Cooper on the Indian

In Cooper’s description of the Indians he immediately casts them as being far inferior to the white man. In fact the only race that Cooper puts under the Indian is the Irish peasant, which would be seen as vermin to Cooper’s aristocratic audience. Perhaps the most kind thing Cooper says about the Indians is that they seem to be somewhat willing to be absorbed into the superior white society. Cooper’s report on Indians paints them as a primitive, uncivilized race that would need the guiding hand of the whites to survive. He is no kinder in his description of Indians in The Deerslayer. Painting the Indians as fairly dim and deceitful adversaries who are far inferior to Natty Bumpo. Although, Cooper was not exactly kind in describing Indians, I feel that he is also fascinated by them, as they represent a wild untamed America that was slowly being destroyed by the white man.