The Pioneers recreated the story of the Pioneers’ conquest of nature as well as the establishment of civilized society. Before the invasion of the civilized group, Bumppo was hunting with his Indian brothers. They enjoyed everything that nature provided them, and they were obeying the rules of nature at the same time. There was peace between human and nature before the Pioneers took over, and humans constraint their desire and behavior based on self-disciplines. After the Pioneers came, they cut the woods and build a urban system at the expense of destroying the nature. Law, Educational institutions and religions were created upon civilization. Cooper portrayed a clear conflict of two completely different lifestyles between two opposite groups: the civilized group who were trying to overrule the nature, and Bumppo and the Indians, who lived alone with the nature. One clear conflict occurred due to the difference of believes towards nature. which was the deer hunting. Bumppo hunted a deer based on what he believed as “only hunting for survival when necessary”, but he was penalized by Judge Temple for violation of the law. As the result, Bumppo and the Indians were forced to keep heading towards the West, and more civilization were built in the West by the pioneers at the expense of destroying natural resources. In the end, Bumppo eluded from civilization, which I considered as Cooper’s indication of the conflict: When a civilization is built on destroying another civilization, and it seemed to be inevitable, how should we view this form of conflict.
5 thoughts on “Elusion and Resistance of Civilization and Society”
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The question that comes to my mind, what is civilization? As you mention, Natty has a much different understanding of that word than Dick Jones. It appears Judge Temple differs both from Natty and Jones. At this time period (when the book was written), I don’t think many Americans saw their expansion as destroying other civilizations. Most saw nature as something that could and should be tamed. A town like Templeton stood as a symbol of man’s ability to conquer nature. I think Cooper might disagree with that view, but he would more than likely have been a minority.
Its difficult to argue how only the settlers are civilized and the Indians aren’t as the Indians had managed to survive in the Americas for a very long time. Though they had no large structures or permanent settlements, their way of life deserves to be treated with as respect for the settlements of Americans. The conflict between the settlers and Indians was imminent as they had such different ways of life and values. Perhaps, it is only with an ecumenical history that two different worlds can find peace. If the Indians and settlers managed to talk with each other and learned to respect the other’s culture, Indians and settlers may have coexisted peacefully.
It is clear that naturalist ideas are present throughout this novel. The question that comes to mind is whether or not civilization can exist in the same location as nature. I believe cooper would say the answer to that question is no, as represented by Natty’s decision to find new land at the end of the novel.
This begs the question of who are the civilized ones, the settlers or the natives. While the natives lack most of the physical trappings of civilization, we see most of the conflicts being started by the settlers. This period can also be seen as the fall of one civilization and the birth of another from the ashes.
It is very difficult to determine who belongs in which place, but those who have lived in the wilderness have the best idea of how to treat it and know when to cultivate from it. I do not think that all of these people can get along with different ideas of regulation for the wilderness. Bumppo did not believe in the “civil” law.