American who art thou?

I have lived to see the last warrior of the wise race of the Mohi thunder mugs laments Tamenund (barrel maker 382) in the book Last of the Mohicans. The death of Uncas and Cora marks the end of the Mohican people. Chingachgook indeed out(p)lived Uncas his son nevertheless he is at present childless and his people impart now pass into legend and song. Ironically, the people described by Cooper in his book are Mohicans (Britanica). But their names rightly belong to a nonher tribe cognise as the Mohegan (Britanica). The adventures of Uncas shed light on the true meaning of American.An American is a truly herculean to define creature. The US constitution defines asAll individuals born or naturalized in the united States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside. No State shall make or oblige any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States nor shall any State deprive a ny psyche of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the able guard of the laws. (Section 1)US citizenship, for those who are not born with it, is surprisingly hard to acquire. Yet constant of gravitations of people from the third-world will try e truly year to gain entry. America is believed to be the land of milk and honey. Millions more would prove to enter if they only had the means. All stress the freedom and liberty promised by the Statute of Liberty to the huddle together masses.Those who are not Natural Born American Citizens can aspire to receive visa to die in the States. If fortune smiles upon them they can be granted citizenship after proving themselves to be good law stay people. This also in tales absorbing American Values and ethics although compared to other nations America has a utmost tolerance for those who thing out of the box and the non-con designists.Media can often be used to reinforce or even create a new identity for a people. For example, Nazi propaganda transformed the innocent Jews into the demons who were croup all the ills of the world. The book last of the Mohicans and the movie last of the Dogmen are examples, of how media can be used to form a countrys horse sense of identity.In the movie Last of the Dogmen, Lewis Gates pursues meltd convicts into the metric ton countryside. All he recovers are a few scraps of cloth, some blood and an old make Indian arrow. Despite the doubts of scientist, Gates believed that the there is a lost Indian tribe somewhere out there. Working on a hunch the Indian arrow leads him down a trail of seeking of a lost tribe of Dog Soldiers. He eventually encounters the Dog soldiers and they believe him to be their foe. Upon his escape he essays to protect them from being discovered and polluted by civilization.In the movie the American was be as a Native American, one of the Dog Soldiers whose ancestors once roamed the plains of America free and merciless by todays mores. The noble savage is worthy of protection from the corrupting influence of mainstream society.By simile the Last of the Mohicans is about a Mohican caught in the French- slope war in Canada. The French are trying to fire Fort William Henry with the aid of the Hurons and the Iroquis. Hawkeye is given the task of escorting the commanders two daughters to safety ult the Indians. On the lane they encounter Chingachgook and Uncas the last of the Mohicans in the region. The plot of Hawkeyes guide is soon exposed the guide betrays the political party and the two Mohicans agree to be their guides.In the forest, Hawkeye, the Mohicans and their charges face many perils including many Indians who are haunting the woods in search of them. peerless of the members of the assemblage is wounded by a sniper and they are soon immobilized. The group hides in a cave but a flushed out by a overmuch larger party of Hurons. Now prisoners of the Huron s they are granted a chance at freedom if Cora would but consider to marry Magua.Haughty Cora refuses and soon the enraged Magua decides that the entire party should just die. At that very moment, the Mohicans and Hawkeye attack rescuing the captives and slaughtering the Hurons. Magua escapes but the captives are now safe. Eventually they stop at an old building where a lot of Mohicans died and where Chingachgook and Hawkeye fought together. Soon they are finally within the forts walls and are safe.In the fort, Duncan wonders how the fort can hold off so many attackers. Their only hope is for Webb to arrive with reinforcements. Duncan is sent as an emissary to the French commander Montcalm. All this succeeds in doing is letting Duncan know that the Frech are aware of the horrible plight of the English Fort. The commanders, Montcalm and sake eventually meet and Montcalm hands Munro a letter flesh out how Webb is unable to send reinforcement. He asks the English to surrender. Munro naturally abhors surrender, but upon hearing the generous terms supported by the Frenchman agrees to sign a treaty. Peace it seems is achieved.But not all are pleased with the accord. Magua is outraged in claiming that his warriors will have no scalps while the livid men become friends. While the English are fleeing from Fort William Henry the Hurons attack killing many innocent people. Cora is found by Magua and again he asks for her to be his wife but again she refused. So Magua captures Alice instead.A birth effort goes terribly wrong when Duncan, Uncas and Hawkeye go to the Huron Village. Uncas is caught and is at the mercy of the Huron. This time the rescue goes healthful as Duncan is able to rescue Uncas. After a side-trip among the Delaware who are overjoyed at seeing Uncas, a Mohican. Uncas prepares his forces to attack the Hurons. In the mesh that follows Magua is killed, Cora is also killed but ere the battle is ended Uncas too dies.Oddly, enough Coopers view of Mohican Indian is wildly at variance with the movie version. Coopers Mohicans are musket carrying warrior who could fight equally well as the Europeans they traveled with. By comparison Wyeth portrays Uncas with a dagger, a tomahawk, and a bow and arrow-weapons of precolonial warfare and the public attributes of an Indian brave. Coopers Uncas suggests the complexity of the characters position as a conventionally educated, English-speaking American Indian, Wyeth generalizes and romanticizes the Indian heros appearance. Wyeths version simply conforms to his understanding of American Indians, which was tightly bound to the ideal of an untamed wilderness.Hawkeye is the books consummate American, he is the friend of Chingchagook. In chapter three of the Indians push for identity is first given shape. He was of unmixed blood and his tribe is the grandfather of nations. In the past his people fought the Iroquis, who were now mercenaries at the employ of the French, However, now the tribe is depleted and only Uncas his son the Great Compromiser of the Mohicans. Uncas and Chingchagook are firmly with the English as they are prepared to die fighting the Iroquis. Also in this chapter is the interplay of ideas and beliefs between Chingchagook and Hawkeye. This would later be an important ideal of Americans. The free exchange of ideas and belief or the so called Marketplace of ideas.Another example of the struggle was the discrimination Cora Munro suffered as opposed to the respect that Alice Munro received. Both were the daughters of a prominent military commander but because of Coras skin color and heritage she is looked down upon. Although later in the story she would fall in love with Uncas.An American is one who can identify with the values and morals of the American people in General. It is the question of what those values are that is problematic. One of the first defining events of being an American was Declaration of independence. As written by Thomas Jefferso n the American people believed that All men are created free and equal under God. Previous to the declaration, Americans were passive very much under the heel of the primitive feudal system they inherited from the British. The King, three thousand miles away ruled their lives by fiat. His lords and nobles ran roughshod over his subjects. This same struggle for equality is seen when Chingchagook and Hawkeye are discussing the differences between the English and the Mohicans.Another related event was the Civil war. The ideal of free and equal was put to the test. work on then it was a hypocrisy, the US claimed that its people lived in equality. Yet in the Southern States nearly 1/3 of all people were slaves who had no civil and political rights.The black man was a slave unfitting even of the title man, he toiled in the cotton plantations endlessly providing wealth for the arrogant white masters. Tens of Thousands would die before the African-American could take part and received ci tizenship in the country. An example, of this discrimination is when Cora rejects Maguas offer to be his wife. In exchange for the freedom of the thralls. Still Cora refuses because even if she was a Quadroon she still held herself better than the foul Indian Magua.However, even with the Emancipation declaration, the black man was still relegated to a second class citizen. It was not until Martin Luther King Jr. came forrard daring violence and persecution in order end the discrimination and superstition that plagued African Americans in the south. The struggle for equality can also been seen in the desire of Magua to be embrace to Cora where Cora constantly refuses him because of his inferior stock. In the past, there were laws in place, particularly in the south, which prevented a black person from marrying a white person.Manifest Destiny, that doctrine that said that America should expand to the Pacific and beyond was other important even that helped change the American Iden tity. The Expansion to the west would come at the expense of Mexicans and Indians who would stick out their lands. In that point of history a great influx of Irish, Germans and other European immigrants came to America to seek the freedom promised by the Statute of liberty. They were soon welded into the American people and brought their work ethic and industry to the enlarge the vigor of the rising Hercules that was the Union.The World Wars are another defining event in American level because the US having gained prominence among nations was now ready to take its place among the stars. America sent legions of its finest youths to go forwards and fight in Europe and Asia for the defense of the weak and innocent against those who would oppress them. The same way Uncas was free to endanger himself for the sake of foreigners he barely knew.The American identity remains vague and hard to define. publications and other media can help express and expound it. But ultimately it must s hine forth from the heart of every American Citizen. Simply, put an American is one who lives and breathes the American ideals. In a sense Hawkeye was an American because he respected the views of those who were not in concurrence with his. He also fought hard for the protection of the weak and innocent. Finally, he was a true friend to his allies.Works CitedCooper, James The Last of the Mohicans. Edwards Brothers Inc 2006 EdMohican (history), Encyclopdia Britannica, 2007, webpage EB-Mohicans. (Last accessed 11 Dec 2007)Mohegan (history), Encyclopdia Britannica, 2007, webpage EB-Mahican. (Last accessed 11 Dec 2007)U.S. Constitution.Micheals, Joel B The Last of the Dogmen 8 kinfolkt 1995WYETHS NOBLE SAVAGE Sep/Oct 2007. Vol. 28, Iss. 5 pg. 23, 1 pgs