Masculinity In James Cooper's The Last Of The Mohicans

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Recommended: Concept of masculinity

Masculinity refers to the social roles, behaviors, and meanings prescribed for men in any given society. (Kimmel, 2000). In both Howard Hawk’s “Sergeant York” movie and James Cooper’s “The last of the Mohicans” novel, masculinity serves as a prerequisite for being a traditional American Hero because the requirements of an American hero corresponds alongside traits associated with a masculine nature. A traditional American hero is brave, skillful, adapts easily, morally upright, selfless and caring.

To begin with, masculinity is associated with bravery in the sense that socially, men are taught right from an early age to be brave and fearless and these are also characteristics that are identified with heroism. For instance in “The last of the
Selflessness is the act of doing something for others in the hopes of getting absolutely nothing in return; this is a great requirement for being a hero. An illustration of selflessness in the last of the Mohicans is when the girls were captured by the Huron’s after the death of cornel Munro, Hawkeye offers himself in exchange for them “ I am Nathan of the Yengeese, Hawkeye, adopted son of Chingachgook of the Mohican people, let the children of the dead Munro and the Yengeese officer go free. This belt, which is a record of the days of my father ‘s people speaks for my through” he basically just sacrificed himself selflessly even when they refused to listen to him about what he tried to do he continues, telling the Yankee to translate “tell him ill trade him. Me for her… say it... I am la longue carabine, my death is a great honor to the Huron’s take me “ this is Hawkeye giving up himself for the lives of two women who until he saved them from the hands of Magua he didn’t know her. As well as in “sergeant York” although york could have found a way out of the battle field after seeing his comrades go down in battle he decided to single-handedly take on the Germans tactfully in order to save them, when asked by major Buxton if he did it to save lives he said yes, this amazed major Buxton to the point he said “well york what you’ve just told me is the most extraordinary thing of all. This makes his selflessness and the act of putting his life on the line in the quest for saving the lives of others fruitful and lead to him being a true

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