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A Heroine's Journey Through Culture, Race And The American Frontier

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Writing Women into Romanticism: A Heroine's Journey Through Culture, Race and the American Frontier.

“Every trail has its end, and every calamity brings its lesson!” (Cooper, 159)

During the time of the French and Indian War, animosity between native Americans and Colonists was at it’s peak. Cora and her younger sister Alice Munro are kidnapped by hostile Indians while on their way through the wilderness of upper New York. The young women are traveling to visit their father at Fort William Henry. The kidnapping of the Munro sisters is a ploy by the Indian Magua. Magua seeks bounty for all he feels that the commander Colonel Munro has wronged him and his peoples of. Alice and Cora are the only major female protagonist in the …show more content…
A true protagonist fit for the demands of a patriarchal society. Her ability to act rationally in the face of danger and adversities is the scorn of her gender and the error of romanticism.

"To you Cora I will urge no words of idle encouragement; your own fortitude and undisturbed reason will teach you all that may become your sex; " (Cooper, p. 99)

Yes, racism and sexism all but destroys the heroism of Cora and keeps Alice weak and frightened. Never learning and never maturing poor Alice stays fragile and childlike. Poor Cora is denied the hero's death she deserve. The truth of life is, Cora is strong, therefore Alice must be weak. However, Cora is strong because she has to be. Because she must be. This inner strength of Cora and lack in Alice has nothing to do with the wilderness or the surroundings the girls are placed in. In fact these literary devices take away from the whole point of the novel. If the women aren’t made strong individuals and changed by their perils what is the point of their experiences? Just to be rescued dose not a good story

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