For the Jamaican band, see The Pioneers (band)

The Pioneers (band)

The Pioneers are a Jamaican reggae vocal trio, whose main period of success was in the 1960s. The trio has had different line-ups, and still occasionally performs.-Founding and early years: 1962-1967:...

The Pioneers: The Sources of the Susquehanna; a Descriptive Tale is a historical novel

Historical novel

According to Encyclopædia Britannica, a historical novel is-Development:An early example of historical prose fiction is Luó Guànzhōng's 14th century Romance of the Three Kingdoms, which covers one of the most important periods of Chinese history and left a lasting impact on Chinese culture.The...

, the first published of the Leatherstocking Tales

Leatherstocking Tales

The Leatherstocking Tales is a series of novels by American writer James Fenimore Cooper, each featuring the main hero Natty Bumppo, known by European settlers as "Leatherstocking," 'The Pathfinder", and "the trapper" and by the Native Americans as "Deerslayer," "La Longue Carabine" and...

, a series of five novels by American

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 writer James Fenimore Cooper

James Fenimore Cooper

James Fenimore Cooper was a prolific and popular American writer of the early 19th century. He is best remembered as a novelist who wrote numerous sea-stories and the historical novels known as the Leatherstocking Tales, featuring frontiersman Natty Bumppo...

. While The Pioneers was published in 1823, before any of the other Leatherstocking Tales, the period of time it covers makes it the fourth chronologically

Chronology

Chronology is the science of arranging events in their order of occurrence in time, such as the use of a timeline or sequence of events. It is also "the determination of the actual temporal sequence of past events".Chronology is part of periodization...

.

Plot summary

The story takes place on the rapidly advancing frontier of New York State

New York

New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...

 and features an elderly Leatherstocking (Natty Bumppo

Natty Bumppo

Nathaniel "Natty" Bumppo is the protagonist of James Fenimore Cooper's pentalogy of novels known as the Leatherstocking Tales.- Fictional biography :...

), Judge Marmaduke Temple of Templeton, whose life parallels that of the author's father Judge William Cooper

William Cooper (judge)

William Cooper was the founder of Cooperstown, New York and father of writer James Fenimore Cooper, who apparently used his father as the pattern for the Judge Marmaduke Temple character in his book The Pioneers....

, and Elizabeth Temple (based on the author's sister, Susan Cooper), of the fictional Templeton, New York. The story begins with an argument between the Judge and Leatherstocking over who killed a buck, and as Cooper reviews many of the changes to New York's Lake Otsego, questions of environmental stewardship, conservation, and use prevail. Leatherstocking and his closest friend, the Mohican Indian Chingachgook, begin to compete with the Temples for the loyalties of a mysterious young visitor, a "young hunter" known as Oliver Edwards, who eventually marries Elizabeth. Chingachgook dies, exemplifying the vexed figure of the "dying Indian", and Natty vanishes into the sunset.

Analysis

The Pioneers was the first written of James Fenimore Cooper

James Fenimore Cooper

James Fenimore Cooper was a prolific and popular American writer of the early 19th century. He is best remembered as a novelist who wrote numerous sea-stories and the historical novels known as the Leatherstocking Tales, featuring frontiersman Natty Bumppo...

's Leatherstocking series, featuring the character Natty Bumppo

Natty Bumppo

Nathaniel "Natty" Bumppo is the protagonist of James Fenimore Cooper's pentalogy of novels known as the Leatherstocking Tales.- Fictional biography :...

, a resourceful white American living in the woods. The story focuses on the evolution of the wilderness into a civilized community. The story takes place in the town of Templeton, which is said to be modeled after Cooperstown, New York

Cooperstown, New York

Cooperstown is a village in Otsego County, New York, USA. It is located in the Town of Otsego. The population was estimated to be 1,852 at the 2010 census.The Village of Cooperstown is the county seat of Otsego County, New York...

.

The story also has an underlying ecological theme, and is considered one of the first ecological novels. One of Cooper’s characters, Judge Temple, highlights this theme when he talks about how people will use up the very resources they depend on by destroying the forests, pigeons, and fish.

The death of Chingachgook

Chingachgook

Chingachgook was a fictional character in four of James Fenimore Cooper's five Leatherstocking Tales, a lone Mohican chief and companion of the series' hero Natty Bumppo. Chingachgook married Wah-ta-Wah who bore him a son Uncas, but she died young. Uncas, at his birth "last of the Mohicans" grew...

 seems to be a symbol of the disappearance of the Indian population in the face of white settlement.

British novelist and critic D.H. Lawrence said the novel presented “the myth of America”.

Characters

• Nathaniel "Natty" Bumppo
  Natty Bumppo
  Nathaniel "Natty" Bumppo is the protagonist of James Fenimore Cooper's pentalogy of novels known as the Leatherstocking Tales.- Fictional biography :...
  
  , aka the Leather-stocking, aka. Hawk-eye - Our hero, an old hunter and patriot. He is a friend to the Indians and distrustful of civilization. (chapter 1, page 22). He was "a melodious synopsis of man and nature in the West".

• Judge Marmaduke Temple - A widower and the founder of Templeton (chapter 1, page 18)

• Agamemnon "Aggy" - A slave of the Judge

• Elizabeth "Bess" Temple - Daughter of the Judge and romantic interest of Oliver (chapter 5, page 66)

• Richard "Dick" Jones - The cousin of the Judge (chapter 4, page 47)

• Squire Hiram Doolittle - An architect, justice of the peace, and buddy of Dick Jones

• Monsieur Le Quoi - A former French nobleman and now shopkeeper in Templeton (chapter 4, page 47)

• Major Frederick "Fritz" Hartmann - A German settler in the area and regular visitor to the Judge's house (chapter 4, page 48)

• The Reverend Mr. Grant - An Anglican minister (chapter 4, page 48)

• Ben Pump, aka Benjamin Penguillan - A servant to the Judge, and a former sea man who doesn't know how to swim (chapter 5, page 60)

• Remarkable Pettibone - Housekeeper to the Judge (chapter 5, page 62)

• Old Brave - The Temples' faithful dog.

• Dr. Elnathan Todd - The town doctor (chapter 6, page 71)

• Indian John, aka John Mohegan, aka Chingachgook
  Chingachgook
  Chingachgook was a fictional character in four of James Fenimore Cooper's five Leatherstocking Tales, a lone Mohican chief and companion of the series' hero Natty Bumppo. Chingachgook married Wah-ta-Wah who bore him a son Uncas, but she died young. Uncas, at his birth "last of the Mohicans" grew...
  
   - The last of the Mohicans and Natty's faithful companion (chapter 7, page 85)

• Oliver Edwards, aka Young Eagle - The young hunter and friend to Natty and Indian John (chapter 3, page 38)

• Captain and Mrs. Hollinger - Owners of the inn The Bold Dragoon

• Squire Chester Lippet - The obnoxious lawyer who talks too much when visiting the Bold Dragoon

• Louisa Grant - The daughter of Mr. Grant, companion to Elizabeth, and the other possible love interest for Oliver

• Billy Kirby - A lumberjack and crack-shot with a rifle (chapter 17, page 190)

• Squire Van der School - The "honest" lawyer of Judge Marmaduke (chapter 25, page 277)

• Jotham Riddle - A lazy fellow who is made a magistrate by Sheriff Jones

• Sir Oliver Effingham

Publication history

The first of Cooper's Leatherstocking Tales

Leatherstocking Tales

The Leatherstocking Tales is a series of novels by American writer James Fenimore Cooper, each featuring the main hero Natty Bumppo, known by European settlers as "Leatherstocking," 'The Pathfinder", and "the trapper" and by the Native Americans as "Deerslayer," "La Longue Carabine" and...

, The Pioneers was published in 1823. 3,500 copies sold before noon on the day it was published.

Further reading

• Wayne Franklin. The New World of James Fenimore Cooper. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1982.
• Thomas Hallock. From the Fallen Tree: Frontier Narratives, Environmental Politics, and the Roots of a National Pastoral. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2003.
• H. Daniel Peck. A World by Itself: The Pastoral Moment in Cooper's Fiction. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1977.
• Thomas Philbrick. Cooper's Pioneers: Origins and Structure. PMLA 79 (December 1964): 579-93
• Donald A. Ringe. "Introduction." The Pioneers. New York: Penguin, 1988.
• Alan Taylor. William Cooper's Town: Power and Persuasion on the Frontier of the Early American Republic. New York: Vintage, 1996.

External links

• "Cooper's Otsego Heritage: The Sources of The Pioneers, from a talk by James H. Pickering, 1979