The Last of

The Mohicans:
Themes
Symbols
Motifs

Nawroz University
Dept. of English Language / College of Languages
Assist. Lect. Aveen Sarkawt A. Sami
Content

•Themes

•Symbols

•Motifs
Themes

• Interracial Love and Friendship

• Culture Clash
• Racial Prejudice
• Literal and Metaphorical Nature
• Man in the Wilderness
• Religion
Themes

• Interracial Love and Friendship

• The Last of the Mohicans is a novel about race and the difficulty of overcoming racial divides.
• Culture Clash
• The novel points out conflicts that arise because of differences in beliefs, values, customs, languages,
ethnicity, and history.
• Racial Prejudice
• Racial prejudice and the mixing of races is a dominant theme in the novel.
Themes
• Literal and Metaphorical Nature
• Nature is the physical frontier that surrounds the characters and complicates their battles and their
chances for survival.
• Man in the Wilderness
• Cooper uses the theme of the wilderness to explore the challenges of life on the frontier and the
effects of settlement on the pristine landscape.
• Religion
• Religion in the American frontier that is untouched by human culture.
Symbols

• Hawkeye
• Uncas
• The Last of the Mohicans
• River
• Cave
• Waterfall
Symbols

• Hawkeye
• Cooper uses Hawkeye to symbolize colonial hybridity, the mixing of European and Indian cultures.
• Uncas
• The character of Uncas represents the purity and nobility of the Mohican people.
• The Last of the Mohicans
• The recurring description of Uncas as “the last of the Mohicans” symbolizes the death of Indian culture at
the hands of the encroaching European civilization.
Symbols

• River
• The river is a symbol of life itself.
• Cave
• The cave is a symbol of life itself.
• Waterfall
• The waterfall is a powerful symbol of change and chaos.
Motifs

• Hybridity
• Disguise
• Inheritance
• Epigraphs
• Blood
• Pursuit and Captivity
Motifs

• Hybridity
• Hybridity is the mixing of separate elements into one whole, and in the novel it usually occurs when
nature and culture intersect, or when two races intersect.
• Disguise
• Cooper uses the motif of disguise to resolve plot difficulties and to provide comic relief..
• Inheritance
• Inheritance informs the novel’s thematic portrayals of family redefinition.
Motifs

• Epigraphs
• The epigraphs that begin each chapter set the tone and mood of the chapter and also foreshadow events.
• Blood
• Cooper's repeated references to blood—literal and metaphorical—convey violence and death on the one
hand and family ties and kinship on the other.
• Pursuit and Captivity
• the numerous examples of pursuit and captivity help create suspense and contribute to the sense that
the novel is indeed a mythic epic. This motif also supports the theme of culture clashes.
Further References

• https://www.coursehero.com/lit/The-Last-of-the-Mohicans/
• https://www.sparknotes.com/lit/mohicans/
• https://www.cliffsnotes.com/literature/l/the-last-of-the-mohicans/book-summary