James Fenimore Cooper

The Deerslayer ANNOTATED James Fenimore Cooper

The Deerslayer: The First War Path (1841), a novel by American writer James Fenimore Cooper, is the first installment in his famous Leatherstocking Tales chronologically, though the last to be written. The series follows the adventures of Natty Bumppo, an American frontiersman partly raised by Mohican natives, as he navigates the tensions between the natives and the European settlers against the backdrop of the American wilderness. In terms of the story's continuity, The Deerslayer is followed by what is probably the most famous of the Leatherstocking Tales books, The Last of the Mohicans. While the latter tells the story of Natty - by then known as Hawkeye - in 1757, during the French and Indian War, The Deerslayer takes place around 1740, introducing a Natty who has not yet had to kill or fight for his life - thus the subtitle, The First War Path. As the book begins, Natty, known as Deerslayer, is traveling with Harry March, or Hurry Harry. They are both heading to Otsego Lake (also called Glimmerglass Lake). Deerslayer is going to meet his longtime friend and Delaware chief Chingachgook, while Hurry Harry is on his way to see his friend Tom Hutter and his family. The two men don't have much in common; they are traveling together for safety and protection from the local natives. They arrive at Muskrat Castle, where the Hutters live, only to find it empty and abandoned. The travelers find the Hutters at their second family home, an ark sitting on the shore of the lake. Tom Hutter lives with his two daughters, Judith and Hetty. Hurry Harry is in love with Judith and wishes to marry her, but Judith does not feel the same way. Hetty, a simple-minded and devout young girl, welcomes both travelers warmly. With Hurry Harry and Deerslayer's help, the family sails the ark into the lake to escape some natives who try to board the ship. For their protection, the men decide to go fetch the canoes that Hutter left hidden on the shore. At night, Hutter and Hurry Harry scheme to sneak into the nearby Huron camp and take some scalps, which they can sell for profit. Deerslayer, morally against the idea of white men taking scalps as it is not part of their culture, agrees to wait in a canoe for the men to return from their expedition. The two men are captured, and Deerslayer, powerless to help them, decides to secure the canoes and go to sleep. During the night, one of the canoes drifts to the shore. As Deerslayer is trying to recover it, a native tries to take it. Deerslayer attempts to reason with him, saying the canoe is his, but the native attacks him. He shoots the man in self-defense, treating his enemy with respect by not taking his scalp; the Indian calls him Hawkeye, the recognition of a great warrior, before dying. Deerslayer successfully meets up with Chingachgook as they had arranged. Chingachgook, being pursued by Huron natives, escapes by jumping aboard the ark. He says he has seen Hutter and Hurry Harry; they will likely be scalped. He also explains that his beloved, a woman called Wah-ta-Wah, is being held in the same camp. Hetty, deciding to rescue her father and Hurry Harry by herself, heads off with one of the canoes; Deerslayer is unsuccessful in his attempts to stop her. As Hetty is going through the woods, she comes across Wah-ta-Wah, who agrees to take her to the camp. She tries to convince the Hurons to free the two men with Biblical arguments, but they are not convinced, pointing out the hypocrisy in the European's use of the Bible to justify slaughter. However, they refuse to hurt her, believing that those with mental disabilities are protected by the Great Spirit. Meanwhile back at the ark, Deerslayer and Judith, going through Hutter's belongings to find something they can barter for the captured men, find some beautifully carved ivory and brocade items. A native man, ....