Civilized vs. Naturalistic Romanticism

In Cooper's The Deerslayer, there is a distinction between "white gifts" and "red gifts"; these distinctions are based on the stereotypes of White people and Native Americans. In many of Coopers works, he sets the racial and social stratification between people. These "white gifts" are, civility, fair fighting, justice and morality. The "red gifts" are the opposite, incivility, unfair fighting, and immorality. For Deerslayer, who is in fact white but considered a Native American, Cooper says that he has some "white-gifts" that out weigh the "red ones". In Cooper's novel, Deerslayer takes the role of a Native American in an idealistic early America. Cooper sets the stage of an Edenistic wild America. When Deerslayer is confronted by a Native American who does not posses any "white gifts" he kills him. This action illustrates Cooper's confront of the white settlers, or civilizers, destruction of the order of the natural world. Cooper is confronted within himself of the idea of necessity of "white gifts" and the necessity of the natural American wild. The contradiction between Coopers two ideas leads him to a stratification within himself.