Last of the Mohicans
What does Tamenund's lament for the fate of the Native Americans reveal?
Is it an appropriate closing to this novel?
Is it an appropriate closing to this novel?
In Chapter 30? The discussion he has with Cora?
Sorry, I found the excerpt.
‘It is enough,’ he said. ‘Go, children of the Lenape, the anger of the Manitou is not done. Why should Tamenund stay? The pale faces are masters of the earth, and the time of the red men has not yet come again. My day has been too long. In the morning I saw the sons of Unamis happy and strong; and yet, before the night has come, have I lived to see the last warrior of the wise race of the Mohicans.’
This reveals what Tamenund has seen and hopes to see. He acknowledges the anger of the Native Americans, thinks back on the not so distant past before the arrival of the white man, notes that he has met the last of the Mohican race, and acknowledges that the time of the red man is over...... that their time hasn't yet come again. What he didn't see was that it never would come again.