OK, folks, if you're not interested in what I read, ignore this post, OK?I've finished my first book for the 2020 classics challenge, The Pathfinder, or, The Inland Sea by James Fenimore Cooper, which was published in 1840 (but set in 1759). This fits into category #9: Classic with Nature in the Title. In fact, Nature is only in the subtitle, but I'm hoping that counts, since I had a terrible time coming up with something for this category.
The Pathfinder is part of Cooper's Leatherstocking series, the most famous of which is The Last of the Mohicans -- which I haven't read. I was afraid that would be a problem, but it wasn't. Pathfinder makes a lot of references to Mohicans, which was written 14 years before it, and I had no trouble following the points made (a few checks with Wikipedia helped). Since both books are set in the 1750s, this is historical fiction. It struck me as very funny to read a book written 180 years ago that is itself supposed to be about things that happened 80 years before that.
The book is an utter potboiler, complete with a lovely, bland young heroine (Mabel), two amazingly capable strong heroes (Pathfinder [Natty Bumppo using a different name] and Jasper Western aka Eau-douce), an old fart who provides comic relief and causes problems (Cap aka Salt-water), and an evil traitor (won't mention his name, it's a plot-spoiler). There are also three Native American main characters: the Serpent/Chingachgook (a good guy, Pathfinder's best friend), Arrowhead (turns out to be a bad guy), and Dew-of-June, who is a more complex character, perhaps the only one in the book. Exciting adventures occur, there's lots of suspense, and it all turns out pretty well in the end -- though of course not perfectly, since the two heroes compete for Mabel's hand and only one can win it.
Pathfinder doesn't really fit with my overall theme of the Civil War. It is not about slavery or Black people. But it does have quite a bit about Native Americans vs. the invading white people, and their views on each other -- which I think is not irrelevant. In this extremely talky book, there is a great deal of talk about the races and whether or not they can or should "mix." Even the French are referred to as very different from those of English/Scottish descent, almost like a different race. This may be a sort of joke, because at one point Cooper notes that later on the French helped the colonists against the British, but that in 1759 it was impossible to imagine that happening.
The character Pathfinder is not a fan of mixing, but he believes all types of people are equal:
"...each color has its gifts, and its laws, and its traditions; and one is not to condemn another because he does not exactly comprehend it."Dew-of-June intentionally saves Mabel's life, but she also expresses her hatred for (male) whites:
"Yengeese (Yankees) too greedy--take away all hunting-grounds--chase Six Nation from morning to night; wicked king--wicked people. Pale-face very bad."And Mabel's thoughts in reaction to June's comment are surprisingly modern:
Mabel knew that, even in that distant day, there was much truth in this opinion...
The basic viewpoint expressed in the book (by various characters, so we can assume it's the author's view too) seems to be that "the races" are markedly different but nonetheless equal, while many white Americans in the 1840s, even if they opposed slavery, viewed Black people as subhuman, and Indians too. So one might even describe the book as progressive. Somewhat progressive.
Maybe it's crazy to think I can understand a book written 180 years ago without more background. I'm probably missing a lot. But it was a fun read, not sorry I chose it.
No comments:
Post a Comment