{"id":4974,"date":"2023-05-15T17:58:05","date_gmt":"2023-05-15T17:58:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/novels.zerosilver.com\/wordpress\/?p=4974"},"modified":"2023-05-15T17:58:05","modified_gmt":"2023-05-15T17:58:05","slug":"natty-bumppo-flawed-philosopher-or-man-of-god","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/novels.zerosilver.com\/wordpress\/natty-bumppo-flawed-philosopher-or-man-of-god\/","title":{"rendered":"Natty Bumppo: Flawed Philosopher or Man of God?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The Leatherstocking Tales<\/em>, by James Fenimore Cooper (American classics)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \n
  1. The Deerslayer<\/em><\/li>\n\n\n\n
  2. The Last of the Mohicans<\/em><\/li>\n\n\n\n
  3. The Pathfinder<\/em><\/li>\n\n\n\n
  4. The Pioneers<\/em><\/li>\n\n\n\n
  5. The Prairie<\/em><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n
    \n\n\n\n

    After reading two excellent Christian historical novels set in seventeenth and eighteenth century America, I realized that I wasn\u2019t ready to leave that world yet and decided to try James Fenimore Cooper\u2019s The Leatherstocking Tales<\/em>. The Deerslayer<\/em> sucked me into the series and held me captive until the final pages of The Prairie<\/em>, and that astonished me; I really didn\u2019t expect to love these books as much as I did. <\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

    The Pioneers<\/em> was written to be an accurate and detailed account of life in an early New York settlement and succeeds very well at what it was written to accomplish. Cooper lived during decades not too far removed from those he wrote about and was alive during the time periods in which both The Pioneers<\/em> and The Prairie<\/em> were set.<\/p>\n\n\n

    \n
    \"Book<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

    Despite the fact that the other four books are, at their core, adventure stories, they\u2019re true enough to their historical settings that they give a fascinating, harrowing look into the past. Not only that, but the novels\u2019 settings are so detailed that a reader can pinpoint many of them on a modern map. These qualities, combined with the complex, descriptive paragraphs and large vocabulary typical of nineteenth century novels, resulted in a reading experience that was, for me, both immersive and alien, as if I really were stepping into a lost world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    The series chronicles the adventures of frontiersman Nathaniel (Natty) Bumppo, also known as Deerslayer, Hawkeye, Pathfinder, and Leatherstocking. His honest, guileless, and even transparent nature makes his interactions with the other early Americans he encounters interesting, amusing, and often bumpy. He\u2019s an exceptionally skilled hunter and scout. He\u2019s never learned to read books, but he \u201creads\u201d the world around him with great perception and depth and considers nature to be the ultimate educational arena. At the end of his life, he\u2019s described as having \u201cnever been corrupted by vice.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    In many ways, Natty\u2019s a man both ahead of his time and behind ours. The narrator uses the terms \u201csimple\u201d and \u201cdogmatic\u201d to describe him, admits he has prejudices and \u201cpeculiar\u201d manners, and shows him to be ignorant of worldly ways and, at the same time, judgmental of those who are more educated and sophisticated than he is if they don\u2019t measure up to his high standards of honesty and usefulness. Modern readers might even call him a racist.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    However one might describe Natty Bumppo, one of the most endearing things about him is that he wouldn\u2019t care about our opinions of him any more than he does about the opinions of those living during his own time. He does, though, care very much about living an authentic life, true to himself and in harmony with God\u2019s will.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    He is so authentic that after letting a friend win a shooting match to impress a girl, he feels compelled to tell the girl that he really is a better shot than the other man, and then he shows it by shooting down two seagulls with one bullet (The Pathfinder<\/em>, Chapter 11). At the end of his life, he says, \u201cIt is needful to be honest in one\u2019s self, to be a fitting judge of honesty in others\u201d (The Prairie<\/em>, Chapter 33).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    This theme runs throughout the entire series, but an incident in The Deerslayer<\/em> dramatizes it particularly well. One of the characters, Thomas Hutter, has been captured by an enemy tribe. He keeps a mysterious chest that his daughter, Judith, goes through in order to find some treasure to use as ransom to get him released. Natty and his Delaware comrade Chingachgook help with this task. The three friends, who have spent most of their lives in the American wilderness, find several articles of fine clothing and are dazzled. Chingachgook tries on a festive red jacket, with buttonholes sewn in gold thread, and Judith dons a gorgeous gown<\/p>\n\n\n

    \n
    \"Book<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

    Natty observes that the gown \u201cwas made for the child of some governor, or a lady of high station, and it was intended to be worn among fine furniture, and in rich company.\u201d He tells Judith that she certainly appears beautiful and queenly in it, but that \u201cif there’s a creatur’ in the colony that can afford to do without finery, and to trust to her own good looks and sweet countenance, it’s yourself.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Natty suggests to Chingachgook that Hist, his betrothed, would also look uncommonly beautiful in the gown. Chingachgook doesn\u2019t disagree, but he doesn\u2019t want to see her in it either. He gives this profound reply: \u201cLike the young of the pigeon, she is to be known by her own feathers. I should pass by without knowing her, were she dressed in such a skin. It’s wisest always to be so clad that our friends need not ask us for our names\u201d (The Deerslayer<\/em>, Chapter 12). The fine clothes become a symbol of what Natty describes throughout the series as \u201cgifts.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \n

    \u201cYou find different colours on ‘arth, as any one may see, but you don’t find different natur’s. Different gifts, but only one natur’.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \u201cIn what is a gift different from a nature? Is not nature itself a gift from God?\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \u201cSartain; that’s quick-thoughted, and creditable, Judith, though the main idee is wrong. A natur’ is the creatur’ itself; its wishes, wants, idees and feelin’s, as all are born in him. This natur’ never can be changed, in the main, though it may undergo some increase, or lessening. Now, gifts come of sarcumstances. Thus, if you put a man in a town, he gets town gifts; in a settlement, settlement gifts; in a forest, gifts of the woods. A soldier has soldierly gifts, and a missionary preaching gifts. All these increase and strengthen, until they get to fortify natur’, as it might be, and excuse a thousand acts and idees. Still the creatur’ is the same at the bottom; just as a man who is clad in regimentals is the same as the man that is clad in skins. The garments make a change to the eye, and some change in the conduct, perhaps; but none in the man. Herein lies the apology for gifts; seein’ that you expect different conduct from one in silks and satins, from one in homespun; though the Lord, who didn’t make the dresses, but who made the creatur’s themselves, looks only at his own work.\u201d<\/p>\nThe Deerslayer<\/em>, Chapter 25.<\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

    Natty holds to this belief throughout his life, and he tells his adopted Pawnee son Hard-Heart at the end:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \n

    \u201cAs I came into life so will I leave it. Horses and arms are not needed to stand in the presence of the Great Spirit of my people. He knows my colour, and according to my gifts will he judge my deeds. . . . <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \u201cWhat I have done, He has seen. His eyes are always open. That, which has been well done, will He remember; wherein I have been wrong will He not forget to chastise, though He will do the same in mercy.\u201d<\/p>\nThe Prairie<\/em>, Chapter 34<\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

    Only one doubt about his own eternal destiny ever seems to disturb Natty. The tenets of his century suggest that members of different races won\u2019t go to the same Heaven. He believes that there\u2019s only one God and one Heaven for the good people of all races, but he doesn\u2019t know it. He wants very much to be with Chingachgook, Chingachgook\u2019s son Uncas, and Hard-Heart in the next life, along with his other native friends, and the thought that death may mean he will never see them again gives him pain. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    How many of us are ready to face God with this kind of honesty, humility, faith, and love?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \n\n\n\n

    The featured image “East Coast Creek” is Copyright\u00a0\u00a9\u00a02023 by Katherine Padilla<\/strong>. All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    I loved The Leatherstockings Tales for their fascinating look into the past and the endearing, enduring character Natty Bumppo.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":4980,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[33,32,86,35],"tags":[39,51,13,230,209,9,233,232,231,11],"class_list":["post-4974","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-adventure","category-american-classics","category-historical-fiction","category-western","tag-american-philosophy","tag-classics","tag-fiction","tag-james-fenimore-cooper","tag-nature","tag-religious-themes","tag-the-deerslayer","tag-the-last-of-the-mohicans","tag-the-leatherstocking-tales","tag-wholesome","post-preview"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/novels.zerosilver.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4974","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/novels.zerosilver.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/novels.zerosilver.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/novels.zerosilver.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/novels.zerosilver.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4974"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/novels.zerosilver.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4974\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4994,"href":"https:\/\/novels.zerosilver.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4974\/revisions\/4994"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/novels.zerosilver.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4980"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/novels.zerosilver.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4974"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/novels.zerosilver.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4974"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/novels.zerosilver.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4974"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}