his school supplies through the forest. He expresses his contempt for books as proof of doctrine, except for one book that is “too simple and too plain to need much schooling.” Gamut asks what this book is called, and Hawkeye remarks that it is the very Bible that Gamut clings to. Hawkeye sees no use for people who search in books for proof of the existence of God, when that existence is so plain around him in nature. The greatest foolishness, Hawkeye states, is trying to rise above the level of God in goodness or in power.

Essential Passage 3: Chapter 22

Long and habitual deference to the mandates of his superiors had taught the scout the virtue of obedience. Throwing a last and lingering glance at the distant canoes, he laid aside his rifle, and relieving the wearied Duncan, resumed the paddle, which he wielded with sinews that never tired. His efforts were seconded by those of the Mohicans, and a very few minutes served to place such a sheet of water between them and their enemies that Heyward once more breathed freely.

Summary
Hawkeye, accompanied by Duncan Heyward, Munro, and the Mohicans, is in pursuit of the Hurons who have captured Alice and Cora. An attacking group of the Huron have crossed the lake, putting considerable distance between themselves and the pursuers. Hawkeye, wanting to rectify the attack and thus remove a danger from the woods, wants to chase them first, and then go after the women. Duncan, however, pleads that they should first find the women, and Munro agrees as only a grieving father can. Duncan has previously shown that he is more intent on maintaining the standards of the British army whether or not it is appropriate in the wilderness. Rather than insisting on his way, however, Hawkeye yields to Munro as the senior officer in the group and follows in obedience, regardless of his own opinion of the correct course of action.

Analysis of Essential Passages
Throughout Cooper’s Leatherstocking Tales, the character of Hawkeye (or Nathaniel Bumpo, also Natty) grows in small yet subtle ways, developing as a human being who has shunned the “civilized” world of the white man in favor of the natural environment of the Native Americans by whom he was raised. Yet Hawkeye retains some characteristics that he learned exclusively in his youth and have transferred with ease into his new life.

At this time, Hawkeye is almost forty years old. It is his second adventure chronologically, the first being The Deerslayer, which also recounts an adventure in which two sisters and their encounters with the Indians are involved. Like in the previous adventure, Hawkeye in The Last of the Mohicans is a Romantic hero, in touch with nature more than with any emotion inspired by a woman. His romance is with the wilderness, and as such his virtues are showcased by that environment.

Hawkeye shuns formal education, stating that all he ever needed to learn to survive and flourish in the woods he learned from the woods themselves. Yet he still holds true to the standards he learned in his Christian childhood, finding in the Bible all the answers that he has not found in the wilderness. His understanding of God is closer to that of the Native American view, yet remains separate from the “Great Spirit” nature god that is envisioned by the Indians. It is this faith that keeps him from truly “going native.” However, he disdains the more formalized religion of Gamut.

Although Hawkeye has long been his own man, he does not completely grasp his independence as absolute. He yields to the wishes of Munro, whom he accepts in the hierarchy of the white community as one whose commands are to be obeyed. Though this quality is also present in the Native American culture, Hawkeye’s obedience is closer to that of a junior officer following the orders of his commander. In matters that are of minor importance, he will willingly yield against his contrary view of the best course of action. However, when it comes to the serious matter of survival in the wilderness, he assumes the leadership role, even over those who are highly placed in the British army.
Through it all, Hawkeye does not come across as the perfect leader, the perfect scout, or the perfect human being. He has his moments of indecision, especially when the safety and the very lives of others are at stake. This hesitancy makes Hawkeye a more believable character than the often flat, wooden representation of the pioneer as portrayed in the conventional literature of the day. Hawkeye has his flaws, and there are consequences to his flaws. Yet he also accepts those consequences and uses his wisdom and insight in choosing a new course of action.

Hawkeye’s maturity at this point in the Leatherstocking saga is fast approaching the limitations of middle age. Yet this is balanced, even overcome, by the wisdom he has acquired from a life of freedom in the wilderness. Hawkeye is portrayed as the heroic American male, which every American male inwardly aspired to be. The longing for the freedom of the unsettled wilderness is a form of nostalgia in a time of the rapid industrialization of America. Yet there were still lands to be explored and settled, and Cooper’s works helped to inspire the hearts and minds of many of the explorers and settlers who would cross the plains, prairies, and mountains.