The Deerslayer by James Fenimore Cooper
"The Deerslayer," authored by James Fenimore Cooper, is a historical novel set in the early 18th century along the New York frontier, exploring themes of honor, bravery, and the complexities of human relationships amid conflict. The story follows Natty Bumppo, known as Deerslayer, as he embarks on a perilous journey to Lake Glimmerglass with his companion Hurry Harry, aiming to warn settlers about impending attacks by Iroquois forces allied with the French. The narrative intricately weaves the lives of characters, including Thomas Hutter and his daughters, as they seek refuge from the violence surrounding them.
As tensions escalate, Deerslayer encounters various challenges, including capturing his first Indian, the complexities of ransom negotiations, and the rescue of a Delaware maiden, Wah-ta!-Wah. The novel also touches upon the personal dynamics between the characters, particularly Deerslayer’s interactions with Judith and Hetty Hutter, revealing deeper emotional layers against the backdrop of survival and cultural conflict. Ultimately, "The Deerslayer" provides a vivid depiction of frontier life and the moral dilemmas faced by individuals in a time of war, leaving a lasting impression of the characters' journeys both physically and emotionally as they confront their fates.
The Deerslayer by James Fenimore Cooper
First published: 1841
Type of work: Novel
Type of plot: Historical
Time of plot: 1740
Locale: Northern New York State
Principal Characters
Natty Bumppo , a woodsman called Deerslayer by the DelawaresHurry Harry , a frontier scoutChingachgook , Deerslayer’s Delaware friendThomas Hutter , owner of the lakeJudith Hutter , a young woman Thomas Hutter claims as his daughterHetty Hutter , Judith’s sisterWah-ta!-Wah , Chingachgook’s beloved
The Story
Natty Bumppo, a young woodsman known as Deerslayer, and Hurry Harry travel to the shores of Lake Glimmerglass together. It is a dangerous journey, for the French and their Iroquois allies are on the warpath. Deerslayer is planning to meet his friend Chingachgook, the young Delaware chief, so that they might go against the Iroquois. Hurry Harry is on his way to the lake to warn Thomas Hutter and his daughters that hostile Indians are raiding along the frontier. Harry is accustomed to hunt and trap with Hutter during the summer, and he is an admirer of Hutter’s elder daughter, the spirited Judith.
Hutter and his daughters live in a cabin built on piles in the middle of the lake. Hutter also builds a great, scowlike vessel, known among frontiersmen as the ark, on which he travels from one shore of the lake to the other on his hunting and trapping expeditions. On their arrival at the lake, the two find a hidden canoe. Having paddled out to the cabin and found it deserted, they proceed down the lake and come upon the ark anchored in a secluded outlet. Hutter already learned of the Indian raiders. The party decides to take refuge in the cabin, where they can be attacked only over the water. The men manage to maneuver the ark out of the narrow outlet and sail it to the cabin. They have one narrow escape, for as the ark clears the outlet, six Indians try to board the boat by dropping from the overhanging limbs of a tree. Each misses and falls into the water.
Under cover of darkness, Hutter, Deerslayer, and Hurry Harry take the canoe and paddle to shore to get Hutter’s two remaining canoes hidden there. They find the canoes and, on their way back to the ark, sight a party of Indians camped under some trees. While Deerslayer waits in a canoe offshore, the other two men attack the Iroquois camp in an attempt to obtain scalps, for which they can receive bounties. They are captured. Deerslayer, knowing that he is powerless to help them, goes to sleep in the canoe until morning.
When Deerslayer awakens, he sees that one of the canoes drifted close to shore. To rescue it, he is forced to shoot an Indian, the first man he ever kills. Returning to the fort with his prizes, Deerslayer tells the girls of their father’s fate. It is agreed that they will delay any attempt at rescue until the arrival of Chingachgook, whom Deerslayer is to meet that night.
The party goes in the ark and meets Chingachgook at the spot where the river joins the lake. Back in the cabin, Deerslayer explains that the Delaware came to the lake to rescue his sweetheart, Wah-ta!-Wah, who was stolen by the Iroquois. Suddenly, they discover that Hetty Hutter disappeared. The girl, somewhat feebleminded, casts off in one of the canoes with the intention of going to the Indian camp to rescue her father and Hurry Harry.
The next morning, Wah-ta!-Wah comes upon Hetty wandering in the forest. She takes the white girl to the Iroquois camp, but she suffers no harm because the Indians believe deranged persons are protected by the Great Spirit.
It is Deerslayer’s idea to ransom the prisoners with some rich brocades and carved ivory that he and Judith found in Tom Hutter’s chest. Its contents were known only to Hutter and Hetty, but in this emergency, Judith does not hesitate to open the coffer. Meanwhile, a young Iroquois rows Hetty back to the cabin on a raft. Deerslayer tells him that the party in the cabin will give two ivory chessmen for the release of the captives. He is unable to drive quite the bargain he planned. In the end, four chessmen are exchanged for the men, who are returned that night.
Hetty brings a message from Wah-ta!-Wah. Chingachgook is to meet the Indian girl at a particular place on the shore when the evening star rises above the hemlocks that night. Hurry Harry and Tom Hutter are still determined to obtain scalps. When night closes in, Hurry Harry, Hutter, and Chingachgook reconnoiter the camp. To their disappointment, they find it deserted and the Indians camped on the beach, at the spot where Wah-ta!-Wah is to wait for Chingachgook.
While Hutter and Harry sleep, the Delaware and Deerslayer attempt to keep the rendezvous, but the girl is under such close watch that it is impossible for her to leave the camp. The two men enter the camp and boldly rescue her from her captors. Deerslayer, who remains to cover their escape, is taken prisoner.
When Judith hears from Chingachgook of Deerslayer’s capture, she rows Hetty ashore to learn what became of the woodsman. Once more, Hetty walks unharmed among the superstitious savages. Deerslayer assures her there is nothing she can do to help and that he must await the Iroquois’ pleasure. She returns to Judith.
As the girls paddle about, trying to find the ark in the darkness, they hear a gunshot. They seem, from the light of the torches on shore, that an Indian girl was mortally wounded by a shot from the ark. Soon the lights got out. Paddling to the center of the lake, they try to get what they can before morning comes.
When daylight returns, Hutter heads the ark toward the cabin once more. Missing his daughters, he concludes that the cabin would be the most likely meeting place. Hutter and Harry are the first to leave the ark to go into the cabin. There the Iroquois, who came aboard in rafts under cover of darkness, were waiting in ambush. Harry manages to escape into the water, where he is saved by Chingachgook. Judith and Hetty came to the ark in their canoe. After the Indians go ashore, those on the ark go to the cabin. They find Hutter lying dead. That evening, he is buried in the lake. Hurry Harry takes advantage of the occasion to propose to Judith, but she refuses him.
Shortly thereafter, they are surprised to see Deerslayer paddling toward the ark. He was given temporary liberty in order to bargain with the fugitives. The Iroquois send word that Chingachgook will be allowed to return to his own people if Wah-ta!-Wah and Judith became brides of Iroquois warriors. Hetty, they promise, will go unharmed because of her mental condition. Although Deerslayer’s life is to be the penalty for refusal, these terms are declined.
Deerslayer does not have to return to his captors until the next day, and that evening he and Judith examine carefully the contents of her father’s chest. To the girl’s wonder, she finds letters indicating that Hutter was not her real father but a former buccaneer whom her mother married when her first husband deserted her. Saddened by this knowledge, Judith no longer wishes to live at the lake. She intimates to Deerslayer that she loves him, only to find that he considers her above him in education and in intelligence.
When Deerslayer returns to the Iroquois the next day, he is put to torture with hatchets. Hetty, Judith, and Wah-ta!-Wah come to the camp and attempt to intercede for him, but to no avail. Suddenly, Chingachgook bounds in and cuts his friend’s bonds. Deerslayer’s release is the signal for the regiment from the nearest fort to attack (Hurry Harry went to summon help during the night).
The Iroquois are routed. Hetty is mortally wounded during the battle. The next day, she is buried in the lake beside her parents. Judith joins the soldiers returning to the fort. Deerslayer departs for the Delaware camp with Chingachgook and his bride.
Fifteen years later, Deerslayer, Chingachgook, and the latter’s young son, Uncas, revisit the lake. Wah-ta!-Wah is long since dead, and, though the hunter inquires at the fort about Judith, he can find no one who knows her. There is a rumor that a former member of the garrison, then living in England on his paternal estates, was influenced by a woman of rare beauty who was not his wife. The ark and the cabin in the lake are falling into decay.
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