My Featured Novel

I. About the Novel: The Last of the Mohicans

The Last of the Mohicans is the fifth of the six "Leatherstocking Tales," about Indians and white men. It is written about the fight between the French and the British in North America in 1757. Most of the story happens near the Hudson River and it was a wild place at that time. The story is also about the fight between white men and two Indian tribes—the Mohicans and the Hurons. 

Works Cited （参考文献）

PENGUIN READERS "The Last of the Mohicans" 

II. Versions of the Novel in the Mass Media

THE LAST OF THE MOHICANS (1977) - Steve Forrest, Ned Romero, Don Shanks  

Works Cited （参考文献）

             Http://www.youtube.com/channel/UCiNxWoOJDqZAzp1yhGg8nJg. "THE LAST OF THE MOHICANS (1977) - Steve Forrest, Ned Romero, Don Shanks." YouTube. YouTube, 14 Oct. 2014. Web. 04 June 2016. <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TAZgmPvDtKY>.           

III. About the Author

James Fenimore Cooper was born on September 15, 1789 in Burlington, New Jersey, the elventh of twelve children. His first book, Precaution (1820), at the age of thirthy.

While in New York, he founded the Bread and Cheese Club and became the center of a circle that included notable painters of the Hudson River School as well as writers like William Cullen Bryant.
In 1823, Cooper published The Pioneers which eventually consisted of five books about Natty Bumppo called The Leatherstocking Tales. With this, he created what can be critically viewed as the first American novel and hero. He also brought up the thematical complexities of natural right versus legal right, order versus change, and wilderness versus civilization which still fill the pages of American writing today.
Cooper continued to write a school primer, The American Democrat (1838) and three more Leatherstocking Tales: The Last of the Mohicans (1826), The Pathfinder (1840), and The Deerslayer (1841). Then came Cooper's obsession with the sea from his previous experience in the Navy. He penned The History of the Navy of the United States of America (1839), The Cruise of Sommers (1844), and The Distinguished American Naval Officers (1846).

Works Cited （参考文献）

             "Biography of James Fenimore Cooper." Biography of James Fenimore Cooper. N.p., n.d. Web. 04 June 2016. <http://xroads.virginia.edu/~UG02/COOPER/cooperbiography.html>.           

IV. My Reaction

A. Reaction Point - Setting（設定、背景、場所）

　  Setting is that setting a historical backdrop and a place of the story.

PENGUIN READERS: The Last of the Mohicans (p. 1)
[In 1757, a lot of North America was wild country and the thick woods were often dangerous.
Indians fought other Indians. Indians fought white men. The French fought the British because they wanted this country for France. Some Indians helped the British and other Indians helped the French.]


This story is set in 1757 in the middle of the French and Indian War.
This story is set in the woods in North America.

B. Reaction Point - Character（登場人物）
     Character is that a fictional personality created by an author.

 

The main characters

<Hawkeye>

He is a white man. He cannot live with his people, so he lives in the woods with the Indians. He is a great fighter and a good friend of the Mohicans. 

<Chingachgook>
He is a Mohican Indian chief, and Hawkeye's friend.

<Uncas>
He is Chingachgook's son, and Hawkyey's friend. He loves Cora.

<Munro>
He is the British Colonel. He has two daughters.

<Cora>
She is Munro's Daughter.

<Alice>
She is Munro's daughter. She is Cora's younger sister.

<Heyward>
He is the Blitish Major. He loves Alice.

<Magua>
He is a Huron Indian, and a bad guy. He hate white men. He wants Cora.


This story is written not only about the fight, but also is written about the friendship and the love.

C. Reaction Point - Denouement（ストーリーやプロットの結末）
     Denouement is that the ending of a story or a plot.


PENGUIN READERS: The Last of the Mohicans (p. 33)

  [ Magua pulled out his knife, but he couldn't kill her. So another Huron ran quickly to Cora with his knife in his hand and killed her.

    Uncas ran to Cora and fought Magua. Hawkeye ran to his friend, but it was too late. Uncas's blood was on Magua's knife. Uncas was on the ground, dead.

    Magua looked at Hawkeye and laughed. "White men are dogs! Mohikans are women!" he shouted.

    He jumped to the top of a cliff on the side of a mountain. Then he jumped again, but this time he fell. He fell off the cliff and died.
    Hawkeye carried Uncas in his arms and Heyward carried Cora. Gamut helped Alice through the woods. They found Chingachgook and Colonel Munro.
    Hawkeye took Chingachgook's hand and said, "I have no family. He was your son and your blood was nearer to his blood. But I will never forget my brother Uncas." ]

Uncas was killed by Magua. Cora was killed by another Huron. And Magua was killed by himself. Magua wanted Cora to be his wife. I think he loved really her. I think maybe he felt sad about Cora's death. Because I think Magua committed suicide. I feel This story's denouement is so sad. 

      

      

D. My General Opinion
In the beginning part of the story, Uncas's father, Chingachgook said "My son will die one day. Then there will be nobody with Mohican blood. My son is the last of the Mohicans." But his son died before him. I feel sorry for him.    

My Poetry Page

One Art

by Elizabeth Bishop   

The art of losing isn't hard to master;
so many things seem filled with the intent
to be lost that their loss is no disaster.

Lose something every day. Accept the fluster
of lost door keys, the hour badly spent.
The art of losing isn't hard to master.

Then practice losing farther, losing faster:
places, and names, and where it was you meant
to travel. None of these will bring disaster.

I lost my mother's watch. And look! my last, or
next-to-last, of three loved houses went.
The art of losing isn't hard to master.

I lost two cities, lovely ones. And, vaster,
some realms I owned, two rivers, a continent.
I miss them, but it wasn't a disaster.


—Even losing you (the joking voice, a gesture
I love) I shan't have lied.  It's evident
the art of losing's not too hard to master
though it may look like (Write it!) like disaster.

I. About the Poem

"One Art" from The Complete Poems 1927-1979 by Elizabeth Bishop, published by Farrar, Straus & Giroux, Inc. Copyright © 1979, 1983 by Alice Helen Methfessel. Used with permssion of  Farrar, Straus & Giroux, LLC. All rights reserved.

Works Cited （参考文献）         

Poets.org. Academy of American Poets, n.d. Web. 09 May 2016. <https://www.poets.org/poetsorg/poem/one-art>.           

II. About the Poet

Elizabeth Bishop was an American poet and short-story writer.

She was born on February 8, 1911, in Worcester, Massachusetts.
She recived the 1956 Pulitzer Prize for her collection, Poems: North & South / A Could Spring (Houghton Mifflin, 1955). Her Complete Poems (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1969), won the National Book Award in 1970.

Works Cited （参考文献）
"One Art Academy of American Poets." Academy of American Poets, n.d. Web. 01 May 2016. <https://www.poets.org/poetsorg/poet/elizabeth-bishop>.                  

III. My Reaction

A. Reaction Point - Rhyme(韻、言葉の端部で音の繰り返し）

[Rhyme means 'the repetition of sounds at the ends of words.']

The art of losing isn't　hard to master;

so many things seem filled with the intent to be lost that their loss is no disaster.

Accept the fluster of lost door keys, the hour badly spent.

The art of losing isn't hard to master.

Then practice losing farther, losing faster;

None of these will bring disaster.

The art of losing isn't  hard to master.

I lost two cities, lovely ones.

And vaster, some realms I owned, two rivers, a continent.

I miss them, but it wasn't a disaster.

―Even losing you (the joking voice, a gesture I love) I shan't have lied.

It's evident the art of losing's not too hard master though it may look like (Write it!) like disaster.

The sound at the end of the word, 'ster' is repeated there.
I think the sound of the'ster' is very beautiful.

B. Reaction Point - Hyperbole (誇張)

[Hyperbole means 'exaggerated representation.']


I lost two cities, lovely ones.
And, vaster, some realms I owned, two rivers, a continent.

The author uses quite exaggerated representations . 　

I think she tells herself that there is no problem for her even if she lose anything.

C. Reaction Point - Connotation (言葉の意味、含意）

[Connotation means 'containing a meaning that does not appear on the surface.']

What does 'art' mean there?
　

I think "art" means "skill" there.

D. My General Opinion

I think the poet pretends to be tough.
In fact, She think it's a sorrow that losing someone.

Self-Introduction

Hello classmates,

I'm Koharu Shibata. I'm a second-year student.  My course is English British and American Literature. I want to study literature and culture of British. Especially, I want to deepen my understanding of Kazuo Ishiguro, a British author. The most favorite work in his works is "Never Let Me Go."

Hello.