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Chapter 1
Explanation and Analysis—Cora and Alice:
Cooper relies on imagery to amplify the fact that Cora and Alice are foils. For example, in Chapter 1, he introduces Alice with light imagery:
The flush which still lingered above the pines in the western sky was not more bright nor delicate than the bloom on her cheek[...]
Related Themes:
Chapter 19
Explanation and Analysis—Duncan and Hawkeye:
Hawkeye and Duncan are foils, each representing a version of upstanding white masculinity that has been shaped by circumstance. The effects of their different upbringings is apparent in Chapter 19, when they discuss what might await each of them in heaven after they die:
Unlock with LitCharts A+“It is difficult to account for the feelings that may attend the last great change.”
“It would be a change, indeed, for a man who has passed his days in the open air,” returned the single-minded scout; “and who has so often broken his fast on the head-waters of the Hudson, to sleep within sound of the roaring Mohawk. But it is a comfort to know we serve a merciful Master, though we do it each after his fashion, and with great tracts of wilderness atween us [...]"
Related Themes:
