The Bond of Sisterhood in The Deerslayer

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Recommended: The role of women in literature

The Bond of Sisterhood in The Deerslayer

Sisters throughout history have been to eachother: friends, playmates, adversaries, confidantes, soul mates and “significant others”, but the most important bond they share is their sisterly love. This bond stands out and sets it apart from all others. The sisterly love that Judith and Hetty Hutter possessed never seemed to reach its full potential. This may be due to the fact that they were sisters who were different in every way possible. This sisterly conflict creates great diversity and themes for the book “The DeerSlayer” by James Fenimore Cooper.

Due to the fact that their mother died when they were young, Judith being the older one, naturally took the leadership and mothering responsibilities over the two. They had been raised by their father Tom Hetter on Lake Glimmerglass, New York. Each sister, in her own aspect was a leader and a follower. Though Hetty in her own aspect took on the missionary duties of converting the Mingos. Physically and personality wise the two were as opposite as north and south. Judith was tall, dark, and beautiful, always attracting the military men nearby. Hetty on the contrary was short, pale, and rather plain looking. Despite the judgements on their appearances, their personalities proved to be very contrasting and conflicting.

Preferences of lifestyle created much conflict and unspoken bitterness between the two girls. Hetty preferred to life a simple and moral life, while sharing her Christian faith with the Mingos, in hopes to convert them. Judith on the other hand wanted to go to bigger and better places, to new settlements being formed, vying away from simpleness and heading into booming towns. She wanted to leave the simple...

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...Deerslayer favored the “simplicity and quite nature” of Hetty. It was ironic how the things that these women wanted most in life, were unreachable, but the girls found outlets to fill these voids.

Despite the differences between Hetty and Judith, the love for each other was still evident. Judith felt sadness and loss at the death of Hetty, possibly realizing the true depth of their relationship, which they had never pondered. Throughout their lives, one sister was always being compared to the other. Hetty naturally succumbed to the lower position of the two, just accepting what happened. Judith attempted to find the benefit for herself out of every situation, but ended up loosing for what she had loved most in life, the Deerslayer. Despite their hardships, the two girls learned not only to love in a romantic way but in the brotherly way, the way sisters shared.

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