its interesting how in the novel, these characters
are stripped of their land which is then owned by Judge Temple. This makes me
question what is more important according to the novel: Simple, honorable
living or self-gaining commerce and prosperity?
Dear Natalina,
ReplyDeleteExcellent observation that Marmaduke (despite thinking of himself as a noble voice of reason and moderation) begins the novel by trying to use his wealth to buy power. Fascinating!
In your next post, you can work on spending more time unpacking the wonderful insights you have, such as the contrast between Temple's frontier capitalism and Natty's simple honor.
You can cut sentences such as "As we discussed in class, there are many characters which are all complex and uniquely symbolic, and represent either one side of the spectrum or another." This is too broad for such a short post: you have to make every word count here!
And you can combine sentences like this: "here are many themes in James Fenimore Cooper’s The Pioneers, and one that has stood out to me throughout the novel is the theme of frontier capitalism in the novel." with this ". From the very beginning of the novel, Cooper creates a society that is struggling between social obligation and honor versus self-interest and wealthy prosperity." so that you're not repeating yourself.
That way you'll have plenty of room to develop fully your excellent analyses.
Good work!
Kelly