Analysis of The Characters of Cora and Alice in The Last of The Mohicans

The Last of the Mohicans, James Fenimore Cooper’s most well-known novel, is one of the most best-selling and acclaimed books about the American Frontier. The story took place at the height of conflict during the French and Indian War. Interspersing with hatred and fights, interracial love and friendship played an important role for the survival. One of the most precious relationship in this novel is the sisterhood between Cora Munro and Alice Munro. On one hand, Cora is a major character in the novel and is beloved of the admirable Indian Uncas. On the other hand, Alice is a minor character who is an archetypical “damsel in distress”. Cooper is successful in engaging the readers and leading them on the journey through the mysteriousness and exoticness of the frontier battles, somehow allowing the readers to discover the appearance and personality of these characters.

Cora and Alice are daughters to Colonel Munro, a British army colonel in command of Fort William Henry. They shared a tremendous love for their father, as evidenced by determining to visit him during the crisis from Fort Edward to Fort William Henry, where their father, Colonel Munro is commander of the forces. The girls are accompanied by Major Duncan, Magua, and some Mohican friends. Together, they witnessed many fights and fell into dangerous adventures during this trip. Cora and Alice were falling in love with two guys, Uncas and Heyward. Last but not least, the daughters of Colonel Munro both had deep feuds against the Hurons since they were attacked many times by these people.

Cora Munro, daughter to Colonel and older sister to Alice, is truly a character embodying the novel’s opinions about mixed race. Her mother, whom Munro met and married in the West Indies, was a mulatto woman. Therefore, Cora, who was part of “Negro”, had dark skin and raven hair. As opposed to her blonde girlish sister, Alice, Cora was dark and stoic, which was not the stereotypical nineteenth-century sentimental heroine. As for the character’s qualities, Cora appears in the novel as a wise, caring, strong-willed and calm girl in the face of danger. Throughout the novel, Cora is complemented for her strength and bravery, especially compared with that of her sister. Nevertheless, in her mind, she still views herself as a “freak of nature”. Although at times, Cora was a “damsel in distress”, she was also capable of expressing her thoughts and suggesting some solutions to tough problems. Cora is considered as the personification of Cooper’s view on interracial relationships. Because of her part African - American, Cora seems to be a little more open to the idea of interracial love. Unfortunately, Cora is destined to die in the world of the novel, “perhaps because the prospect of an interracial marriage between her and Uncas is impossible”. Or the reason might be that she is not pure blood. She’s biracial:

'There it was my lot to form a connection with one who in time became my wife, and the mother of Cora. She was the daughter of a gentleman of those isles, by a lady whose misfortune it was, if you will,' said the old man, proudly, 'to be descended, remotely, from that unfortunate class who are so basely enslaved to administer to the wants of a luxurious people.' 

Alice Munro was the half-sister of Cora. She is Colonel Munro’s younger daughter by Alice Graham, his Scottish second wife. Alice’s golden hair, fair skin, and enervation “make her a conventional counterpart to the racially mixed and fiery Cora” (JGDB). Pure, girlish and young, she tended to faint and panic at times of stress. Alice is in the words of her sister Cora:

Kind, gentle, sweet, good, as mortal may be. There is not a blemish in mind or person at which the proudest of you all would sicken. She is fair — oh! how surpassingly fair!' laying her own beautiful, but less brilliant, hand in melancholy affection on the alabaster forehead of Alice, and parting the golden hair which clustered about her brows; 'and yet her soul is pure and spotless as her skin!'.

In other words, Alice is the archetypal nineteenth - century pure, sweet and “troubled girl” heroine She was considered as an archetypal “damsel in distress,” who throws her hands when bad men arrive and inspires such nice men like Hayward for perpetual devotion. Alice is also a “sentimental love heroine who complements Major Heyward is palely flower-like”. As a result, Alice and Hayward loved each other and got engaged with the blessings of her father.

Throughout The Last of the Mohicans, it is undeniable that Cooper has excelled in describing and expressing the appearances and personalities of each specific character, particularly for this essay, Cora and Alice. Thanks to that, the readers might better understand the character genre of these two Munro sisters. The two characters seem to be opposite to each other, but they also have certain similarities and both play an integral role in contributing to this great novel. Typically, through Cora and Alice, readers may notice that in terms of Cooper’s views, the mix of races is the reason causing so many problems, while overcoming racial barriers and having interracial relationships bring back a lot of advantages.

Works Cited

• Cooper, James Fentub. The Last of the Mohicans: A Narrative of 1757. The Floating Press, 2009. EBSCOhost, search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=nlebk&AN=314066&site=ehost-live&scope=site.
• Cooper, James Fenimore, and Saddleback Educational Publishing. The Last of the Mohicans Novel Study Guide. Saddleback Educational Publishing, 2010. EBSCOhost, search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=nlebk&AN=435908&site=ehost-live&scope=site.
• Rountree, Thomas J. The Last of the Mohicans: Notes. John Wiley & Sons, Inc. [US], 1996. EBSCOhost, search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=nlebk&AN=11442&site=ehost-live&scope=site.
• “Alice Munro.” Just Great DataBase, https://jgdb.com/literature/study-guides/character-alice-munro.
• Shmoop Editorial Team. “Cora Munro in Last of the Mohicans.” Shmoop, Shmoop University, 11 Nov. 2008, https://www.shmoop.com/last-of-the-mohicans/cora-munro.html.
• Shmoop Editorial Team. “Alice Munro in Last of the Mohicans.” Shmoop, Shmoop University, 11 Nov. 2008, https://www.shmoop.com/last-of-the-mohicans/alice-munro.html.
• “THE LAST OF THE MOHICANS.” PoemLion, 9 Aug. 2017, https://poemlion.wordpress.com/2017/08/09/the-last-of-the-mohicans/.