LS,Last+of+the+Mohicans+Responses

The relationship between Native Americans and the British and French colonists is a strange and complicated, yet very interesting one. In James Fenimore Coopers’ //Last of the Mohicans//, the tension between the colonists and the Indians is strongly emphasized. He illustrates the eventual domination of whites over the Native Americans and the stereotypes of each culture during colonization. For example the attraction Cora instantly feels towards Magua was both frowned upon and feared by white men. This fear was a major factor of the removal of Native Americans in the nineteenth century. Not only is the relationship between colonists and Indians a complex one, but the relationships between certain Indian tribes is as well. After Hawkeye explains to Heyward that Magua is a part of the Huron, which is a very untrustworthy tribe, he plans to capture him because the Huron are enemies to the Mohicans. This shows that not all Native Americans are identical in personality. The friendship between Hawkeye and Chingachgook is the strongest friendship within the novel. This shows that the colonists and Native Americans are not natural enemies.  The Native Americans believed that they were made fools and felt very embarrassed by the English colonists who settled on their land. The English took their home land and replaced the Indians’ cultures with their own. The French on the other hand, already had hard feelings towards the British, and needed someone to help their economy. The Native Americans became allies with the French colonists for revenge upon the English and for trade. The main economic relationship between them was trading fur. Even though it was looked down upon, some Frenchmen lived with the Indians and married them. The French also formed military alliances with some Native American tribes which allowed the French to pin down a large number of English colonists. A few French missionaries attempted to convert the Indians to Christianity, with a small amount of success.  The British relationship with Native Americans was not as civilized as that of the French and the Indians. Their relationship was, for the most part, a very negative one. The English took advantage of the Native Americans in order to become powerful and rich. The British helped the Indians little to none and infected them with diseases not yet known to America and massacred them for their own successfulness. The New England colonies viewed the Native Americans as useless and inferior, and because of this they felt they were obligated to take their land. In certain Chesapeake colonies the Indians tried to become allies with the British to try to fight off other tribes and showed them how to grow and harvest crops. But as the English continued to take more and more of the Native Americans land, their relationship worsened ending in two revolts from the Indians in the 1600s. The Native Americans were ultimately robbed of anything and everything, especially things with value.  The intricate and diverse relationships between the Native Americans and European colonists were very different. The French in some ways befriended the Indians while the British either immediately or in time became enemies with them. There was never any truce or real peace between either country’s colonists or the Native Americans. They were forced to change their cultural and living habits to satisfy the wants and expectations of the invaders of their homeland.