Oct. 8, 2009 - Since all I have time for is school nowadays...
I've decided I'll just start posting my school reports. Not to scare all my readers away--I'm going to post the really interesting ones. This week I was going to research about James Fennimore Cooper, (I've only read a few of his books) but I got caught up with The Pathfinder, and made some very interesting discoveries. I'm only posting part of this one. I saved the best for last, so keep reading. :)
Natty Bumppo—The Pathfinder
* * *
(Note the *'s are a signal to do three solemn taps on the table. So says Daniel)
As I was researching for this paper, I made a discovery—The Pathfinder actually has a name and what's more, he appears in several books other than the Pathfinder, including The Last of The Mohicans. His name is Natty Bumppo, and is believed to be in part based on a real man named David Shipman. The Pathfinder goes by many nicknames in a group of five books called The Leatherstocking Tales. He is called "Deerslayer" in The Deerslayer, "Hawkeye" and "La Longue Carabine" in The Last of the Mohicans, "Leatherstocking" in The Pioneers, "The Trapper" in The Prairie and, of course, "The Pathfinder." Out of all his nicknames, I still like Pathfinder the best. I don't even know if he was ever called by his 'real' name in any of the books, but I'll have to read them to find out.
The character is very interesting to me, and I'm looking forward to reading the rest of The Leatherstocking Tales. I'm hoping The Pathfinder won't change too much in between books; James Fennimore Cooper has a habit of forgetting things and changing them in the middle of books. For example, Mabel Dunham, who used to be named Agnes. In that case, I'm very glad her name changed because Agnes is just too ugly. In The Pathfinder alone, the main character, Natty Bumppo, frequently changed his age, starting out at about 50 at the beginning of the book, and ending up about twenty years younger by the end. There is a good thing about that though, because it lets the reader decide for himself how old he wants The Pathfinder to be!
Fenimore Cooper's Literary Offenses by Mark Twain
When I saw this I nearly died with laughter.
(Note: "JoyBird? Really? Die?" You may say. "I really think you're exaggerating a little tiny bit." No! Not a bit!)
'Finally!' I thought, 'Someone who agrees with us in our criticisms of Cooper's hilarious little blunders in his writing!' I will now proceed to relate to the reader a small summary of this essay, but will save most of it until next week—after I have read the whole paper.
Mark Twain starts out by listing the "nineteen rules governing literary art in domain of romantic fiction," and proving that Cooper violated at least eighteen of them in his book, Deerslayer. He talks about all kinds of stereotypical things that James Fennimore Cooper does, like referring to all women as 'females.' For example: "He approached the stage containing the females." It's really ridiculous sounding, isn't it? Twain also talks about the different ways in which Cooper miraculously defies nature, and how the characters are always stepping on dry twigs. I haven't found out if he's noticed the constant 'blushing and paling' yet, but more about that next week.
As Mark Twain goes through and picks out all the little errors in Cooper's writing, his favorite thing to make fun of is Cooper's use of the word 'situation'. I might add 'novel situation.' I wonder, if we were to count, exactly how many times we would find the words 'novel situation' in all of Cooper's books. He ends by saying (of Deerslayer) ; "...it's humor is pathetic; it's pathos are funny; it's conversations are – oh! indescribable....its English a crime against the language. Counting these out, what is left is Art. I think we must all admit that." Stay tuned for the thrilling accounts of the novel situations Deerslayer- Hawkeye- LongRifle- Leatherstocking- Pathfinder-Bumppo often finds himself in.
Hopefully I will get around to posting the next thrilling episode about Fenimore Cooper's Literary Offenses by Mark Twain when it's finished. Until then, I hope my wonderful readers will comment! (hint, hint) And if flattery doesn't work, I will have to resort to other methods like the one-legged space chickens...or worse yet the sock drawer monsters!
-Joy Bird
