English Paper: James Fenimore Cooper, "The Deerslayer"

500 words: "How fair was Twain's critique of Cooper's literary style?""

The Deerslayer story was flat out the most boring, confusing, and strange story that I've ever read. It was very difficult to decipher what on the earth the point of the story was, or why anything was taking place. There wasn't any clearly defined plot, or basis for the story whatsoever. As far as good writing goes, it was certainly not a page-turner that would ignite any excitement in readers at all. There isn't so much as a glimmer of purpose in this short novel, that would make someone keep on reading. Usually in a book, there is some figurative "mountain" to be climbed, or obstacle to be conquered. This gives the tale drive and grounds. A talented writer knows how to captivate and hold his readers attention, by employing such an effective method. 

James Fenimore Cooper is the last person I would think of, in terms of a gifted and skilled author. His novel made little to no sense, and is not remotely appealing. It blows my mind that people actually paid to read this appalling work. I can't for the life of me understand what piqued their interest in Cooper's series of Leatherstocking Tales. Yet, bizarre as it is, they continued to buy each accompanying book in the series. Without fail, his devoted fans would devour what they probably thought were masterpieces. 

I am definitely on the side of Mark Twain, in his harsh and rather amusing criticisms of Cooper's awful writing. He is adamant and clear about the negative opinion he harbored towards this god-awful specimen. I would agree whole-heartedly, with the proof he offers as to the horrible state of this book. He professes that in order to compose an excellent novel, there needs to be straightforwardness. It should be obvious what the idea behind the story is, which is for sure not the case. As he says, quote, "A tale should accomplish something or arrive somewhere." It's just two men,Hurry and Deerslayer, wandering in the woods, completely isolated from the civilized world. James doesn't even imply why they are out there, hunting and trapping in Indian territory. He does say that Hurry is intent on visiting Tom Hutter and hopes to marry his beautiful daughter, Judith. This is mainly because this strong, proud man hopes to inherit some of Hutter's land, in this wilderness. 

So this could perhaps be the hint of a sort of "plot", with a possible romance between Judith and Hurry. But, again, nothing in the story is simple or easy to understand. If anything, the theme of Deerslayer should be vagueness. Another specific criticism that Twain has of Cooper is how poorly constructed the characters are. There is little in their personalities that can be related to, or that a person could identify with. It's also not clear who's the good and bad guys are, or who we should be "rooting" for. The people in the story are dull and undeveloped and have no plausible reason for existing.

Twain points out these and many other flaws in the story, calling them Cooper's "literary offenses". He humorously jokes that of 115 possible rules, James Fenimore has broken 114 of them. Obviously, this is an exaggeration he's making in trying to get his intentions across. 
Basically, he's sarcastically proclaiming that the book is terrible and not worth reading at all.