James Fenimore Cooper & the American Action Hero
Justifiably, James Fenimore Cooper has long been hailed as the originator of the action hero in American literature. His Natty Bumppo appealed and still appeals to the American attitude of rugged individualism and hard-headed defiant nature. This character opposed the industrialization of America and moved away from it to suit himself. He went to the woods, as a trapper and an adventurer.
The character of Bumppo was used to espouse a return to nature and revulsion of new technologies that subtract the human element of work that was valued so much within the working classes of American society.
American values were just being established as a unique and singular national strain and the new action-packed life of Natty Bumppo and friends greatly appealed to the developing national identity beginning to spread across the country. Working class, “leather-apron” men were viewing Cooper’s creation as a new national symbol for the blue-collared, the individuals that comprised the lower classes of the United states economic ladder.
Bumppo represented what every young boy wanted to grow up to be and what ever middle-aged man wished he had been. He was brave, fearless and seemingly invincible; he was also knowledgeable in most things and immeasurably resourceful. Women wished they could tame him and men just wanted to be something like him.
A short biography of the author gives the following description of Cooper’s success:
“His greatest achievement was his portrayal of the age-old theme of innocence struggling in a paradise lost, of frontier Americans striving in an Edenic American wilderness that, for all its nobility and grandeur, is being overwhelmed by the irresistible onrush of civilization. It was a theme embodied in the character and the actions of his archetypal hero, Natty Bumppo, whose flights from society and domesticity mark him as the first of the symbolic rebels in American writing and one of the most memorable in all of fiction.”
From Bumppo would emerge countless knock-off characters, as it seems happens with every run-away fad. This idea of a romantic and heroic rugged man has carried on into contemporary society in the form of such popular personalities as Indiana Jones and James Bond. Cooper’s serialized novels created an archetypical hero from an appealing tough, yet charming shell.
Another aspect of Cooper’s creation that carried on into modern popular culture action heroes is the inability of these characters to settle down. It is though these people are “married” to their cause and cannot settle down or stop working towards their goals. For Bumppo, his life-connection was with Mother Nature. For James Bond, it is his spy work, protecting the world from human threat. Indiana Jones was wed to archaeology. Incorporated into these newer characters is an enhanced sexual appeal; the “Bond girls” and Indiana Jones’ different woman every movie.
The author’s greatest due should be given for the fact that he has forever fascinated the American public’s unique magnetism to the underdog - the small man. He drew in his audience with tales of places he had never seen and wildernesses he would never venture through. His characters may have been “one-dimensional” and his plots riddled with holes, but he was a pioneer in the field of American novel-writing.
Natty Bumppo stood for freedom for many of these people, who were grasping for a more identifiable hero that they could admire and strive to be. And though many of Cooper’s stories were riddled with inaccuracies, the people ate up every word of the romantic Leatherstocking Tales.
Later in the nineteenth century, Mark Twain, one of Cooper’s most virulent critics, would tear apart the compilation of romantic novels; showing them in a less glamorous light, but they remained a mainstay in American literature. Twain held, in his “literary offenses” lecture, that Cooper’s characters boring and badly developed, that many of his facts were misleading to readers and that his research was poor.
Some of Natty’s most memorable acquaintances were members of various Indian tribes, most notably his friend Chingachgook. These characters are most easily described as noble savages. They represent what romantics of Cooper’s age idealized. I believe Cooper wished to give the Native American’s a better reputation than the one most un-informed American townspeople seemed to hold during this time period and well after. This is interesting considering this author received much of his information about the Indians from books and witness accounts. He never ventured into the wilderness himself to collect first hand information and experience the Natives for himself. But his opinions on the topic of Native Americans were very similar to many romantic authors.
Cooper may not have been a perfect author, nor a perfect person; but his concepts and imagination sparked a trend in the common American’s mind that there can be that single person who can make a difference. That person can be individualistic and stubborn, brave and strong, charming and resourceful as well as caring. This was the beginning of the American action hero that continues to spike box office sales to this very day.
The character of Bumppo was used to espouse a return to nature and revulsion of new technologies that subtract the human element of work that was valued so much within the working classes of American society.
American values were just being established as a unique and singular national strain and the new action-packed life of Natty Bumppo and friends greatly appealed to the developing national identity beginning to spread across the country. Working class, “leather-apron” men were viewing Cooper’s creation as a new national symbol for the blue-collared, the individuals that comprised the lower classes of the United states economic ladder.
Bumppo represented what every young boy wanted to grow up to be and what ever middle-aged man wished he had been. He was brave, fearless and seemingly invincible; he was also knowledgeable in most things and immeasurably resourceful. Women wished they could tame him and men just wanted to be something like him.
A short biography of the author gives the following description of Cooper’s success:
“His greatest achievement was his portrayal of the age-old theme of innocence struggling in a paradise lost, of frontier Americans striving in an Edenic American wilderness that, for all its nobility and grandeur, is being overwhelmed by the irresistible onrush of civilization. It was a theme embodied in the character and the actions of his archetypal hero, Natty Bumppo, whose flights from society and domesticity mark him as the first of the symbolic rebels in American writing and one of the most memorable in all of fiction.”
From Bumppo would emerge countless knock-off characters, as it seems happens with every run-away fad. This idea of a romantic and heroic rugged man has carried on into contemporary society in the form of such popular personalities as Indiana Jones and James Bond. Cooper’s serialized novels created an archetypical hero from an appealing tough, yet charming shell.
Another aspect of Cooper’s creation that carried on into modern popular culture action heroes is the inability of these characters to settle down. It is though these people are “married” to their cause and cannot settle down or stop working towards their goals. For Bumppo, his life-connection was with Mother Nature. For James Bond, it is his spy work, protecting the world from human threat. Indiana Jones was wed to archaeology. Incorporated into these newer characters is an enhanced sexual appeal; the “Bond girls” and Indiana Jones’ different woman every movie.
The author’s greatest due should be given for the fact that he has forever fascinated the American public’s unique magnetism to the underdog - the small man. He drew in his audience with tales of places he had never seen and wildernesses he would never venture through. His characters may have been “one-dimensional” and his plots riddled with holes, but he was a pioneer in the field of American novel-writing.
Natty Bumppo stood for freedom for many of these people, who were grasping for a more identifiable hero that they could admire and strive to be. And though many of Cooper’s stories were riddled with inaccuracies, the people ate up every word of the romantic Leatherstocking Tales.
Later in the nineteenth century, Mark Twain, one of Cooper’s most virulent critics, would tear apart the compilation of romantic novels; showing them in a less glamorous light, but they remained a mainstay in American literature. Twain held, in his “literary offenses” lecture, that Cooper’s characters boring and badly developed, that many of his facts were misleading to readers and that his research was poor.
Some of Natty’s most memorable acquaintances were members of various Indian tribes, most notably his friend Chingachgook. These characters are most easily described as noble savages. They represent what romantics of Cooper’s age idealized. I believe Cooper wished to give the Native American’s a better reputation than the one most un-informed American townspeople seemed to hold during this time period and well after. This is interesting considering this author received much of his information about the Indians from books and witness accounts. He never ventured into the wilderness himself to collect first hand information and experience the Natives for himself. But his opinions on the topic of Native Americans were very similar to many romantic authors.
Cooper may not have been a perfect author, nor a perfect person; but his concepts and imagination sparked a trend in the common American’s mind that there can be that single person who can make a difference. That person can be individualistic and stubborn, brave and strong, charming and resourceful as well as caring. This was the beginning of the American action hero that continues to spike box office sales to this very day.
posted by Brian at 4:30 a.m.
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